Deepwater Oil Spill - a little more progress

Travelling today we discovered that all the hotels in Urbana are full, due to a softball tournament, so this will be short. One thing that a couple of relatively gentle Hurricane seasons lulls us into forgetting, is that when the nucleating storms start to crank up, they can come quite regularly for a significant period of time. Back in 2005, for example, the National Hurricane Center ran out of normal alphabetical names for the storms. I mention that because, while Alex, the first storm of the season, is now landing and crossing the Yucatan Peninsula, there is already another area of concern forming in the Atlantic.


Back in the Gulf,

For the first 12 hours on June 26 (midnight to noon), approximately 7,570 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 4,070 barrels of oil and 28.3 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

On June 25, total oil recovered was approx. 24,550 barrels:
approx. 16,340 barrels of oil were collected,
approx. 8,210 barrels of oil were flared,
and approx. 54.5 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

Total oil recovered from both the LMRP Cap and Q4000 systems since they were implemented is approx. 391,000 barrels. An additional 22,000 barrels were collected from the RIT tool earlier in May bringing the total recovered to approx. 413,000 barrels.

And your Federal Government want you to know that they are in charge:

BP has finished installing the first free standing riser, which has greater survivability than a fixed riser and will be connected to a third vessel arriving at the site of the wellbore next week, the Helix Producer—a redundancy measure also taken under the direction of the federal government.

The relief well has reached a point where the well needs to be cased and lined, and that is in hand. As the depths get closer to that of the original well (RW at 16,400 ft original well 18,000 ft) I suspect that there may be a little more care than usual taken to ensure that this cement job is good. And once that is complete, then as the drill begins to advance further the “ranging”operation will continue.

Given stated concerns over the use being made of foreign aid, the Coast Guard Joint Command also wants you to know that

To date, the administration has leveraged assets and skills from numerous foreign countries and international organizations as part of this historic, all-hands-on-deck response, including Canada, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and the European Union's Monitoring and Information Centre.

And finally (in more senses than one) the Solar Car Race is over. The results for today were:

Results for the last stage of the Solar Car Race.

These numbers should be added to those after the second stage. They show that Michigan won the race. Minnesota was second and the German team from Bochum third.

And so, as the ROVs work to attach new risers to the well, and prepare for a cap change later in the week, we will move on.

Sorry that the temperature data is missing again this week, but now that the RAW data is available I would like to more closely look at it before putting another post up on the topic.

Deepwater Oil Spill - Weather looks worse, as the solar race goes on

The weather situation in the Gulf is getting a little worse, as the National Hurricane Center has now classified the wave I have been writing about recently as Tropical Depression 1, with a second area of low pressure forming further out into the Atlantic.


Once the storms are identified this way, then the NHC begins to provide tracking information, and this is the current prediction for the storm track. I have put a red square where the Deepwater Horizon well is roughly located.


The white zone around the path shows where winds will rise to over 50 knots. At the briefing today Admiral Allen noted that when the winds are predicted to reach 40 knots in the area, then 120 hours before that occurs the rigs will be disconnected and moved to a safe area.

Also in the briefing the Admiral explained the location of the initial well and the relief well (RW) (one relative to the other) in a little more detail. Now that the initial location of the well has been established, the RW is drilling back downwards. But every so often it will stop and:

This is where they withdraw the drill pipe and put down an electrical cable into the end of the wellbore, and they put out an electrical signal, and they actually could pick up the magnetic field around the wellbore. This tells them how close they are getting.

They have made contact with this electromagnetic field. What they will do is continue to drill down in short intervals, withdraw the pipe, put that sensing device down, and slowly close on the wellbore to the point where they're ready to do the intercept drilling.

This last part takes some time, because they only do several hundred feet at a time, withdraw the drill pipe, and then put the sensor down to figure out how close they're coming. After a series of these readings, they can have a very precise idea of how close they are to the wellbore and then how to actually turn the drill in and make the intercept. But then we'll get much slower, because they have to basically drill, withdraw the drill pipe and put the sensor down.
They also have a vessel standing by that's full of mud on the top, in the event they get really close, they could potentially knick the wellbore they could actually put mud down to control any hydrocarbons that might come out.

