Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

GasBuddy Blog -- The Energy Information Administration released its weekly report on the status of petroleum inventories in the United States today.

Here are some highlights:

CRUDE INVENTORIES:
Crude oil inventories increased by 0.3 million barrels to a total of 394.1 million barrels. At 394.1 million barrels, inventories are 6.8 million barrels above last year (1.8%) and are well above the upper limit of the average range.

GASOLINE INVENTORIES:
Gasoline inventories increased by 0.2 million barrels to 221.7 million barrels. At 221.7 million barrels, inventories are up 19.0 million barrels, or 9.4% more than last year. Here's how individual regions and their gasoline inventory fared last week: East Coast (-1.5mb); Midwest...  (go to article)

CNNMoney -- Chrysler Group reversed course and agreed to a recall of 2.7 million Jeeps Tuesday, giving in to the government's request in the final hours before a deadline.
Chrysler stated last week that it would not comply with the recall demand, arguing that the vehicles do not have a high risk of catching fire when struck from behind. It continued to claim Tuesday that the vehicles -- 1993 to 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002 to 2007 Jeep Libertys -- are safe.

Its statement said it will recall the vehicles for inspection and, in "some cases," will "provide an upgrade to the rear structure of the vehicle to better manage crash forces in low-speed impacts."

"Chrysler Group recognizes that this matter has raised concerns for its customers and wants to take further steps, in coordination with  (go to article)

By Jeffrey Rissman, Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology | LiveScience.com -- Fossil fuels are formed from the remains of plants and animals that died hundreds of millions of years ago, buried and transformed by heat and pressure. Since these fuels require millions of years to form, for human purposes, the supply of fossil fuels on Earth is effectively fixed.  (go to article)

Bangor Daily News -- A resolve to ensure continued legislative oversight of the planning, creation and operation of an east-west highway in Maine caused dissention in the state Senate Tuesday night, where Democrats sought to control the process and Republicans said it’s a private venture that should be left alone.

The possibility of building an east-west highway in Maine has been debated for years, but gained traction when Cianbro Corp. CEO Peter Vigue started planning for it. Vigue, who proposes to pay for the more than $2 billion, 220-mile project with revenues from tolls, has said he hopes to have a detailed route proposed by the end of this year. The highway would run from Calais to Coburn Gore and provide a trucking route from the Canadian Maritimes to points west of Maine.

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Raleigh News & Observer -- A favorable House committee vote Tuesday moved North Carolina a step closer to setting highway speed limits as high as 75 mph, but some legislators worried that drivers really would get away with driving as fast as 85 mph.

Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Republican from Cary, called it an “unwritten rule."

“Everybody knows the reality is that on a 70, you go 80,” Dollar said at a House Transportation Committee meeting. “You can pretty well set your cruise control at 78 or so, and you’re not going to get a ticket."

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CNN Money -- Surging U.S. oil production and greater energy conservation are helping keep a lid on oil prices worldwide and may be limiting the sway OPEC holds over world markets.
U.S. oil output rose by 14% in 2012, BP reported last week in its annual statistical review. The million barrel-per-day jump in output was the largest increase for any country in 2012, and the fastest single year increase in U.S. history.

The tidal wave of oil coming out of the United States helped to [quench] the market's thirst," said Blake Clayton, a Fellow for Energy and National Security at Council on Foreign Relations. "Tremendous increases in energy efficiency in the United States and Europe are helping to soften the market."
Though currently teetering close to the $100-a-barrel mark, oil prices have not crossed ...  (go to article)

Science Daily -- June 17, 2013 — The vehicle looks like an electric scooter and zooms by almost without a sound. Its driver masters tight corners first and then safely brakes to a halt. He doesn't need to put his feet on the ground because the two rear wheels provide plenty of stability. Daniel Borrmann is satisfied with the first test drive of the Electromobile City Scooter. The new three-wheeled electric vehicle from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart is designed to open up new possibilities for the urban transportation of tomorrow.

