Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

USA Today -- After hyping hybrids and electrics as fuel-savers, automakers will try to fire up consumers about a wave of new fuel-saving diesel models.
The latest will be the Volkswagen Beetle TDI, a diesel version of the iconic car, being introduced this week at the Chicago Auto Show.

VW, which already has diesel options for its Golf, Jetta, Passat and Touareg models, will be joined by new entrants in the U.S. market for diesel, such as General Motors, Mazda and Chrysler Group. Other makers, such as Honda, still are holding back some of their best, newest advanced diesels from the U.S., unsure whether buyers here will embrace them.

 (go to article)

The Financial Post -- Alberta is looking to recruit provincial and federal support by sparking a Canada-wide energy strategy that impresses upon all provinces the importance of the oil sands to Canada’s gross domestic product, Alberta Energy Minister Ted Morton says.

Mr. Morton needs provincial support to counter critics of the oil sands who have derailed approval processes of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL and Enbridge Inc.’s Northern Gateway pipelines, both of which propose to take oil sands to international markets.

He says Prime Minister Stephen Harper is already on board.  (go to article)

USGS - US Geological Survey -- Q: How does the injection of wastewater at depth cause earthquakes?

A:

Earth's crust is pervasively fractured at depth by faults. These faults can sustain high stresses without slipping because natural "tectonic" stress and the weight of the overlying rock pushes the opposing fault blocks together, increasing the frictional resistance to fault slip. The injected wastewater counteracts the frictional forces on faults and, in effect, "pries them apart", thereby facilitating earthquake slip.  (go to article)

Reuters -- (Reuters) - China is scouring the world for alternative oil supplies to replace a fall in its imports from Iran, as it seeks to negotiate lower prices from Tehran, and has been drawing heavily on Saudi Arabia.
Industry sources told Reuters that Beijing had bought the bulk of an increase in crude oil supplies from top oil exporter Saudi Arabia in the last few months.

The world's second-largest oil consumer is also importing more cargoes from West Africa, Russia and Australia to replace reduced supplies from Iran.

China is the top buyer of Iranian oil, taking around 20 percent of its total exports, but since January it has cut purchases by around 285,000 barrels per day (bpd), or just over half of the total daily amount it imported in 2011.

Saudi Arabian output reached 9.76 million barrel  (go to article)

thetruthaboutcars.com -- By Bertel Schmitt on February 6,GM noted that Fox has issues with the Volt. They give Eric Bolling a Chevy Volt for a week. And this is what GM receives in return. Ingrates.
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Shreveport (LA) Times -- MANSFIELD — A crowd of public officials and oil and gas industry representatives gathered Monday afternoon for the ceremonial opening of the first publicly accessible compressed natural gas fueling station in the region, located at the Chevron branded

Shop-A-Lott convenience store and truck stop in Mansfield.
Other CNG fuel pumps are located in Red River and Bossier parishes, but those initially opened for private use. More public-use stations are expected to open in the area this year as industry officials push the low-cost, alternate fuel source coming from the Haynesville Shale.  (go to article)

The Detroit News -- Former President George W. Bush defended his decision to bail out General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC at the end of his administration.

"I'd do it again," Bush told thousands of the nation's auto dealers, explaining approving a $700 billion bailout fund used to rescue banks, insurers and automakers. "I didn't want there to be 21 percent unemployment."

Bush said he believes in the free market and under normal conditions, automakers and other businesses should have been allowed to fail.

"If you make a bad decision, you ought to pay," Bush said. "Sometimes, circumstances get in the way of philosophy."

In late December 2008, after Congress refused to act, Bush agreed to a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler using his broad authority under the $700 billion fund established to help t  (go to article)

chicago tribune -- 2:57 p.m. CST, February 7, 2012
U.S. gasoline demand last week fell by more than 5 percent for the third straight week compared with year-ago levels, according to weekly data from MasterCard SpendingPulse.

Retail gasoline demand fell 5.3 percent from a year ago and 2.8 percent from the previous week, the report said. High prices and concerns about the economy have weighed on demand, according to analysts. The report showed the four-week average U.S. demand fell for the 46th straight time last week, down 4.9 percent compared with a year ago. Pump prices rose by 8 cents on average to $3.47 per gallon, 11.9 percent higher than the same week last year.