Regarding the longer-term containment, we should by next week have the additional vessel in place to start producing off of the kill line. That's the other line that's available to bring oil to the surface. That will bring us the three production vessels and the 53,000-barrel capacity we were looking for by the end of June.

In the change to a new cap that is planned for next week, there are three different designs that are being considered for installation. The ROVs are currently hooking up the hoses to the new distribution system that will ultimately feed four risers.

The recovery operation has returned to collecting about 24 kbd:

For the first 12 hours on June 25 (midnight to noon), approximately 7,870 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 4,230 barrels of oil and 27.5 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

On June 24, total oil recovered was approx. 23,725 barrels
• approx. 15,785 barrels of oil were collected,
• approx. 7,940 barrels of oil were flared,
• and approx. 54.7 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

In the solar car race, the final staging stop before the final tomorrow has been reached in Normal, OK with the official times for the first two stages being posted at the race website .

The current times are (unofficially from the Michigan web site

Michigan . . .25:15 (hours and minutes)
Minnesota . . . . ..27:27
Bochum . . . . . . 27:37
Stanford . . . . . . 28:52
Missouri S&T . . 29:40
Calgary . . . . . . .30:21
Kaohsiung . . . . 32:48
New Platz . . . . . 41:37
Kentucky . . . . . 42:00

And these are the only cars to complete the third stage.

Posting will be a little shorter over the next few days as we drive East, but I will try to at least include the daily oil production, the end of the solar car race and further developments if relevant in the weather (but hopefully not for the volcano).

Deepwater Oil Spill - Future storms, current production, the relief well and the car race

Perhaps the most worrying thing that has happened in the past 24-hours is the change in designated color of the storm moving through the Caribbean towards the Gulf of Mexico. It is not that long ago that the National Hurricane Center had colored it yellow, but now, more ominously it is red. (Which indicates a greater probability of bad weather). This is unfortunate given that it appears that almost all the oil from the well is now being captured.

Storm potential over the Gulf - 24th June

The discussion of this developing problem will, however, become more pertinent once the storm enters the Gulf, and so I will leave the topic until then. In the meanwhile the collection of oil from the cap seems to have returned to the status before the cap was removed.

For the first 12 hours on June 24 (midnight to noon), approximately 7,215 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 4,040 barrels of oil and 27.2 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

On June 23, total oil recovered was approx. 16,830 barrels:
• approx. 8,300 barrels of oil were collected,
• approx. 8,530 barrels of oil were flared,
• and approx. 36.7 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

However when the cameras on the ROVs are examined the picture is a little different from earlier.
The camera on the Enterprise ROV2, for example at 9:50 pm is showing no oil leaking from under the cap.

View of the cap 9:50 pm June 24, showing no leak on the Enterprise ROV side of the cap.

In contrast there is still some volume leaking on the Skandi ROV2 side of the cap – but the body of the cap can be clearly seen, suggesting that the draw-off of the oil and gas is reaching the totality of the flow.

View of the cap and leak from the opposite side (Skandi ROV2) where the body of the cap can be clearly be seen, suggesting that almost all of the flow is now being captured, since the oil and gas leaking out are much reduced in flow.

However both these views do not show what is happening at the top of the cap, where the vents are that allow oil and gas to escape from the top of the cap. But this suggests that the well flow is coming more under control, and that as the four new riser pipes are put into place, and more flow is extracted through the choke and kill lines, that the leak into the Gulf can be reduced to almost zero, which will then happen as the new cap is put into place next week.

I wanted to clarify a little more what I am referring to as the End Game for the drilling of the relief wells. In his remarks the other day, Admiral Allen said:

they're going to try and intercept somewhere around between 16,700 and 17,000 feet. We will confirm that for you and put out a statement tomorrow. They don't have to go clear to the reservoir, which is at 18,000 feet, and what they're going to do is they're going to close in and very slowly close to that point where they will then drill through the wellbore casing, and if they need to, drill through the pipe itself. But you are right; they'll be slightly above the level of the reservoir.