Although electric scooters offer many advantages, a lot of motorists either cannot or do not want to make the switch for trips into town. They simply lack the experience of traveling on two wheels," says Borrmann. This is exactly where the  (go to article)

Rig Zone -- While the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will likely be unable to defend its position on both market share and prices in the wake of growing U.S. tight oil supply, growth in non-OPEC supply does not mean the United States will be immune from a disruption of Saudi Arabian oil exports, a policy expert told attendees at a June 12 forum at Rice University.

The U.S. shale boom changed the perception that Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) would dominate the global oil supply, shifting the center of the energy world back to America, said Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director for energy and sustainability at the University of California at Davis, at the Energy Market Globalization: Investment and Commodity Price Cycles and the Role of Geopolitic  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Natural gas rose for a third day in New York on forecasts for rising temperatures in the Northeast and Midwest that may boost demand from power plants.

Gas for July delivery gained as much as 0.6 percent to $3.929 per million British thermal units in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $3.926 per million Btu at 2:03 p.m. Singapore time. The contract jumped 0.8 percent yesterday to $3.905.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- One of China’s most polluted cities will limit vehicle ownership through a lottery, becoming the latest locality to do so in the world’s largest auto market as air quality and traffic congestion worsen.

Shijiazhuang, the capital of steel-producing Hebei province surrounding Beijing, will restrict the number of new vehicles to 100,000 this year and limit households to owning two cars, according to a Shijiazhuang Daily report posted on the local government’s website today. That quota will be cut to 90,000 in 2015, with a lottery being used to determine who can buy cars, the report said.  (go to article)

AP via USA Today -- European car sales had their worst May in 20 years as the region's recession drags on, the European automakers' association said Tuesday.

Passenger car demand for May dropped by 5.9% on the same month last year in the 27-country European Union to 1.042 million units, the lowest level for that month since 1993 when sales dropped below 1 million, according to new figures released by ACEA. For the first five months of the year, sales dropped 6.8% to 5.07 million.

After hitting a 17-year low in 2012 with a little over 12 million new registrations, European passenger car sales have continued to sag as the European economy struggles to recover from its debt crisis.

The economy of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro shrank by 0.2% in the first quarter of this year — the sixth ...  (go to article)

MarketWatch -- U.S. crude-oil futures rose on Wednesday after the release of data showing oil stockpiles declined, and ahead of expected comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve about the outlook for its stimulus efforts.

Crude for July delivery added 52 cents, or 0.5%, to $98.96 a barrel but had darted between small gains and losses earlier in the session.

Crude futures added to gains from late Tuesday, when they reached the highest settlement price in 2013 after the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. crude supplies dropped by 4.3 million barrels for the week ended June 14. A Platts survey of analysts had forecast a decline of 1 million barrels.

The API data were “supportive overall, with crude stocks falling more than expected on a combination of lower imports and higher refinery runs than ...  (go to article)

Financial Post -- In changes announced Tuesday, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said companies operating in the Atlantic would be on the hook for a maximum of $1-B in the event of a spill, up from $30-M previously

Arctic drillers, who face high costs and harsh operating conditions in the Canadian Beaufort Sea, would also be responsible for a $1-B limit, up from $40-M under existing rules

The changes come amid renewed interest from BP, Shell, Imperial Oil and Chevron in tapping offshore Atlantic and Arctic crude, and with new seismic work uncovering 3 large highly prospective oil fields in the Labrador Sea

There still will be unlimited liability in the event the operator is negligent or at fault, Oliver said, but we need to have a larger absolute amount so that there is no issue about responsibility  (go to article)

investing.com -- Investing.com - Oil futures nudged lower in Asian trading Wednesday following the release of weekly inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute as traders turned their heads to the end of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting later Wednesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for August delivery inched down 0.01% to USD98.67 per barrel in Asian trading Wednesday after settling up 0.37% at USD98.40 a barrel on Tuesday in the U.S. Crude continues to flirt with its highest levels of 2013 as well as nine-month highs.