Overall gasoline demand dipped to 8.27 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, the lowest level in a month. The Central Atlantic and  (go to article)

Newsmax -- Can the United States create jobs, lower the price of fuel, reduce emissions, and become energy-independent all at the same time?

The answer is, “Yes — and rather quickly.”

The simple answer correlates with a rather simple solution being evangelized by Marc Goldman, a former milk company executive from New Jersey.

Marc is not a household name, but he once made big headlines in New York for taking on the state’s powerful dairy interests and a system that kept milk prices artificially high by limiting competition among dairies.

Today, Marc spends his time on another worthy crusade — promoting the Open Fuel Standard Act of 2011, known in the House as H.R. 1687 and in the Senate as S. 1603.

Click Link to Read Complete Article  (go to article)

Oil & Gas Review -- The governments of Canada and Alberta, stung by the recent US decision to postpone development of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline project, have agreed to step up their monitoring of the environmental effects of oil sands developments.

“Today we are launching the most transparent and accountable oil sands monitoring system in the world,” said Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent, referring to the Alberta oil sands as “a key driver” of the Canadian economy.

“These scientific reports will be posted on our web page for the world to see,” said Kent. “We challenge others in the international oil producing community to match Canada’s commitment to environmental monitoring.”

Announcement of the new plan coincided with a visit to China this week by Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harpe  (go to article)

the Hill.com -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Tuesday that a major disruption in foreign oil supplies that sent prices skyward could thwart the economic recovery, but expressed optimism that the U.S. is becoming less vulnerable to such dislocations.

“A major disruption that sent oil prices up very substantially could . . . stop the recovery,” he told the Senate Budget Committee, noting that oil price spikes feed inflation and act as a “tax” on consumers.

Turmoil in Libya helped send oil prices above $113 per barrel in late April and early May of 2011, pushing nationwide gasoline prices to almost $4-per-gallon (a level exceeded in many areas) before falling back.

But Bernanke also noted that the country’s energy situation is improving.

“I think one of the more encouraging things over the  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Energy costs for U.S. households will almost double this year from 2001, consuming a fifth of the annual income for half of American homes, according to a study by a utility group that opposes limits on coal use.

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, which includes Atlanta-based Southern Co. and Peabody Energy Corp. in St. Louis, said the 50.4 percent of households earning less than $50,000 may pay even higher costs as regulators consider limits on coal-burning power plants.

The study is “further evidence that these regs are going to cause an impact on the American family,” said Lisa Camooso Miller, vice president for media relations for the Washington- based coalition, in an interview.

The group said it will cite the study’s results as it opposes greenhouse-gas and clean-  (go to article)

americanprogress.org -- General economic theory holds that companies will produce more of a good if its price is higher, or if it receives subsidies. Funny that these rules didn’t seem to apply to Big Oil in 2011, when the highest oil price since 1864 and $2 billion in subsidies to the five largest oil companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell—yielded lower oil production than in 2010. But these five oil companies combined made a record-high $137 billion in profits in 2011—up 75 percent from 2010—and have made more than $1 trillion in profits from 2001 through 2011.[1] This exceeds the previous record of $136 billion in profits in 2008  (go to article)

USA Today -- Get ready for another round of pain at the pump: $4 (or higher) gasoline.

After rising 19 cents a gallon in the past four weeks, regular unleaded gasoline now averages $3.48 a gallon, vs. $3.12 a year ago and $2.67 in February 2010.

Prices could spike another 60 cents or more by May. "I think it's going to be a chaotic spring, with huge price increases in some places," says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. Kloza expects average prices to peak at $4.05, although he and other industry trackers say prices could be sharply higher in some markets.
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The Hill -- As the military’s senior logistician in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, I saw the impact of our oil addition in the Iraq combat zone. Our appetite for fuel wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, transfers $1 billion daily in our wealth to the Middle East, and puts our soldiers at risk. The fuel trucks we depend upon provide hundreds of convenient rolling targets for our enemy. My experiences in Iraq convinced me that the greatest threat to our security is our over-reliance on oil and that Americans must immediately take steps to cut our petro-addiction before it’s too late.

