ENERGY (MSM)

Gas prices rise as colder weather increases demand

British gas prices inched up on Tuesday as demand stabilised after temperatures fell again following last week’s mild weather. Britain’s Met Office forecast temperatures would be between 7 to 10 degrees on Tuesday across the country, with the skies expected to be cloudier across parts of northern and eastern Britain at night. National Grid data showed supply was forecast at 203 million cubic metres (mcm) on Tuesday, while demand was

U.S. court hears Chevron's fraud claims in $9.5 billion Ecuador dispute

Chevron Corp urged a U.S. appeals court on Monday to uphold a ruling finding that an American lawyer used corrupt means to secure a $9.5 billion pollution judgment in Ecuador.A lawyer for Chevron told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that Steven Donziger, a U.S. lawyer who represented a group of Ecuadorians that sued the oil giant, pursued a case “shot through with fraud.” “What happened

Israel mayor orders Oil Refineries closures over cancer scare

The mayor of Haifa ordered on Sunday the closure of plants run by Israel’s largest refining and petrochemicals group, Oil Refineries, following a report showing high cancer rates in the port city. Oil Refineries said its operating license and that of a number of its subsidiaries had been canceled in Israel’s third largest city, which is heavily industrialized. A report issued by the Health Ministry last week said that data

Iraq clears massive oil refinery of IS

Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes cleared the country’s largest oil refinery of the Islamic State group, the international coalition helping Baghdad fight the jihadists said on Sunday. IS has repeatedly attempted over the past 10 months to capture the Baiji refinery north of Baghdad, most recently seizing parts of the facility and holding out for days. Iraqi forces “regained full control of the Baiji Oil Refinery after having

Israeli port city closes 5 factories over cancer fears

The mayor of Haifa, Israel’s third largest city, ordered Sunday the closure of five petrochemical plants following a health ministry warning linking high cancer rates to air pollution. Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav further said that municipality trucks were blocking the entrances to Israel Oil Refineries and Petroleum & Energy Infrastructures, both of which are based on the bay in the northern port city. “From now on, no tankers will have

Preemptive strike on EPA emissions rules: Can it derail Obama climate plan?

The Obama administration has an ambitious plan to battle climate change: reduce greenhouse gases by 30 percent over the next two decades. On Thursday, lawyers representing the country’s largest privately-owned coal company, the Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp., together with a coalition of 15 states, asked the United States Court of Appeals to pronounce the proposed climate change rules illegal, even before the Environmental Protection Agency formally adopts them.