After the close of U.S. markets Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. oil inventories dropped by 4.3 million barrels for the week ended June 14. Analysts expected a decline of 1 million barrels.  (go to article)

THE BLAZE -- Although it has been said the NSA’s programs collecting communication data is targeting foreigners to thwart potential terrorist activity, the Washington Post has an in-depth feature on a database that hits much closer to home for many Americans. In fact, many can look into their wallet and find the card that entered them into it in the first place — their state-issued photo ID.

The Post reports that 37 states use facial recognition in drivers license registrations. Twenty-six of these states also allow law enforcement — local, state and federal — to search or request searches of the database as photos could pertain to investigations.

Although some like Scott McCallum with the facial-recognition unit in Pinellas County, Florida, say the technology is meant to “benefit law enforcement...  (go to article)

Alaska Dispatch -- Republican chest-beating over the passage of a massive tax cut for the oil industry [2] continues, with Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, recently proclaiming in a joyous press release that more engineers are moving north to the promised land for work.

“With the recent passage of oil production tax reform, our workforce is already growing! And that includes professional engineers!" shouted Giessel, who represents voters from the Hillside in Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula.

But the official numbers raise questions about that argument, and a state licensing administrator said it is likely too early to tell how the tax cut is impacting the number of licensed engineers in Alaska.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- A 98-percent drop in the value of official UN-backed carbon credits is pushing sellers of emission offsets into the voluntary market, where prices are as much as 30 times higher.

The trend is a signal that many companies not required by law to cut their pollution are doing so anyway to bolster their corporate sustainability credentials.  (go to article)

Christian Science Monitor -- Oil and gas companies have begun to struggle to grow due to their inability to find skilled workers; and tactics such as offering large bonuses and building high-tech training facilities, have not helped.

Maersk Group, the giant energy and shipping company, is trying a new technique to train and encourage new work staff; it is offering a video game called “Quest for Oil: A Sub Surface Gaming Experience.”

In the game the player must make similar decisions to an oil executive in the real world. He must locate and drill into deep oil reserves situated in extreme environments, which vary from the cold, dangerous North Sea, to the blazing heat of the Qatari dessert. Gamers must explore the rocks, use 3D seismic maps, secure licenses, use realistic advice from a team of advisors, and reach ...  (go to article)

Popular Science -- Since long before the rise in big data, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has tracked the country’s energy consumption and production [thick lines]. The size of the gap between the two reflects how close the country is to energy independence. The EIA also projects energy production and usage into the future to help guide industry regulations and policy decisions. A computer program—which took the EIA nearly two decades to build and requires 35 analysts to run—generates its predictions [thin lines] based on current energy laws and regulations. While it’s impossible to predict influential events such as wars and recessions, the general trend suggests that since 2005—when the energy deficit [red] peaked—the U.S. is making more of its own energy and using less overall. “We as a societ  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- West Texas Intermediate crude traded near the highest price in nine months after an industry report showed U.S. stockpiles dropped last week.

Futures were little changed in New York after advancing 0.7 percent yesterday. U.S. crude inventories dropped by 4.3 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said. An Energy Information Administration report today may show supplies declined by 500,000 barrels, according to a Bloomberg survey. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to sign a statement at the Group of Eight summit calling for a “transitional government” in Syria.  (go to article)

The New Yorker -- I am not sure I gave much thought to nuclear power before 1979, when the accident at Three Mile Island made environmental apathy impossible—or, at least, detestable. But there are few more obvious signs that the world is moving in the wrong direction than an event that threatens to despoil the planet forever. To be for nuclear power after Three Mile Island (and, even worse, after the accident at Chernobyl, in 1986) was to be for corporations; for lying, callous governments; and for the inane notion that the benefits of new technologies always outweigh the risks. Nuclear power just wasn’t nature’s way, and who can be against nature?