The Keystone XL pipeline doesn’t help. This pipeline would move dirty oil from Canada to refineries in Texas and would set back our renewable energy efforts for at least two decades, much to our enemies’ delight. It would ens  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- CHRIS KAHN
The Associated Press

Published: February 7th, 2012 07:49 AM
Last Modified: February 7th, 2012 08:16 AM

NEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices are rising as Iran again threatens to cut off supplies to Europe.

Iranian lawmakers are pushing a plan to stop exporting crude to Europe before the European Union begins an oil embargo this summer. The EU and the U.S. are pressuring Iran because of its nuclear program.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.47 to $98.38 per barrel in late morning trading in New York. Brent crude, used to price foreign oil varieties, rose by 71 cents to $116.64 per barrel in London.

U.S. oil prices fell Monday as supplies grew at the important Midwest distribution hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. The possibility of Iran stopping crude sales to Europe, creating tighter supplies,  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- ENTIRE COST: Funds aimed at work on pipeline problems.

By MIKE DUNHAM
Anchorage Daily News

Published: February 6th, 2012 10:19 PM
Last Modified: February 6th, 2012 10:19 PM

BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. announced Monday that it was donating $1 million to the University of Alaska Anchorage to help create a lab to study the effects of corrosion on pipe metals.

The gift will pay for the entire BP Asset Integrity and Corrosion Lab, according to Matt Cullin, who will be the director of the new facility. The money will also help cover some of the first year's operational expenses.

"It's a really quite a nice gift," said Cullin, a UAA assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

The relatively low cost for the lab, less than $1 million, is due to its location in a building that already  (go to article)

LA Times -- An improving economy boosts demand for oil, driving up pump prices and crimping consumers' budgets.
Last month turned out to be the most expensive January ever at U.S. gasoline pumps, boosted by growing economic strength.

January is typically a month of falling gasoline prices because fuel demand falters in the slower travel weeks that follow the year-end holidays.

Not so this year.

In January, retail gasoline prices averaged $3.37 a gallon, according to the Oil Price Information Service, a private fuel information service. That compared with the previous record average for the month of $3.095 a gallon, set last year. In 2010, January gasoline prices averaged just $2.71 a gallon.  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- The latest report from the AP desk in Beirut says that the U.S. has closed its embassy in Syria and Britain recalled its ambassador to Damascus in a new Western push to get Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power and halt the murderous civil war in Syria.

Contrary to President Obama's comments in his State of the Union address, the AP reports that the U.S. "diplomatic effort was stymied at the U.N. by vetoes from Russia and China," but, the recent moves by the U.S. and Britain (to evacuate the Syrian Embassy) were a clear message that Western powers see no point in engaging with Assad and now will seek to bolster Syria’s opposition.

”This is a doomed regime as well as a murdering regime,” British Foreign Secretary...  (go to article)

Design News -- The Dodge Dart, which will soon be back on the streets after a three-decade hiatus, uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in a way that drivers, passengers, and pedestrians are unlikely to miss.

More than 150 (152, to be exact) LEDs form a ruby red "racetrack" around the Dart's trunk, tail lights, and rear decklid. The full-width LED-based design is said to be a first in its segment, and it's the most prominent use of the technology in any compact car to date.

Click Link to Read Complete Article
 (go to article)

CBC -- When Canadians head out on road trips this spring and summer, they can expect gas prices to take a bigger bite out of their wallets. But energy experts on this side of the border are divided over whether these hikes will be as high as U.S. motorists are bracing for.

Media reports Monday out of the U.S. were suggesting gas prices could rise in some areas this spring by up to 60 cents per gallon (roughly equal to 15 cents per litre). But Calgary-based petroleum industry analyst Michael Ervin sees nothing to suggest hikes of that magnitude in Canada.

Instead, he's predicting "modest" increases of about five to 10 cents per litre — "much much less than what we had become accustomed to seeing prior to the slump in the North American and global economy.  (go to article)

CNET -- In the early 1900s, electric vehicles were in a close battle against other automotive technologies for dominance. Famed inventor Thomas Edison, pictured at left, took up the cause himself in 1900 and designed an entirely new battery chemistry to improve the range of electric automobiles, locomotives, and trucks. After some setbacks, he ultimately made some improvements with his alkaline batteries. But by 1910, gasoline-powered automobiles were catching on and Edison abandoned his work on batteries for electric cars. This slideshow will give you a taste of the rich history of electric vehicles, the present-day resurgence, and a glimpse into the future.  (go to article)

Reuters -- U.S. light crude oil futures fell more than $1 per barrel on Tuesday as domestic supplies and U.S. oil inventories rose and the country's oil demand showed little sign of improving despite a recovery in its economic growth.

