Protestation on natural gas drilling by Green Party in Australia and Investments in natural gas

Australia has the world's worst per capita polluter and it has committed to reducing pollution by five percent from 2000 levels by 2020, succeeding the universal efforts to reduce the production of gases blamed for global warming.Greens party in Australia is admonishing the plans of the natural gas mining companies, for natural gas drilling. In suburban areas of St. Peters, near Sydney will embark on the drilling operations at the earliest and the government of Australia requested the people not to worry about this project and the people should encourage it since it produces power for the future. Steve Whan, the minister of Industry for the New South Wales region told that, the plenty of natural gas reserves in a particular area could deplete the carbon footprint of the particular area. Many are worried about the damages caused to the environment since Sydney depends mainly on the coal-fired electricity. Our site is the best source for global natural gas updates, natural resource locations, natural resources news international natural gas updates.


The Macquarie Bank and the Freeport LNG are planning to export 50 percent of the plant production and the remaining will be imported to ConocoPhillips and the Dow Chemical. The Freeport LNG natural gas plant was sanctioned this year is the second plan, promoted to export natural gas in the United StatesFreeport LNG, developer of the liquefied natural gas terminals conflated with Macquarie Bank, aimed to construct a natural gas power plant in Texas. The Texas power plant is installed mainly to export the natural gas produced in the United States to other countries and to achieve a high record. The spokes person of the Macquarie Bank articulated that, the power plant will be completed by 2015 and it will supply more than 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day. The maintenance of the power plant will be taken care by the Freeport LNG and the cost for development will be rendered by the Macquarie Bank.


The Petronet LNG Board will provide an extra investment in energy around Rs 450crore and the final agreement on this expansion will be done after discussing with the Board of Directors of the company. S. Sundareshan, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary articulated that, the company is discussing with several providers of liquefied natural gas, across the world and the Kochi Terminal will be accredited by 2012. The Chief Executive Officer and the Managing Director of the Petronet LNG A.K. Balyan declared that, the company is coordinating for a two-day General Assembly gathering of the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers in Kochi. The PSU oil companies are increasing their production to meet the requirements of the State as there is a 10 per cent and five percent  increase in the consumption of petrol and diesel respectively.The International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers is formed to encourage the energy investments, sharing of ideas and experience of various liquefied natural gas companies across the world. The Kochi Terminal is to be expanded from 2.5 million tons to 5 million tons; this was recently sanctioned by the Petronet LNG Board.

(ArticlesBase SC #3720343)

Oil and Natural Gas Drilling similarities

Drilling for both the oil and natural gas has been taken up by many oil drilling companies in this world and this has been primarily with an aim to satisfy the energy requirements of the world. Indeed many nations across the world have put on their concerted efforts with an idea to harness these two forms of energy the oil and natural gas which already have proved themselves to be the key players of the world economy. There are numerous oil wells and gas wells across the world and several best producing oil wells for sale are listed here.

The various oil exploring and drilling companies across the world have made use of the modern technology to develop new and faster methods to drill out the oil and natural gas from the reserves beneath the earth. It is generally found that whenever a drilling is underway to bring out the crude oil contained within the oil well or the oil block, natural gas in addition with many other gases emanate out of the well.

Over the centuries the natural gas that has been given out during the drilling procedure of the crude oil is termed as its byproduct. In the late 1800's when the use of this natural gas that came out along with the crude oil was not known, it was often regarded as a nuisance and it was considered as a hazard for the oil explorers. Hence it was disposed off quickly by means of burning it.

It was only in the later years that it was discovered that this gas could very well be put to use for domestic and industrial purposes. This led to the ultimate storage of the natural gas in the form of cylinders and wherever possible it was sent through pipelines directly to the homes and many other industries for various types of applications. Natural gas consists mainly of methane gas. It is this methane gas which is a hydrocarbon that gives the burning ability to the natural gas.