That, to bend a phrase of Bill Clinton’s, depends on what the nature of nature is. If nature means continuing to melt the globe by wantonly burning fossil fuel  (go to article)

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/energy/article/California-budget-triples-refinery-inspectors-460835 -- California would nearly triple the number of oil refinery safety inspectors under a proposal on the governor's desk that backers say would help close regulatory gaps that federal investigators found played a role in a fire at a Chevron refinery last year.

One of more than two dozen budget-related bills — all expected to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown by the end of the month — would require the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA, the state's main agency overseeing refinery safety, to make refineries in California pay for at least 15 new plant safety inspectors. Four more would be hired with existing funds.

The state now has just seven inspectors. The added help would bring the total to 26 under the new budget. Still, even a beefed-up staff likely would ...  (go to article)

MSN News -- A 67-year-old Canadian man was fined $800 and lost his driving privileges for 45 days after driving 112 mph to dry his freshly washed car.

BLACK DIAMOND, Alberta — He was drying off his freshly washed car.

That's what the Canadian man told the Mounties when they stopped him for driving 112 mph south on Highway 22 south of Black Diamond in western Canada.

The driver, a 67-year-old who lives in the area, appeared in court Monday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Tuesday the judge fined the man $800 and suspended him from driving for 45 days.
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Hawaii News Now -- Tesoro Corporation is selling the state's largest refinery and its 31 gasoline stations in a deal valued at up to $350 million.

The sale to Par Petroleum of Houston will avert the shutdown of the 94,000 barrel per day Kapolei refinery and will save about 200 jobs.

Tesoro says it anticipates completing the sale in the third quarter 2013, subject to regulatory approval.

Lawmaker hope the deal will make Hawaii less susceptible to future shortages and large crude oil price swings.

he deal comes nearly six months after Tesoro announced it was shutting down the refinery and would sell its gas stations and terminal facilities to a company that import gasoline to Hawaii.

The shutdown would have left Hawaii with just one refinery: Chevron's 55,000 barrel per day plant, also in Kapolei.  (go to article)

Reuters -- Koch Pipeline Co LP may build a 250,000 barrel-per-day North Dakota-to-Illinois pipeline to move Bakken shale oil to markets, if enough shippers show interest, the company said on Tuesday.

If approved, the Dakota Express pipeline would start up in 2016 with an initial capacity of 250,000 bpd, Koch said.

Last November, ONEOK Partners LP shelved plans to build a 200,000 bpd pipeline to carry Bakken crude to the U.S. crude futures hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, for lack of shipper interest.

However, Koch's proposal would bypass the glutted hub for a different route to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

Koch said the company also will explore connecting to the proposed Eastern Gulf Crude Access Pipeline in Patoka, Illinois, a $1.5 billion joint venture of Energy Transfer Partners and Enbridge Inc, whi  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Starting this fall, people who drive electric vehicles should be able to travel the 138-mile route between Burlington, Vt. and Montreal without worrying they'll run short of a charge thanks to a planned electric vehicle charging corridor, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and Quebec Premier Pauline Marois announced in Montreal.

Initially the corridor will have more than 20 charging stations along the route, although it's expected the number of stations will increase.
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Global Research -- "The discovery in late 2010 of the huge natural gas bonanza off Israel’s Mediterranean shores triggered other neighboring countries to look more closely at their own waters. The results revealed that the entire eastern Mediterranean is swimming in huge untapped oil and gas reserves. That discovery is having enormous political, geopolitical as well as economic consequences. It well may have potential military consequences too.".........
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Fox News -- NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Three more employees of the truck stop chain owned by the Cleveland Browns' owner and Tennessee's governor pleaded guilty Tuesday in what authorities call a scheme to cheat trucking firms out of rebates.

Regional sales manager Kevin Clark pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court in Knoxville. Local media reported that account manager Holly Radford and salesman Jay Stinnett entered similar pleas later in the day.

Court records state Clark ''knowingly and voluntarily joined and participated in the conspiracy'' with others at Pilot Flying J, the country's largest diesel retailer, to short-change trucking companies between 2009 and this spring in order to increase Pilot profits and boost sales commissions.

