Exxon: Exploit U.S. energy abundance
Washington (UPI) Mar 13, 2015 -
U.S. policymakers are called on to adopt the energy policies necessary to take advantage of the new era of abundance, the chairman of Exxon Mobil said.
Some energy companies with a focus on exploration and production are advocating for a repeal of a ban on the export of some domestically-produced crude oil. The ban was enacted in the 1970s in response to an export embargo from Arab memb ...
more
Gorillas vs oil: DR Congo seeking way to explore at Virunga park
Kinshasa (AFP) March 15, 2015 -
In the Virunga national park, Africa's oldest natural reserve and home to the mountain gorilla, the endangered Great Ape and its habitat are under a new threat: oil exploration.
Even though the British petroleum company Soco says it has ended its project in the park, the government of Democratic Republic of Congo is not abandoning its plans to exploit potential oil reserves there.
Kinsha ...
more
Japan lower house passes record $793 bn budget
Tokyo (AFP) March 13, 2015 -
Japan's powerful lower house of parliament on Friday passed a record $793 billion budget, including fresh economy-boosting stimulus and more defence spending as Tokyo eyes an increasingly assertive China.
The government plans to spend 96.34 trillion yen for the fiscal year to March 2016 under the budget which will now be sent to the upper house for final approval. Passage is expected within ...
more
Microsoft seen as gaining in cooling tablet market
Washington (AFP) March 12, 2015 -
Global sales of tablet computers will see only slim growth in 2015, in a further cooling of a segment that was red-hot two years ago, a market tracker said Thursday.
IDC said it expects tablet sales growth of just 2.1 percent this year, after an increase of 4.4 percent in 2014 and more than 50 percent in 2013.
Tablets appeared to be on a tear two years earlier, but the market is being er ...
more
Abducted Chinese workers freed in Nigeria: police
Lagos (AFP) March 14, 2015 -
Three Chinese workers kidnapped by gunmen in central Nigeria's Kogi state were released unhurt on Saturday, police said.
"I can confirm to you that the abducted Chinese workers have been released. They were freed today through a joint operation by the police and other security agents," state police spokesman Sola Collins Adebayo told AFP.
He said the hostages who were seized on Friday at ...
more
North Dakota rig count near five-year low
Bismarck, N.D. (UPI) Mar 13, 2015 -
The number of rigs actively exploring for or producing oil or natural gas in North Dakota is down to its lowest level in nearly five years, data show Friday.
State data show 111 active rigs in the state as of Friday, down from the 191 reported on this date in 2014 and a historic low. Rig counts, a barometer for the upstream sector in the state, have been on a steady decline for much of ...
more
Taiwan stages mass anti-nuclear rally
Taipei (AFP) March 14, 2015 -
Thousands of people took to the streets in Taiwan on Saturday to call for the island to scrap its use of nuclear energy and to voice opposition to controversial plans to ship nuclear waste abroad, organisers said.
Protesters in central Taipei waved placards and dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with slogans including "Goodbye to nuclear energy" and "We don't need nuclear power", just days after ...
more