And subsequently he talked about “ranging” to find the exact position of the original well. To do this the relief well has come in relatively horizontally and electrical pulses have been sent down the casing of the original well. I believe that the connections to allow this were being monitored by the Skandi ROV1 until earlier this evening when it moved away.

Skandi ROV1 showing the electrical connections (lhs) to the plate allowing the electrical pulses to be transmitted down the casing.

As the electrical current flow down the casing it will (as Faraday demonstrated, as you no doubt all remember from High School Physics – grin) generate a magnetic field around the path. By including the appropriate instruments on the relief well drill string, it is possible to therefore locate the original well with a much higher degree of precision than from the original dead reckoning of the well location.

Once this has been done, then the well will swing back down to vertical and drill down until it is close to the desired depth, when it will again turn horizontal and drill over to intersect the well. At this point they hope to hit on the centerline of the casing so that they can mill through it, although should they be slightly off they can (as I noted earlier use penetrating charges to create the flow path for the mud to enter the well.

Projected future path of the relief well

On a lighter note I went over to the start of the solar car race today, and there was a little excitement, first the car from Bochum had a tire problem and could not leave the gate on time, and thereafter a second car had a problem just after leaving the gate. Much excitement for a few moments, and then the Germans had their car fixed and were away about 15 minutes behind the pack.

The next stop was Alton and the times for the cars making it there are reported to be:

1) Michigan . . . . 20:27 (hours and minutes)

2) Minnesota . . . . 21:33

3) Bochum . . . . .22:29

4) Missouri S&T 24:31

5) Calgary . . . . 24:43

6) Kaohsiung . . 27:03

7) Kentucky . . 35:53

The cars had made it to Alton by 2 pm, (first 5 cars in Michigan, Minnesota, Stanford, S&T, Germany.) but there was some problem with the road, because of earlier flooding. Following that check-point the cars have continued, with Missouri being close to Springfield, IL. There is a rumor that Minnesota has passed Michigan. Northwestern have yet to make Alton and are 260 miles from the next stage stop, at Normal, IL, which they need to reach within the 7 hours of racing tomorrow.

Deepwater Oil Spill - Entering the old well, and the solar car race

UPDATE 3 pm: I have looked at the fuller comments that were apparently made at the phone conference this morning about the need to remove the plug from the Blow-Out Preventer (BOP) (sorry I missed it since I was watching MO S&T pass Calgary in the solar car race) and I am not sure that it was necessarily an ROV bumping the cap that closed a valve and caused the problem. For those reading earlier posts I have commented on how, even in fast flows, precipitation can close nozzles, and back on May 10th I posted pictures showing how precipitation can close pipes and nozzles. The blockage that caused the removal of the cap may thus have a similar cause, and can, in the short term possibly be remediated best by just pulling the cap to the surface, cleaning it and the feed lines and sending it back down. I'll put up a separate post as soon as I can check some more, and then get it written. end UPDATE

As the fleet above the Deepwater Horizon well begins to build, the new daily production total for oil has almost reached 26 kbd.

For the first 12 hours on June 22 (midnight to noon), approximately 8,195 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 5,045 barrels of oil and 27.2 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

On June 21st, total oil recovered was approx. 25,830 barrels:
• approx. 15,560 barrels of oil were collected,
• approx. 10,270 barrels of oil were flared,
• and approx. 52.2 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

• The fleet above the well as the collection system begins to change.

The Helix Producer will be collecting oil from the BOP and feeding it to the Loch Rannoch for storage. Note the preparation of underwater dispersant tanks, in case the fleet has to abandon the site due to an approaching hurricane. Speaking of which, the picture of the Gulf hasn’t changed much since yesterday, questions on the possibility of a hurricane being formed by the end of next week remain in the air.