At the same time the premium for international oil benchmark Brent over U.S. crude futures widened to more than $20 per barrel CL-LCO1=R as investors worried about supplies in the spot market outside the United States.

By 1230 GMT, U.S. crude oil futures for March were trading around $95.91 per barrel, down $1, having hit an intraday low of $95.84.  (go to article)

USA Today -- Toyota's quarterly profit slid 13.5% due to production setbacks caused by last year's tsunami disaster in Japan and the flooding in Thailand, the Associated Press reports.

But Japan's top automaker raised its annual earnings forecast, saying a recovery is on track.

Toyota reported $1.05 billion in profits for the October-December third quarter, down from last year. But it thinks it can earn $2.6 billion this year as it bounces back, which still would be down substantially from past fiscal years.

A strong yen, which makes Japanese exports more costly but is good for employment in American plants, isn't helping matters.

Last year was tough for Japanese automakers as the earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan devastated key suppliers. The flooding in Thailand in late 2011 hit ...  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The U.S. is the closest it has been in almost 20 years to achieving energy self-sufficiency, a goal the nation has been pursuing since the 1973 Arab oil embargo triggered a recession and led to lines at gasoline stations.

Domestic oil output is the highest in eight years. The U.S. is producing so much natural gas that, where the government warned four years ago of a critical need to boost imports, it now may approve an export terminal. Methanex Corp., the world’s biggest methanol maker, said it will dismantle a factory in Chile and reassemble it in Louisiana to take advantage of low natural gas prices. And higher mileage standards and federally mandated ethanol use, along with slow economic growth, have curbed demand.

The result: The U.S. has reversed a two-decade-long decline in energy  (go to article)

AP via Yahoo! Finance -- BP PLC has raised its quarterly dividend by 14 percent after posting double-digit gains in profit and revenue in the last three months of 2011 despite further big payments to compensate for the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP also said Tuesday that it expects to complete payments to the Gulf of Mexico Trust Fund this year to cover its liability for damage from the massive blowout of the Macondo well in April 2010.

For the three months ending Dec. 31, BP reported a profit of $7.69 billion, up 38 percent from the $5.57 billion posted a year earlier. Revenue was up 15 percent at $96.3 billion.

Replacement cost profit, a closely watched industry measure, was 65 percent higher at $7.6 billion.

"2012 will be a year of increasing investment and milestones as we build on ...  (go to article)

Reuters -- Brent crude futures rose above $116 to a six-month high on Tuesday as fresh threats from Iran to ban exports to some European states stoked supply concerns, overshadowing fears that Greece's debt crisis was worsening.

Brent's premium to U.S. oil [CL-LCO1-R Unavailable () ], stayed around $19 a barrel, near its highest since November, as a severe cold wave spread across Europe and as simmering tensions between the West and Iran escalated. But Greece's wrangling over a bailout fund helped cap those gains.

Front-month Brent [LCOC1 Unavailable () ], increased 25 cents to $116.18 a barrel by 0804 GMT, gaining for a sixth straight day. The benchmark earlier touched $116.70, its highest since early August.

U.S. oil [CLC1 Unavailable () ] added 27 cents to $97.1  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Oil fell to near a six-week low in New York before a report forecast to show that U.S. stockpiles increased last week. U.S. crude’s discount to North Sea Brent oil surpassed $20 for the first time since October.

West Texas Intermediate futures extended yesterday’s decline, bringing this week’s loss to 1.7 percent. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos will meet the country’s political leaders today to discuss measures for securing a second European Union-led bailout. U.S. crude inventories probably rose to the highest in more than four months and gasoline supplies climbed for a second week, according to a Bloomberg survey before an Energy Department report tomorrow.

“The market is oversupplied, which is putting pressure on WTI,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in  (go to article)

NY Times -- When Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo took office last year, his administration seemed to be in hurry-up mode as it decided whether to allow hydraulic fracturing, a controversial gas drilling process. State regulators kept to tight deadlines to produce for public review an environmental impact study and proposed drilling rules, and the state’s top environmental official said drilling permits could be granted as early as this year.

