A BP official is praising the successful attachment of a new sealing cap on the ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. But he cautioned that the testing of the cap to begin Tuesday morning will determine whether the new effort can successfully shut down the well. Get the full story »
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Gas prices fall for 3rd week
U.S. gasoline prices fell for the third week in a row, reaching $2.72 a gallon, the Energy Department said on Monday. Get the full story »
Pending leak cap, asset sale talk lift BP shares
A new cap that BP says could stop the flow of oil into the gulf. (BP/Getty Images)
BP shares continued a five-day rally Monday as the company gets closer to containing the Gulf oil spill.
The British oil giant also said it is in talks on the sale of company assets.
BP shares added $2.46, about 7.2 percent, at $36.51 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has jumped 35 percent since bottoming out June 25.
Investors are returning to BP as the company plans to fasten a new cap that could contain the oil leaking into the sea. Analysts also said investors are heartened by reports that BP is in talks to raise money by selling some of its assets. Get the full story »
Exelon unit pursues Saudi nuclear deal
From Bloomberg Businessweek | Shaw Group Inc., Toshiba Corp. and Exelon Nuclear Partners, a unit of Exelon Corp., will team up to pursue nuclear power contracts in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom invests to meet energy demand.
U.S. farmers can’t meet booming corn demands
Exporters, livestock feeders and ethanol makers are going through the U.S. corn stockpile faster than farmers can grow the crops, the government said on Friday. Despite record crops in two of the past three years and another record within reach this year, the Agriculture Department estimated the corn carryover will shrink to the lowest level since 2006/07. Get the full story »
BP: Systems caught 24,395 barrels of oil Thursday
BP said Friday it is hooking up a third vessel to increase oil-capture capacity at the Gulf of Mexico spill to 53,000 barrels a day from 28,000 barrels a day.
BP spokesman Mark Proegler said that increased capture should start “in a couple of days.”
BP also said its current oil-capture systems at the leak collected or burned off 24,395 barrels of oil Thursday.
Solar plane completes historic 24-hour test flight
An experimental solar-powered plane completed its first 24-hour test flight successfully Thursday, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night. The test brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun.
BP push for Mideast investors may be issue in U.S.
BP’s recent attempts to get Middle Eastern investors to help plug the leak in its blown-out balance sheet could cause more problems for the embattled British oil company. Increased investments in BP from the Middle East could trigger reviews in Washington, given the company’s U.S. subsidiary, BP America, which drills for oil and natural gas through government leases and sells gasoline and other products to consumers and businesses.
Gas demand rose leading up to the 4th
U.S. weekly retail gasoline demand rose 1.6 percent in the week ending July 2 as the Fourth of July holiday weekend approached, the SpendingPulse report said Wednesday.
Average gasoline demand rose to 9.649 million barrels per day last week, while the national average retail price for gasoline remained unchanged at $2.74 a gallon, the survey showed. Get the full story »
Broadwind to supply wind towers to Spanish firm
Broadwind Energy said its Tower Tech Inc. unit would supply structural wind towers to Spain’s Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica for installation in wind sites in the United States.
Tower Tech, which makes heavy wind towers, expects to deliver these towers to Gamesa’s U.S. unit Gamesa Technology Corp during the fourth quarter, the company said in a statement. Get the full story »
U.S. gasoline prices fall, thanks to cheaper oil
U.S. gasoline prices fell to the lowest level in three weeks due to lower crude oil costs, the Energy Department said Tuesday.
The national price for regular unleaded gasoline dropped 3.1 cents over the last week to $2.73 a gallon, the department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly survey of service stations.
While drivers are still paying 11 cents more a gallon than a year ago, the pump price is down sharply from the record $4.11 reached two years ago. Get the full story »
Deadline for FutureGen deal extended by 60 days
The U.S. Department of Energy has extended a deadline to work out a deal to build the FutureGen coal power plant in eastern Illinois. The agency said Wednesday that an agreement that expired this week between it and the FutureGen Alliance to work out financial and other details has been extended by 60 days.
BP could be ripe for takeover
From CNN | BP’s stock price has fallen far enough for the oil company to become an attractive takeover target for its biggest rivals, according to industry analysts.
BP’s stock finished at $28.88 Wednesday, a plunge of more than 50% from its close of $60.09 on April 19, the day before its leased oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon, exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers. On Thursday, shares were up more than 3%.
Fred Lucas of JPMorgan believes that investors have overdone it in dumping the stock, cheapening it to an attractive value for buyers – meaning potential parent companies, not just individual investors. Get the full story »
Exelon executive retires, management shifted
Exelon Corp. said Thursday that it has made several management changes, including the retirement of a key executive. Ian P. McLean, the 60-year old executive vice president of Exelon and CEO of Exelon Transmission Co., is retiring as of July 15. The company also said Darryl M. Bradford has been named senior vice president and general counsel for Exelon Corp. Bradford previously served in several leadership positions at Exelon subsidiary ComEd.
N.Y. Fed finds BP woes no risk to Wall St.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been probing major financial firms’ exposure to BP Plc to ensure that if the oil giant buckles under the costs of the Gulf oil spill, it won’t put Wall Street or the global financial system at risk, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
After pouring over documents and asking banks in the last two weeks about their exposure to BP the Fed found no systemic risk and hasn’t asked firms to alter their credit relationships with BP, the sources told Reuters.
“The Fed gave banks’ exposure to BP a passing grade,” said one of the sources on condition of anonymity. Get the full story »