BP is giving the money from the sale of the oil to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, with the first check (for $5 million) already on its way.


I was asked today why there need to be two different ways of getting into the casing at the bottom of the existing well. And why the relief well had to make a bend to come into contact with the original well at right angles. Well the reason that this is so, is that the initial intent is to use a milling or drilling tool to go through the steel casing. Now the casing is not that large in diameter, and so the surfaces curve away from the closest point of contact. As a result, if the relief well does not come in so that it is aligned with a diameter of the old well, then it will strike the edge of the casing at a very shallow angle.

The analogy that I used was to consider that you want to drill a hole through a piece of wood. Normally you set the drill up so that it drills down perpendicular to the wood, and the hole is made. But if the drill was set at a very shallow angle to the wood (say 10 degrees or less) then as you tried to push the drill into the wood, it might bend along the wood surface instead. Push hard enough and you will break the drill bit. Starting a hole in rock is often referred to as “collaring” the hole. In jack-leg drilling, which often occurs on a relatively rough rock surface, the drill bit is held against the rock with one hand, while the other slowly starts the drill, until the “collar” is established. It is very difficult to establish a collar on a very shallow angle, particularly if the drill bit is at the end of a three-mile long piece of pipe.

This is why, if the relief well drill comes up against the side of the casing, and it is not aligned so that it can drill into the old well without glancing off the casing, that the crew has another string to their bow. (And this is taken from an earlier Tech talk on Completing and Perforating a Well)

And this is where Her Majesty's Explosive (HMX) comes in. Small, specially designed, explosive charges, known as shaped charges are now put together into specifically designed charge packages, and lowered down into the well into the completion zone.

Arrangement of shaped charges (the yellow cylinders) – when the explosive goes off the cones collapse and small liquid metal jets shoot out of the open end, through the casing, concrete and into the rock, creating a channel. (Core Labs)

Here they are detonated, sending small jets of metal against the wall of the casing and perforating the steel and concrete into the surrounding rock. There is an animation that shows the jet being produced (see also information here) .

Representation of shaped charges firing and penetrating the casing, cement and wall (OSHA

As I have described it, this normally gives the passage for the well to flow out of the rock and into the well bore. In this case it has, instead, opened a path from the relief well into the well, rather than the reverse. It will be through these vents that the high density mud will be injected into the well to start the kill.

Looking at the ROV cameras tonight just as I go to post this it seems as though they are starting to hoist the old broken riser to the surface, unless they are examining the riser that is currently coming out of the Enterprise – but this has been embedded in sediment, and so is likely to be the old riser. Seen through Enterprise ROV 1). The flow out of the bottom of the LMRP cap continues to get less. I can now see considerably more of the wall of the cap through Skandi ROV 2 than I have been able to see in the past, because the cloud of oil and gas is diminished.

For those interested in Iceland, there was a 3-point trembler up by Loki but there is something of this size several times a month, and otherwise the island is relatively calm.

And as for the solar car race (and I might have some pictures tomorrow) there has been a little change in the order. The cars raced to Jefferson City – where they arrived over the course of the afternoon, had to wait for a while and then the leaders took off for Rolla – where they should arrive at about 10 am in the morning. The current order at the Jefferson City checkpoint is unofficially the following - times are total driving time to Jeff from Broken Arrow:

1) Michigan 12:18
2) Minnesota 13:12
3) Bochum 13:21
4) Calgary 14:30
5) Missouri University of Science and Technology 14:58
6) Stanford 15:312
7) Kaohsiun 16:51
8) Northwestern 22:17

Deepwater Oil Spill - The Admiral on casing and connections, and an update or two

I am following a number of different events this week, and so today is as much a set of updates, as anything. Firstly the oil in the Gulf.

For the first 12 hours on June 21 (midnight to noon), approximately 8,410 barrels of oil were collected and approximately 5,015 barrels of oil and 25.3 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

On June 20, total oil recovered was approx. 23,290 barrels:
• approx. 14,570 barrels of oil were collected,
• approx. 8,720 barrels of oil were flared,
and approx. 48.3 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared.