Federal agents raided the privately held company's Knox  (go to article)

Financial Post -- Suncor, Canada’s No.1 oil company and now the biggest company by revenue, finished the first 3 months of 2013 on a high note, posting operating earnings of almost $1.4 B and cash flow of $2.3B

In the same week, it also declared a 54% hike to its dividend and agreed to buy back up to $2-B worth of stock in an effort to boost a long-suffering share price

The results followed a decision to permanently shelve its $11.6B Voyageur upgrading plant and then sold $1B worth of conventional natural gas properties in Western Canada

In 2002, 6 years before the bull run in commodity prices pushed oil past $147, Suncor ranked No.57 on the FP500 with revenues of $4.9B. By 2011, with the acquisition of Petro-Canada, Suncor vaulted to the No.2 with $39.6B. Last year’s take of $38.4B was unrivalled  (go to article)

Autoblog -- Chrysler made big news earlier in the month by refusing a recall request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty. Last week, NHTSA boss David Strickland countered by defending his agency's request for the recall of 2.7 million Jeep SUVs. Today marked the deadline for Chrysler to formally respond to NHTSA, and it seems that both parties have met in the middle with Chrysler inspecting and upgrading some of the affected vehicles without using the word "recall," which would constitute the admission of a defect; instead, Chrysler said that it is conducting a "voluntary campaign.  (go to article)

Houston Chronicle -- NOAA has released its seasonal forecast for the Gulf of Mexico dead zone — the area of low-oxygen waters off the Louisiana and Texas coasts where marine life has difficulty surviving.

The scientists predict the Gulf’s dead zone will be between 7,286 and 8,561 square miles. The high estimate would exceed the largest reported Gulf dead zone, 8,481 square miles in 2002. The dead zone typically peaks in July and August.

The dead zone is created by the delivery of excess nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, into the Gulf by the Mississippi from farms in the Midwest. These nutrients create large algae blooms which, upon decomposition, suck oxygen out of the water. In such conditions fish, shrimp and crabs are stressed and can sometimes die due to oxygen starvation.  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Chrysler abruptly agreed to recall 2.7 million older model Jeeps Tuesday, reversing a defiant stance and avoiding a possible public relations nightmare over fuel tanks that can rupture and cause fires in rear-end collisions.

In deciding on the recall, Chrysler sidestepped a showdown with government safety regulators that could have led to public hearings with witnesses providing details of deadly crashes involving the Jeeps. The dispute ultimately could have landed in court and hurt Chrysler's image and its finances.
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Bloomberg -- Gardendale, Texas, sits on the Permian Basin, the largest oil province in the United States. That makes it an unlikely site of anti-fracking protests and an even more unlikely bellwether for shale gas drilling activity in Europe and Asia. And yet it is.  (go to article)

InsideClimate News -- The grand old building in downtown Berlin has seen some of the worst of German history: aerial bombing in World War II, a close-up view of the Berlin Wall, service as communist East Germany's highest court. But on May 24 an ornate conference room in the Ministry of Economics and Technology served as the setting for the delivery of a report card on a new and more hopeful chapter in Germany history: the country's ambitious effort to run its economy on non-polluting energy.

Germany has gone farther than any other large industrial economy in decarbonizing its power sector. Already it derives more than 20 percent of its electricity from clean sources, and it's aiming to reach 80 percent by 2050. But the sheer scale of its Energiewende, or "energy transition," has caused skeptics here and abroa  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The U.S. oil boom is moving Congress closer than it has been in more than three decades to easing the ban on exporting crude imposed after the Arab embargo. Advances such as hydraulic fracturing are leading to record production that may outstrip refinery capacity within 18 months to three years, said Benjamin Salisbury, a senior energy policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp. in Arlington, Virginia. Net petroleum imports now account for about 40 percent of demand, down from 60 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department research unit.