But now, a decision on the process, known as hydrofracking — its scope, its timing or whether it will happen at all — seems much more uncertain, and the approval process has slowed considerably despite almost four years of study, debate and intense lobbying on both sides of the issue.

Mr. Cuomo did not mention hydrofracking in his State of the State address last month, a  (go to article)

Forbes -- The Keystone XL pipeline may have kicked off the presidential race but it’s also setting the stage for a Battle Royale in Congress. Not only are senior House Republican preparing to link its construction to key spending bills but they are also playing up the Obama administration’s apparent hypocrisy.

When news spread on Friday that the U.S. Department of State had approved two years ago a similar oil sands pipeline, even members of the president’s party were caught off guard. That approval, which paved the way for the 326-mile “Alberta Clipper” stretching from Canada to Wisconsin and began operations in October 2010, was made with the president’s blessings.

That news is now giving even more fodder to Republican members, who have argued strenuously that the Keystone pipeline is not...  (go to article)

MarketWatch Pulse --
Crude-oil futures traded lower Monday as investors were concerned about the threat of a default in Greece and its impact on the global economy, and the dollar traded higher. Crude for March delivery declined 70 cents, or 0.7%, to $97.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Greece is seen as running out of time to work out a deal for a second bailout package as party leaders have resisted more austerity measures.

 (go to article)

foxbusiness.com -- Representative Alcee Hastings, (D-FL), introduced a bill that would abolish write-offs oil companies take on their tax returns for the costs of cleaning up their oil spills.

Taxpayers have footed oil companies’ cleanup costs for decades. For instance, BP can deduct on its tax returns cleanup costs and settlements for its massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Estimates already show those costs may amount to $32 billion, which could translate into a $10 billion tax write-off for the oil major.

But these deductions are meant for the "ordinary costs of doing business," reads the tax law.

Are oil spills “business as usual’? Or should taxpayers foot the bill for oil companies’ own negligence?

...slamming this loophole shut would save taxpayers an average $1.3 billion annually.  (go to article)

Wall Street Journal -- Not everyone in Canada supports the proposed oil pipeline from Alberta to the U.S. and to the British Columbia coast.

Claude Gravelle, vice chair of the Canadian Parliament's Natural Resources Committee, spoke about how the exporting of Canadian oil could translate into oil spills, environmental costs and lost Canadian jobs.

Gravelle, talked about his controversial meetings with U.S. lawmakers, problems with China's human rights record and his dispute with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's take on how to bring financial security to Canadians.

[Harper] is giving [the oil industry] billions of dollars in subsidies. How does that assure our financial security? We're giving money away and we're giving jobs away. We want to do it differently.

More and more Canadians are in opposition  (go to article)

The Detroit Free Press -- Clint Eastwood’s appearance in Chrysler’s Super Bowl commercial was not intended as a political statement or endorsement of President Barack Obama, the actor’s production company said today.
“The ad is not intended to have a political message, but rather one of American pride and job growth,” a representative from Malpaso Productions of Burbank, Calif., told the Free Press today..
Earlier today, Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne also said that the company’s two-minute Super Bowl ad is not a political message.
“It has zero political content,” Marchionne said in an interview this morning with Paul. W. Smith on WJR-AM 760. “The message is sufficiently universal and neutral that it should be appealing to everybody in this country and I sincerely hope that it doesn’t get utilized as  (go to article)

The Detroit News By David Shepardson and Serena Maria Daniels -- Las Vegas— Chrysler Group aired a poignant Super Bowl ad that drew praises for pairing a Motor City turnaround to a U.S. economic rebound.

"The people of Detroit almost lost everything," said the two-minute Chrysler spot narrated by Clint Eastwood that featured autoworkers, an abandoned building and a city flag.

"We find a way through tough times … Detroit's showing it can be done. And what's true about them is true about all of us."

For a second year, Chrysler took a chance, skipping traditional auto marketing to focus on a broader message to generate buzz and stand out in a Super Bowl jammed with ads from a dozen automakers.

The halftime ad showed Eastwood talking about the challenges the United States faces — a follow-up to last year's "Born of Fire" ad that featured Eminem, seen mo  (go to article)

Reuters -- Republicans in the House of Representatives will try to force quick approval of the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline using a highway funding bill, but the plan's author said on Monday there may be more than one avenue for advancing the project.