Total recovery was slightly down on June 20 due to shut-ins from a lightning storm in the area of the Enterprise and Q4000 heading changes to accommodate wind shifts.

One of the concerns in the Gulf relates to the arrival of a hurricane, and the National Hurricane Center is showing the development of an area of low pressure that could cause problems later in the week. It has changed from yellow to orange in the past day.

National Hurricane Center


Admiral Allen held a telephone conference call today. In this he mentioned that the deeper relief well has now reached 10,677 ft. They intend sending electrical pulses down the casing of the existing well (WW), which will induce an electro-magnetic field that will help locate it and allow the relief well (RW) to be steered towards it. This will start about now, and will allow a much more accurate estimate of position than they now have. The RW operation is currently scheduled for the second week of August

Given concerns over the integrity of the borehole, Admiral Allen specifically noted (in response to a question from the AP) that during Top Kill they had evaluated the highest pressure that they could use in injecting mud, without impacting the integrity of the casing. When they reached that pressure, without being able to kill the well, then they stopped the operation. But that did not damage the wellbore, and though there may be a problem with the wellbore near the top there is no way to check it, and thus they will rely on the bottom-up filling with mud. This will exert less pressure on the casing, and if, at that time, there is a casing failure it will be with the well full of mud, and thus of less consequence. It is also why they don’t want to cap the well at the surface now. They are capturing the oil and gas, and the RW will be able to perform a safer kill.

Apparently the vents on the top of the LMRP cap are still open, and the 23,000 plus bd that is being produced does not count the amount that is still being vented. However they are bringing in another vessel so that they can tap into the kill line out of the BOP (they are currently only producing through the vent and the choke lines). That will allow an increase in volume collected to a capacity level of 53,000 bd sometime next week.

Following the tests on unbolting with the ROVs the new plan is to unbolt the current cut riser segment and then bolt the new cap onto the top of the BOP. That will then produce through 4,000 ft-long flexible risers (rather than the current rigid pipe) and should be in place by the middle of July. (With a capacity at that time in the 60,000 to 80,000 bd range). This will give the flexibility of totally sealing the end and directing the flow up the risers. BP has been tasked to put instruments that will measure flow into the new cap. The current intent is to carry this change through in the next 7 – 10 days.

He noted that there is no sign of ongoing erosion, and that the BOP is tilting at an angle of 10 - 12 degrees.

In regard to the fielding of the suction barges he said that the Coast Guard had carried out a safety inspection and found some safety issues with electrical grounding, and the barges were kept in port until those had been fixed. Which they now have been, and the barges are being used.

Two different procedures are also now being described for connecting between the RW and the WW. In one option the RW will intersect the well, and break through the rock wall of the well. Then a path will be milled through the casing to inject mud to fill the well, before pumping in cement, at the bottom of the WW to totally kill production.

If there are problems with the connection, and it is not a good intersection, then perforating charges will be used to penetrate between the two wells and provide the pathways for the mud and then the cement. This process also allows the area around the bottom of the RW to be separated from the main well with a packer, if it is needed, as extra protection.

To complete the updates for the evening: The Solar Car race had a slight change in order as they reached the Topeka checkpoint: (The times taken to get there from Broken Arrow are, in hours and minutes)

1) Michigan 7:25
2) Minnesota 7:50
3) Bochum 8:05
4) Calgary 8:41
5) Missouri S&T 9:21
6) Stanford 9:50
7) Koahsiung 10:31
8) New Paltz 11:44
9) Kentucky 12:30
10) Northwestern 13:22

Iowa and Texas-Austin are still in the race. After getting to Topeka the teams rested, and then tomorrow will leave Topeka and head, via Jefferson City, to Rolla, where they will rest on Wednesday evening.

And for those who wonder about the volcanoes in Iceland, the areas of concern are, at least for the last few days, relatively quiescent.