There is another name that is related to the natural gas and it is often referred to as the "casinghead gas". Another name that it is attributed to the natural gas is "associated gas". In the case of the drilling of oil wells the former methods that were used for digging the oil wells centuries before, was to hand dig the well which ultimately was stopped when the oil makes its appearance. This system of hand digging was actually being practiced in the oil fields of Azerbaijan, where it is claimed that the oil wells were dug for nearly hundreds of meters down the earth's crust to finally reveal the crude oil. But with the passage of time this practice has given way to the modern technological methods where drilling machines are being used, which dig wells that are several meters deep. Hence to drill out the oil and natural gas more successfully from the surface of the earth, new techniques like the horizontal drilling and a still newer method like Nitrogen drilling methods are being put to use by the oil drilling companies worldwide.   (ArticlesBase SC #3929317)

Plasma CNC Drill Line Runs Rings Around Standard Equipment

The economy of structural steel fabrication is very dependent on the path the workpiece travels as it goes from raw steel inventory to eventual loading on a truck headed for the job site. Every time the workpiece is "touched" adds delay and cost to the final finished beam, channel or angle.

A beam with ten or so bolt holes and cut to length has really very few "touches" . But many fabricated sections are considerably more complicated than that.

For example, complete fabrication recently performed on an 96" W16x31 structural beam involved three dozen unique operations:

* Front Trim Miter Cut 1/4"
* 2 Copes on the front of the beam
* 3 Bolt Holes on that same end of the beam
* 6 bolt hole angled cluster on web
* 4 layout marks on web
* 2 bolt holes on top flange
* 2 bolt holes on bottom flange
* 3 slots on web at rear of beam
* Piece Mark - 2 Lines - 9 characters total
* Flange notch cut flush with web (each end of the beam)
* Cope on rear of beam
* Notch cut on flange

An analysis of fabricating this section by three different "paths" was very revealing in terms of the time requirements that result.

To begin, the "high touch" path is a traditional manual approach. The beam has to be measured and marked, then cut on the bandsaw. After that, there is plenty of "manual" drilling (admittedly using a heavy duty drill press) and significant thermal (torch) cutting to make the copes and flange cuts, in addition to stamping by hand to make the nine letter piece marks. The total time involved to perform these processes was estimated to be 120 minutes - 2 hours. But because of the transport involved and the time in queue at subsequent stations, the clock time would cover at least two shifts - normally two days at most shops.

Second, a more updated and automated approach was used to fabricate the section. This involved cutting the piece to length on the bandsaw, then shuttling it to a beam drill line to make the thirteen bolt holes and three slots. The newer CNC drill lines can probe the steel section to determine location and dimensions, then put the holes according to instructions determined by specialized software. The remaining features have to be measured and marked on the beam before cutting. Then cutting is done by hand coping torch, plate burning machine, and stamping in the piecemark letters. The total time for this approach is 82 minutes. Again, when including the time needed to shuttle the workpiece between stations and time waiting at those stations, the actual clock time totals to take most of a shift.

Then the piece was fabricated on a new and one-of-kind approach. All features were produced on a single machine - a robotic plasma cutting system. Using this approach, there is no use for any measuring or marking. The sensor tip probes the workpiece for position and geometery, then follows its own calculated cutting instructions it calculates from standard software files of the workpiece downloaded into the operator control from programs like TEKLA, SD/2,StruCAD and others.

PythonX starts cutting on the section and doesn't stop until it's done . . . 10 minutes and 13 seconds later. All thirty seven features are fabricated in this time and the beam is completed. There is no time lost in moving the piece or waiting , therefore the time from beginning to completion isn't a day, or a shift . . . it's the time needed for a standard coffee break.

(ArticlesBase SC #1420886)

A Carbon-neutral Pile of Manure

Ordinarily, I might take environmental problems seriously, but lately, I can’t. Because the only people imploring me to are advertisers.