President Barack Obama's administration blocked TransCanada's $7 billion project last month.

A key House panel is set to vote on Tuesday to attach a plan to speed approval for the project into the highway bill, but a must-pass payroll tax cut legislation provides another option, said Lee Terry, a Republican from Nebraska.

"We'll keep swinging," Terry told reporters.

"Maybe we'll use both."

Terry's plan is slated for a vote by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday.  (go to article)

Forbes -- If you thought just about every other commercial during the Super Bowl was a car commercial, you were right.

Including pre-game, 52 auto spots appeared during NBC’s telecast, pitching everything from Hyundais and Toyotas to Volkswagens and Dodge Ram trucks. And if there was any doubt about GM spending on the Super Bowl again, it’s been erased by the 11 spots the company bought (most were pre-game ads, though Chevy rolled out spots for the Silverado, Sonic and Camaro during the game).

That’s a lot of car clutter. So which companies did the best job breaking through? Sales will ultimately tell. But one early metric is page activity on popular car sight Edmunds.com, the first place some viewers go to check out a car after their interest has been piqued. “There’s a whole movement around...  (go to article)

ABC News -- Fisker Automotive, the maker of an exotic electric sports car that is being built with help from a $529 million federal government loan guarantee, has announced layoffs at its Delaware plant as it tries to persuade the Department of Energy to send it more public funds.

The company says 26 Fisker employees have been let go from the Delaware factory where renowned automotive engineer Henrik Fisker promised to one day begin producing affordable electric sedans. A Delaware newspaper also reported that subcontractors working on the car venture have been let go.Fisker was one of a handful of auto companies to receive sizeable federal loans to help support the birth of an electric car industry in the United States. As ABC News reported in October, Fisker's efforts have been beset by delays. A  (go to article)

CNN iReport video -- ScottCannon shares with us this video from Dimock, Pennsylvania. He shot the video on January 31. The video includes an interview with Susan Roos, a resident of Dimock who claims her water supply has been contaminated by gas extraction practices. This video package also includes an interview with EPA spokesperson Trish Taylor, who is part of a team investigating claims in the area.

ScottCannon says: 'Call me crazy, but this information is needed to preserve our environment, clear water, and clean air for future generations, as promised in our state constitution. For me, it’s a moral obligation. Our mission is to educate the public on the negative effects of gas drilling.' He is on the executive board of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, Inc. of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.  (go to article)

drudge -- But Saudi Arabia has already said it will not let the price of oil, which closed Monday around $97 a barrel, go above $100, bin Talal said.  (go to article)

The Street -- For the second year in a row it appears Chrysler has the dominant ad of the Super Bowl, passing the role of spokesman from Eminem to Clint Eastwood.

Last year the automaker topped most tabulations of the best Super Bowl ads with its "Made in Detroit," featuring Eminem extolling the city's virtues. The ad is credited with helping Chrysler achieve a 26% sales gain last year. It was so successful, in fact, that initially Chrysler could not keep up with the demand it stimulated.

This year, Chrysler turned to another crusty, tough-talking superstar, Clint Eastwood, who seemed to continue his role from the 2008 movie Gran Torino, which was set in Detroit. Or perhaps we should just say Eastwood played himself, as he has always done.
 (go to article)

WJXT Jacksonville? - -- rivers paid more for a gallon of gas this past January than ever before.According to a new report from AAA, January's monthly average was $3.37, 28 cents more than January 2011, and 66 cents more than in 2010, when the monthly average was $2.71.

Gas prices in Jacksonville reached as high as $3.69 a gallon last month, according to the report.

The group says things won't be getting better anytime soon.

The national average is expected to surpass $3.50 a gallon this week, while Florida's average already hit $3.60. Prices could go up 60 more cents by May.

The price of gasoline continues to rise even as oil prices trade below $100 a barrel for the fourth consecutive week.

Closed refineries are being blamed for the rise in retail gas prices after multiple refineries shut down in the Nort  (go to article)

U.S. News & World Report -- Now that the unemployment rate is marching downward, the GOP might have to find another economic woe to harangue President Obama about. If they look to their local gas pump, they could be in luck.