The Solar Car Race

With all the focus on the oil spill over the last few weeks, and my usual Sunday posts relating to coal at the moment, I am taking time for a short break with a change in topic. Today the solar car race starts its way across the country. With cars in the race that can now exceed speeds of 105 mph the race each day may be a little shorter than it used to, when cars limped along at 15 mph and similar slower speeds.

The 2010 American Solar Challenge (ASC2010) is a competition to design, build, and drive solar-powered cars in a cross-country time/distance rally event. Teams compete in a 1100 mile drive from Broken Arrow, OK to Naperville, IL. The route has been chosen to combine pieces of old routes used in previous events, giving a bit of an historical tribute for the 20 years of organized events in North America.

Solar car Route
UPDATE: I have put the times for the first 10 cars to arrive in Neosho according to the U of Michigan. The cars had to wait an hour there, and then drove on with Michigan now parked for the evening near Topeka. Kaohsiung is not far behind them, with the next block of cars parked for the evening near Butler, MO.

The race today has the cars starting in a sequence that was defined by their performance in the Solar Grand Prix described below. There were 17 cars entered and 14 qualified for the race. (Oregon did not qualify)



The race today starts at noon in Broken Arrow, OK and will end in the grounds of Crowder College in Neosho, MO. The full schedule is:

Start in Broken Arrow, OK; must reach Neosho, MO checkpoint Mon, June 21: Finish in Topeka, KS Tue, June 22, 9 AM: Start in Topeka, KS; must reach Jefferson City, MO checkpoint Wed, June 23: Finish in Rolla, MO Thu, June 24, 9 AM: Start in Rolla, MO; must reach Alton, IL checkpoint Fri, June 25: Finish in Normal, IL Sat, June 26, 10 AM: Start in Normal, IL; finish in Naperville, IL

The rules for the race are that the cars have solar panels covering the car, and batteries inside the car, so that they can continue driving through clouds and rain. This can require considerable strategy since a period without much sun can leave the car stranded by the roadside until it is either towed into the finish line, or the sun comes out and the batteries recharge. Adjusting speed to keep going through those outages becomes critical to overall success, if the race is run under bad weather. (Which it was one year, Rolla won that one).

MO S&T solar car

If the car finishes the route for the day early it can recharge its batteries while waiting for other cars to catch up, within specified hours. The race has great camaraderie and teams have been known to lend their competitors parts to keep them in the race.

Since I will likely be trying to find out what is happening most of this afternoon, there will not be a coal post today – I’ll restart them after the race is over (it ends Saturday). There is some family interest in this given that the Engineer is supporting Northwestern and I reckon that the Missouri team will, again, show their quality in the end.

Prior to the race there was a Grand Prix, down in Cresson Texas.

FSGP is a track race, which also serves as a qualifier for the road race. The top teams in FSGP, which complete at least 100 laps in a single day, or any two consecutive day total of 150 laps, will automatically qualify for ASC. Only Official Laps will count towards qualifying mileage. The track is 1.7 miles.

In addition, each solar car driver must complete a minimum of 25 laps of driving during FSGP to qualify to drive in ASC.

The order of the race was set as a result of the Grand PRix, with the fastest lap times being set by Stanford and Minnesota, who tied with a time of 2.05 minutes for the 1.7 mile course.

Because of the tightness of some of the designs, the race has its share of dramatic moments. Kentucky had a front wheel spindle shear, Oregon had electrical problems that couldn't be fixed, but those on the Western Michigan car were. (As was Missouri's parking brake problem).

The race started at noon, with cars leaving at minute intervals toward Neosho. Their arrival into the check-point at Crowder College is reported to be:

1. Michigan at 2:37
2. Bochum (Germany) 2:49
3. Minnesota 2:55
4 Kaohsiung (Taiwan) 2:56
5. Calgary 3:??
6. SUNY 3:25
7. Missouri S&T 3:38
8. Stanford 3:51
9. Kentucky 4:37
10. Northwestern 4:37

I believe that they had to stop racing at 5 pm. But could recharge the batteries until 8 pm.