Congress has limited oil exports since the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo triggered shortages that pushed up prices and led to long lines at gas stations. An increase in domestic production last year by a rec  (go to article)

fox -- Two-time defending American Solar Challenge champion the University of Michigan is hoping for a lopsided win at the world's top sun-powered car competition in Australia this year.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/06/18/university-michigan-unveils-asymmetrical-sun-powered-racing-car/#ixzz2WbNGhYyh  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Even if U.S. President Barack Obamaapproves the Keystone XL pipeline, Canadian crude oil probably will remain the cheapest in the world, hampering expansion of the country’s largest export industry.

Canadian oil prices are forecast to fall compared with world benchmarks because production from oil sands, fields of sand coated with heavy oil beneath about 90,000 square kilometers of boreal forest in northernAlberta, is estimated to more than double to 3.8 million barrels a day by 2022. Keystone, the 1,179-mile link from Alberta to Nebraska first proposed in 2008 and delayed in part by environmental activists, would only briefly relieve the glut.

The prospect of prices staying below other types of crude oil risks undermining investment in the Alberta oil sands, the world’s third-largest r  (go to article)

NBC news -- CHENGDU, CHINA -- The assembly line crept along at a glacial pace. For the next few months, the workers at the sprawling plant on the outskirts of the Sichuanese capital of Chengdu will be carefully trained before the first cars roll into Chinese showrooms.

If all goes according to plan, the factory will be running at a frantic rate. Long viewed as an after-thought in the global luxury market, Volvo Cars aims to challenge more established brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

At least, that’s the goal set by Geely, which purchased the Swedish maker from Ford Motor Co., three years ago. The ambitious Chinese conglomerate plans to invest at least $6 billion to rebuild Volvo, completely updating its product line-up and adding new plants to produce them, starting with the factory in Cheng  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- In a journey that has lasted nearly half a century, spanned the globe and elicited awe from generations of car lovers, Long Island's Irv Gordon has a phenomenal achievement in his sight: driving 3,000,000 miles in the same car – a shiny, red 1966 Volvo P1800.

"It's not about getting to the three million miles; it's about the trips that got me to the three million miles," Gordon said. "I never had a goal to get to one million, to two million. I just enjoyed driving and experiencing life through my Volvo.

"The best way to explore America is by car," Gordon added. "I challenge everyone to go out and see as much as possible. Find your own journey and reason to believe because you only have one life to live. No matter how many...  (go to article)

Motley Fool -- Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA ) has made a huge splash with its all-electric Model S luxury sedan -- its first big move in its effort to become the electric-car version of Germany's BMW (NASDAQOTH: BAMXF ) .

But now, BMW is making its own first move on to Tesla's turf. Executives said this week that BMW already had 100,000 people signed up to test drive the all-electric car it plans to launch this fall. Is it time for Tesla to worry? In this video, Fool.com contributor John Rosevear takes a closer look at BMW's new electric car -- and gives his take on how it's likely to affect Tesla's sales.
Tesla's plan to disrupt the global auto business has yielded spectacular results. But giant competitors are already moving to disrupt Tesla. Will the company be able to fend them off? The Motley  (go to article)

Wall Street Journal -- The latest battleground is North Carolina, where the Republican-controlled state Senate last month unanimously approved a measure that would block Tesla from selling online, its only sales outlet here. Tesla has staged whiz-bang test drives for legislators in front of the State House and hired one of the state's most influential lobbyists to stave off a similar vote in the House before the legislative session ends in early July.
Stephen Voss for The Wall Street Journal Tesla 'galleries' such as this one in McLean, Va., can show but not sell cars.
The focus of the power struggle between Mr. Musk and auto dealers is a thicket of state franchise laws, many of which go back to the auto industry's earliest days when industry pioneer Henry Ford began turning to eager entrepreneurs to help sell  (go to article)

South Coast Today -- "Continued operation of the wind turbines ... in excess of the limit set forth in the DEP noise regulations, during the hours of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., constitutes a nuisance which is injurious to the public health."  (go to article)

CNNMoney -- Chrysler Group will formally respond Tuesday to the government's request for a recall of 2.7 million Jeeps that safety officials say pose too great a risk of fire in a rear-end accident.
Chrysler stated last week that it will not comply with the recall demand, arguing that the vehicles are safe.