Every marketer, it seems, wants to prove how “green” they are. As usual, our industry just follows the herd. And because of the eco-awakening, we’re now lecturing consumers that they need to be “green,” too.

How? By buying more stuff.

In Georgia, for example, the state is promoting environmental awareness via an “Energy Star” tax-free weekend. People are getting a sales tax break when they buy new energy-efficient refrigerators, dryers, etc. In other words, we have to consume more in order to consume less, throwing away perfectly good appliances in the process.

Is consumption always the best answer to the our problems? Is advertising the best voice of reason?

I’m not old, comparatively speaking, but at a certain point I recognize when I’ve lived through a particular cycle in the pop culture. And environmental awareness, yes, I’ve lived through this before. In the late 80’s, Earth Day got hip again. We banned CFC’s from hair spray and Styrofoam boxes from McDonald’s because of a hole in the ozone layer. We started recycling newspapers and plastic, thinking we were saving the planet. That lasted a couple of years, then the Ford Explorer came out. Concern about CFC’s gave way to a feeding frenzy for SUV’s.

Ironically, all this greenwashing is a result of how wildly successful advertising and marketing is. Ad agencies came into their own in post-WWII America, where our industry routinely sold a dream of suburbia: shiny chrome-infused cars, vinyl siding, shag carpeting and frost-free refrigerators.

Comfortably ensconced in our air-conditioned lifestyle, our massive consumption has put a undue strain on the world’s resources. But now, other countries who have fed our largesse (think China, India, etc) want a piece of our energy-thirsty lifestyle for their own. And that’s compounding the problem.

So now global warming and fate of the planet is on our front burner, and as consumers we’ll do almost anything to show we care. In lieu of a real change in the way we live, our clients are more than willing to hire us to sell the solution. And what's really perverse is that brands are charging a premium for the privilege of feeling good about helping the environment. Brands like Method cleaning products or beauty products from The Body Shop cost significantly more than other brands, and organic produce commands a higher price than conventionally grown. Frankly, many families whose budgets are stretched to the breaking point can’t afford to buy green when price is their primary motivating factor. Which is a shame—even if families want to make a difference, they can’t afford to and we make them feel worse for that shortcoming.

The ultimate load of environmentally-fueled nonsense, however, is coming via good ol’ corporate brand-polishing TV spots for companies who have spotty histories. It’s hard for me to believe that global monoliths like Chevron, BP, Dow and GE are going to lead the environmental awareness revolution, despite their multi-million ad campaigns dedicated to concepts like “ecohumanology” or whatever they’re calling it this week. But agencies, many of them good ones, are perfectly content to shovel this compost on the public.

It’s hard not to view all this greenwashing with a jaundiced eye. But maybe there’s a solution.

I’d love it if the advertising business was more environmentally-friendly. And I know just where to start. I’m sick of clients that demand rounds and rounds of pointless changes to their work---changes that require more printouts, more mockups, more electricity for the computers, and more gasoline to drive to and from client meetings. How about we cut out all the layers of client approvals and the mass quantities of comp materials needed for those presentations?

Of course, I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen. Because the ad industry never takes its own advice. We’ll save the real action for someone else. We’re into empty gestures. Which is why I’m thinking about purchasing a carbon offset for the electricity I’ve used writing this column. Maybe I’ll go plant a tree. But since there’s a total watering ban where I live due to a record-breaking drought, it’ll likely die.

Hey, it’s the groupthought that counts, right?   (ArticlesBase SC #576275)

STOP Uranium Drilling at the Grand Canyon

The Obama administration is currently considering halting environmental degradation around the Grand Canyon and you can support these actions RIGHT NOW!

The Bush administration approved drilling for uranium at 39 sites near the Grand Canyon’s south rim in 2008.  This decision led to a rush in claims for mining the radioactive mineral near this iconic park.  The House reacted to these developments in June 2008.  At that time the House Natural Resources Committee ordered 1 million acres of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service national park land to be withdrawn from new uranium mining claims.