Thanks to tensions in the Middle East and refinery closures stateside, experts are projecting gasoline prices to jump 60 cents by Memorial Day. That's on top of an 11-cent spike over the past four weeks on the already sky-high gas prices Americans saw in January, the highest on record.

Experts say prices could even jump to $5 per gallon in cities such as New York and Chicago, and that pain at the pump could translate into some pain at the polls for Obama.
 (go to article)

Associated Press -- Chemicals giant Solvay hailed Monday the successful entry into service in Flanders of what it said was the largest fuel cell of its type in the world.

A super-battery that produces enough electricity to power nearly 1,400 homes, the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell has been producing clean electricity at a "steady rate" for weeks at a SolVin plant part-owned by Germany's BASF in Antwerp, northern Dutch-speaking Belgium.

SolVin is a market leader in vinyl, or PVC production.

The fuel cell converts the chemical energy from hydrogen into clean electricity through an electrochemical reaction with oxygen, and "has generated over 500 MWh in about 800 hours of operation," Solvay said in a news release.

The company said this equates to the electricity consumption of 1,370 families over  (go to article)

msnbc.com -- Just three years after the automaker drove into government-run bankruptcy, requiring a massive taxpayer-funded bailout to keep it in business, General Motors is setting its sights on making over $10 billion a year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reports that GM is already on track to achieve that goal, citing company sources that the Journal said have seen the company’s 2011 fourth-quarter results, which are due to be reported next week. GM is set to report net income of about $8 billion, its highest ever, and nearly twice the
 (go to article)

Msnbc.com -- ExxonMobil Corp. posted fourth-quarter net income Tuesday of $9.4 billion, up 2 percent from the same quarter a year ago and slightly above market expectations, helped by rising crude oil prices.

It's also more money than The Bahamas' annual GDP, according to the CIA Factbook.

The net income (excluding special items) equates to $1.97 a share, up from $1.85 per share in the comparable quarter. Revenue for the largest U.S. oil company rose 16 percent to $121.61 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.96 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

 (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- California has the most expensive red-light camera tickets in the world; and the tickets are so steep, according to Kevin Fagan, reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, that one camera in Oakland generates more than $3 million annually.

According to Fagan and the traffic-watch site TheNewspaper.com, anyone in California photographed violating a red light pays a fine of $480 and no other jurisdiction in the U.S. has a tab that high. The second-highest fine in the U.S. is $250, Fagan says.

California's Dept. of Finance estimates that red-light cameras bring in more than $80 million annually to the state and $50 million to cities and counties. Not all $480 from each ticket goes to the cities or counties that authorize...  (go to article)

autoblog -- Chinese automakers imitating Ford F-150  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- YINKA IBUKUN
The Associated Press

Published: February 6th, 2012 01:52 AM
Last Modified: February 6th, 2012 02:31 AM

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - The burning inferno of what used to be a Chevron Corp. natural gas rig still stains the night's sky orange more than two weeks after the rig caught fire, and no one can say when it will end as swarms of dead fish surface.

The environmental damage is hitting a region whose poor still rely on the delta's muddy waters for survival. A nearby clinic remains overrun with patients who are showing up with skin irritations and gastrointestinal problems.

"The community here has no other source of water apart from the river water, which on its own isn't even safe enough to drink, but the pollution has made the water even worse," said Dr. Oladipo Folorunso, the  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- CHUKCHI SEA: Regulatory hurdles have to be cleared; machinery is being upgraded.

By DAN JOLING
Associated Press

Published: February 5th, 2012 10:48 PM
Last Modified: February 5th, 2012 10:49 PM

It's the billion-dollar question in Alaska for 2012: Will this be the year Shell Oil begins large-scale offshore exploratory drilling in Arctic waters?

Two months into 2012, the oil giant is beyond the lead time it said it needed to assemble the flotilla of support vessels that must accompany drill ships to leases in the remote Chukchi and Beaufort seas. But Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby remains hopeful drilling can begin when Arctic Ocean ice melts this summer, even as he awaits a green light from regulators.

"There is clearly more certainty with the regulatory process than we've had  (go to article)

KMSP -- Gasbuddy.com predicts gas prices will hit $3.55 per gallon by the end of February and $4 by Memorial Day weekend.  (go to article)