The automaker also claimed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's analysis is faulty and that most of the deaths involved high-speed accidents in which modifications to the gas tank of the vehicles would not have made a difference.

But if it does not comply with the recall, it faces the prospect of high-profile public hearings with testimony from both car safety advocates who have pushed for the recall, as well as the parents of children who burned to death in fires. Experts  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Legislators said Monday that a tentative agreement could provide $800 million for road and bridge work across South Carolina without raising taxes.

A three-part infrastructure compromise approved by a panel of House and Senate members would provide up to $141 million in state taxes toward infrastructure in the fiscal year that starts July 1. The measure was crucial for a separate panel reaching agreement hours later on the overall budget plan for 2013-14.

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Raleigh News & Observer -- When our legislators want to move fast, by golly, they move fast.

Take Sen. Neal Hunt’s proposal to let drivers go 75 mph on some North Carolina highways. It would bump up the state speed ceiling established 17 years ago at 70 mph.

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AP -- BAGHDAD — U.S. oil giant Chevron says it has signed a deal with Iraq’s Kurdish regional government to expand its oil exploration territory in the northern self-rule region.

The California-based company said in a statement emailed Tuesday that it acquired the rights to hunt in the Qara Dagh exploration block, which is located southeast of the regional capital Irbil.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The U.S. oil boom is moving Congress closer than it has been in more than three decades to easing the ban on exporting crude imposed after the Arab embargo.

Advances such as hydraulic fracturing are leading to record production that may outstrip refinery capacity within 18 months to three years, said Benjamin Salisbury, a senior energy policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp. in Arlington, Virginia. Net petroleum imports now account for about 40 percent of demand, down from 60 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department research unit.  (go to article)

Kansas City Star -- The United States, in a milestone that burnishes its growing energy reputation, for the first time in more than 50 years is exporting more gasoline than it imports.

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MarketWatch -- Futures prices for U.S. crude oil rose Tuesday, ahead of weekly data expected to show a decline in inventories.

Crude for July delivery added 24 cents, or 0.3%, to $98.01 a barrel.

Oil prices on Monday reversed course and fell 8 cents, with losses appearing to be triggered after the Financial Times reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to say he is close to tapering the central bank’s $85-billion-a-month in asset purchases.

Bernanke is scheduled to hold a press conference Wednesday after the conclusion of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, which will start later Tuesday.

Also, data due out later Tuesday are projected to show U.S. commercial crude-oil stocks declined 1 million barrels for the week ended June 14, according to a Platts survey of analysts.  (go to article)

Platts -- Global oil prices are unlikely to drop below $100/b until 2025, supported by OPEC's market management efforts and crude demand growth in Asia, Leonid Fedun, vice president of Lukoil said Tuesday, presenting key findings of the company's first public long-term global industry outlook.

"Under our estimates, prices aren't going to drop below $100/b, with the [oil pricing] dynamics to be determined by three factors...softening or hardening of the [US monetary] policies...growing demand [for crude] in Asia and, in the longer term, African markets, and OPEC's stabilization efforts," Fedun said in an interview with Russia's Business FM radio station.

The so-called shale boom in North America is unlikely to have a visible downward effect on oil prices, according to Lukoil's outlook, Fedun said.  (go to article)

AutoBlog -- CR, in a 27-page report ... estimates that drivers will save about $4,600 with the recently adopted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in place. CR basically figured that the average cost of a new car would rise about $2,000 but fuel use would drop enough to save $7,300 during the car's lifetime (higher taxes and maintenance will eat up the $700 difference between the gross savings of $5,300 and the stated figure of $4,600).  (go to article)