STUFF

India announced plans for prototype 300MW nuke plant powered by thorium. Hopes to have it running by end of decade. Thorium far more abundant than U. Up to 200X more dense. Way safer. And cheap. Major waste product of rare-earth mining. Oak Ridge thorium test program was ended in '76. Suspected political pressure from GE, Honeywell, other uranium reactor makers.

Libya expects to hit prewar oil production by June. Est. 180kb/d exported in Oct. Nov est. 200-250k.

Russian court threw out $16B claim against BP.

40 years after EPA first invoked emergency powers, Birmingham's air slowly improving.

New startup in London using mainly used tires and concrete to make sidewalks that generate electric with every footstep.

S. Korea planning large offshore wind farms.

GE launching smart grid as service in Norcross, GA. Will charge utility a monthly fee. (GE Energy HQ's in Atlanta.) The muni utility expects to add ~$1/month to their 4,200 customers' bills. GTM Research says US utilities will spend $8.5B from '11-'15 on smart grid enterprise IT. Even biggest utilities turning to "cloud" computing to manage smart meter data like 100-terabyte project now underway with S. Cal Ed, Itron, IBM and others. GE competing with at least Schneider El (bought Telvent and Summit E) and ABB (bought Ventryx for $1B last year). Schneider has launched E efficiency services for power users (bldgs, data centers). ~3k small to mid-size utilities have ~35M meters that need to be smartened up. GE hasn't picked cellular provider yet for Norcross project.

Brent oil lately $114.

Global oil stockpiles continue to fall slowly, indicating consumption still above production.

Exxon could lose current contract to develop W. Qurna oil field in Iraq if it proceeds with Kurdistan exploration.

Putin says Russia now plans to work closely with OPEC.

China Petrochem to pay $3.5B for 30% stake in Galp Energia's Brazilian unit.

Commerce Dept: US crude oil imports in Sept fell 4% - 416kb/d - from year ago.

NG pipeline Eqypt to Israel/Jordan blown up again. Took a little longer this time.

Some Shell Nigerian oil production shut down following pipeline fire.

US reaping smallest corn harvest in 3 years because of the drought.

GPRE subsid to build/own/op new ethanol train terminal in Birmingham on BNSF line. 160k bls storage. Online 3Q12.

Tuition-free renewable energy job training program debuts in AZ with $2.2M Dept of Labor grant.

Sugar and Integrated Industries to open sugar-based jet fuel plant in Egypt in '12.