The granting of these permits rested on a 19th century law.  The 1872 Mining Law allows gold, uranium and other hard rock metals to be taken from most western public lands almost for free and with few restrictions or cleanup requirements.  This law, enacted by President Ulysses S. Grant, was originally meant to help single miners with pack mules.  Now, huge mining corporations are abusing this law to establish large scale mining structures right next to national monuments.

The final straw occurred this year, after the Bureau of Land Management authorized Quaterra Alaska Inc. to conduct eight uranium mine exploration operations at five separate projects north of Grand Canyon National Park and west of the Kaibab Plateau.  This was in clear violation of the House Committee's order and only added one more permit for the 1,100 uranium mining claims within five miles of the Grand Canyon National Park.  To view the documents (provided by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Grand Canyon Trust) please go to http://www.eenews.net/public/25/10817/features/documents/2009/05/06/document_gw_01.pdf.

Secretary Ken Salazar of the Interior Department barred all filing of claims on the acreage around the Grand Canyon National Park this past July for two years.  The two year moratorium will allow the Interior Department to study whether the land should be permanently withdrawn from mining activity.  The authority for the moratorium rests upon General Mining Act of 1872, which does not allow for the negation of certain mining contracts because of the environmental impact.  The only recourse for previously authorized permits is the buying of the permits through federal monies.  This was done in 1996 when the federal government paid $65 million to buy out patented claims just three miles from Yellowstone National Park

Care2 has created an online petition that allows you to create an e-mail addressed to Secretary Salazar telling him to protect our parks and forests on a permanent basis by working with Congress to modernize the 1872 Mining Law.  Please show your support for Secretary Salazar and your commitment to stopping mining around our national landmarks by going here, http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/537758450?z00m=19785502.

(ArticlesBase SC #1157156)

Oil Well drilling techniques

Oil has gained the reputation of having become one of the most precious commodities that has been found on earth. Nations which possess this valuable reserve have become the most powerful and wealthy in this world and in other words really rule the world economy. This wonder commodity has become an irreplaceable thing whether it is utilized for the industrial applications or for the domestic purposes.

Most of the countries the world over in the past used to depend very much on the crude oil that was being imported from foreign countries mainly from the gulf regions. As a result these countries had to pay huge amounts that were needed for shipping the oil to their respective regions. With the development of the modern technology almost all the countries in this world have taken up the work of exploring for the untapped oil reserves within their geographical boundaries. In this endeavor most of the countries have really succeeded well enough with the discovery of huge oil reserves. This made them self sufficient for meeting their own home needs of crude oil and in many cases they had surplus amounts of crude which they could export to other oil needing countries and gain the foreign exchange.

Oil wells were regarded as the wealth of any nation and the amount of oil that was drilled out from these oil wells started to decrease with the course of time. Thus the modern scientific community has made huge technological advances in the refinement of the drilling techniques that was followed in the past. The oil well drilling methods that were used in the past involved the conventional drilling method which was called as the percussion method. This method was being widely followed in almost all the oil wells across the world. In this oil well drilling technique the earth's surface is penetrated by means of a very heavy tool that drills out the oil through the hole. The greatest disadvantage of this method was that, this process was a really slow and time consuming process and the drilling had to be occasionally stopped. There are numerous oil wells and gas wells across the world and several best producing oil wells for sale are listed here

In the case of the modern drilling methods the oil well drillers use the horizontal drilling method, which was found to be a very effective method when compared to the conventional drilling method that was used till now. The greatest advantage of this method was that the wells that were drilled by the horizontal drilling had larger surface area which in turn made the oil well to be highly productive.

