Shell Oil will present an ambitious proposal to the federal government this week, seeking permission to drill up to 10 exploratory oil wells beneath Alaska
Only a year ago, all the stars appeared to be aligned for American farm exports. China and other developing countries were fattening up growing herds of cattle on American corn, and they were importing record amounts of foods to meet the appetite of their expanding middle classes. A drought in Australia meant a shortage of wheat on world markets.
NEW YORK: Barely a year after the U.S. Congress enacted an energy law to foster a huge national enterprise capable of converting plants and agricultural wastes into automotive fuel, the goals lawmakers set for the ethanol industry are in serious jeopardy.
HOUSTON: For all the support that the U.S. presidential candidates are expressing for renewable energy, alternative energies like wind and solar are facing big new challenges because of the credit freeze and the plunge in oil and natural gas prices.
SALT LAKE CITY: The best deal on fuel in the United States right now might be here in Utah, where people are waiting in lines to pay the equivalent of 87 cents a gallon.
HOUSTON: American natural gas production is rising at a clip not seen in decades, pushing down prices of the fuel and reversing conventional wisdom that U.S. gas fields were in irreversible decline.
The new drilling boom uses advanced technology to release gas trapped in huge shale beds found throughout North America
Two of the biggest oil companies in the world, BP and ConocoPhillips, have joined forces to try to break a longstanding deadlock over the vast reserves of natural gas in Alaska. The firms said they would spend billions to build a pipeline from the North Slope to feed markets in the United States and Canada. The proposal Tuesday won praise from Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin. "It's a good day," she said to reporters.