P38. Pick Points

Half-a-dozen or so stories of interest:

Until recently if you had tried to talk to me about solar cars, I would have only been able to think of the cars in the American Solar Challenge, a biennial race that takes cars built by university students in races that last started in Dallas and finished in Calgary. Our office has a small glass memento for helping Principia College, who finished second last year (well OK, our car finished 7th). But these are all flat, single person vehicles that can reach (and exceed) the speed limit, but are fragile enough to require protective chase cars. Thomas Friedman describes driving around New Delhi this weekend in an electric car, with solar panels on the roof and 3 other folk in the car. The car is a plug-in electric with a 90 mile range which had just finished a 3,500-km road tour though when you see the size of the car, rather them than me. (The car sells for Rupees 399,343. ($8,196). That does not include the modifications needed for the road trip). The Tesla electric car that is to be made in the United States is waiting for a $450 million federal loan to get started. It is expected to come from the $25 billion loan program for retooling U.S. factories and they hope to get the money in the next “four to five months.” The current plan is for cars to be on the market by 2011 – for a mere $109,000. They have a thousand customers on their waiting list. (If that’s a tad much you might want to chat with John Hendrickson, who made one out of a rusty VW, it does 50 miles per charge and uses gel batteries).

India continues to move ahead with its planned expansion of nuclear power , with two new plants as part of a 2.000 MW expansion being announced as part of a move towards 20,000 MW targeted for 2020, as a way of supplying a country that is currently short about 16% of demand at peak hours. By 2030 the target will rise to 60,000 MW. Uranium will largely come from Russia , though U.S. firms are anxious to become involved, and French firms hope to be able to do some reprocessing since some of the uranium will come from there. Apparently Pakistan was getting some help from Japan as well as China with their nuclear program. Russia is also helping Turkey with its plan for four new nuclear reactors. China is also switching its power emphasis more towards nuclear .

Even the Russians are now taking heed of energy efficiency, though at the moment it appears more of an editorial opinion than a set of programs, though the Germans have been brought in as part of a collaborative program . They also have just opened production at a new oil complex in Western Siberia at Uvat, some 1,250 east of Moscow. (You can see it on Google Earth). Collectively it will produce, in time, some 200,00 mbd roughly. Russian auto production was down 80% in January, but it should be remembered that they take their Christmas break in January, and to help with lagging demand some factories just extended the holiday. Others have been waiting for parts. But this is a y-o-y drop. Natural gas dropped 10% and coal 18%. Checking back in on the most recent numbers relative to those I quoted on the 6th: oil production on the 14th was 1,325,000 tons, (9.71 mbd) in-country refining was 658,000 tons (4.8 mbd); they produced 1,721 million cu m of natural gas, and 739,000 tons of coal. Oil is about the same, but natural gas and coal are down over the last week. Had it not been for the Yuzhno-Khilchuyu production coming on line then Lukoil production would have peaked.

In a move to corner more of the coal bed methane properties in Australia BG Group has raised its offer for Pure Energy Resources. The gas is in north-east Australia and would provide feedstock for LNG facilities that would market the product into Asia. Shell who partnered with Arrow Energy, the BG rival in the bid, is planning a new LNG facility in the region. Japan meanwhile is signing more contracts with Indonesia for future LNG supplies and is being reassured by Gazprom that it can count on it for the supplies from Sakhalin Island. At least this doesn’t go through a Ukrainian pipeline. BG may, however, have another market in mind, since they have just leased an import terminal in India which, as noted above, is greatly in need of more energy. It should be ready to import cargoes by the end of March. In the United States, a new design has been submitted to the FERC for the terminal at Weavers Cove in Massachusetts.

The value of Norwegian gas exported in January was 29.4% higher than the comparable figure last year. And last year at this time they hit a record also. The difficulties in expanding production into the Barents Sea are not seen as a barrier.

More stories can be found at The Energy Bulletin and Drumbeat at The Oil Drum.