These modern drilling techniques have ensured the oil drilling and exploration companies to reach out the pockets of oil reserves that are located far away from the drill site. As a result of this the oil drilling companies are able to reach out the oil pockets that are located near the heavily populated areas without causing any sort of disturbance to the people over there or to the environment of that particular locality. Hence it can be said that the modern drilling techniques have become a boon to the oil drilling companies.  (ArticlesBase SC #3929356)

UK's Premier Coal Merchants launches Logs2U Website

Against a background of dramatic energy price increases of 60% predicted by UK energy Watchdog Ofgem, CPL Distribution, the UK's Premier Coal Merchants has made a move into emerging eco fuel markets with the launch of their new biomass Wood Fuels Supply Division of 30 nationwide depots backed by a fantastic new website Logs2U.
UK fails to meet demand for Wood Fuels
Winter 2008 was one of the coldest winters for many years in the UK and it has led to many households assessing how best to heat their homes in the most cost effective and environmentally efficient manner possible.

Hundreds of fireplaces have been bought back into use and the sales of wood burning stoves and multi-fuel stoves have increased significantly as people turn to using wood fuels as a primary method of energy for heating, hot water, recreational uses and for cooking too.  A huge resurgence in the use of  - Kiln Dried Logs, Seasoned Logs, Fire Logs, Hardwood Logs and Firewood as eco friendly wood fuels has been dramatic to say the least.

Initial £300K expansion project

CPL Distribution (Part of CPL Industries Group) runs the UK's leading online Coal Merchant website Coals2U and has witnessed increasing demand in the last 18 months for quality seasoned hardwood and softwood logs alongside traditional orders for solid fuels.  Such was the demand, that towards the end of Winter 2008 seasoned logs were nationally in short supply, wholesale prices rose unexpectedly and consumers were left with only unseasoned wood or softwood to burn.

For Winter 2009, CPL have launched the UK's first, National Home Delivery Service for Premium Kiln Dried Hardwood Logs - alongside a range of seasoned logs, eco solid fuels and other wood fuel products.
Logs2U Marketing Manager - Jon Carter, comments “Consumers are increasingly turning to eco sustainable sources for fuel and we expect the demand for logs to exceed last year. To solve the problems of sourcing large quantities of seasoned hardwood logs we have now invested in our production facilities to provide Premium Kiln Dried Hardwood logs to our UK customer base.

Benefits of Kiln Dried Logs for Stove Owners

The benefits of kiln dried logs are considerable - slower burning, delivering more heat, providing better efficiency, they create less smoke and are more economical than seasoned logs and ideal for stoves and closed wood fuel appliances.  Premium Kiln Dried logs are available in either dumpy, approx 1 cubic metre bags and in smaller handy bags and dinky bags too.  Logs are ideal for wood burning stoves, multi-fuel stoves, firepits, chimineas, outdoor ovens, BBQ's and open sires too.

Logs2U - Market Leaders

In a short space of time, Logs 2U has become regarded as the UK's leading Log Suppliers.  As you might expect, Logs2U also run their own online Log Blog, have a dedicated Fans Page on FaceBook, hundreds of followers on Twitter and provide online guides for wood fuel terms - glossary, choosing wood fuels,  burning wood as a fuel, buying a wood burning stove, maintaining a multi-fuel stove, splitting logs, making a fire etc. etc.

Customers across the UK can now order logs, safe in the knowledge that they will be able to get high quality logs delivered directly to their homes with free delivery too!  To help customers make this transition to eco friendly wood fuels, Logs2U are offering £58 Savings on their Mutli-Fuel Starter Pack.

Company Facts

• Logs2U is the UK's first National Company to supply Kiln Dried Logs direct to the public
• Logs2U has 30 depots throughout the UK
• Logs2U provide FREE online information guides
• Logs2U have a Fans Page on Facebook and features on Twitter too!
• Logs2U has invested over £300K in the last few months to meet the UK demand for Wood Fuels
• Promotional Multi-Fuel Starter Pack Available NOW- Savings of £58   (ArticlesBase SC #1333818)