STUFF

China to lend S Sudan $8B. That's where the oil comes from (not N Sudan). Also paying Iran in gold for oil.

Sauds stockpiling 390kb/d. Insurance for peak power demand in summer. In past, they could pump out of the ground. So. Maybe they're at peak production - now hovering below 10mb/d.

EIA: '05-'11 world crude production rose .5%/y. Used to be 1.6%.

Somalia thought to have 6B bls of oil. Australian explorers noted hand grenades tossed into the back of their vehicles.

Southern Co (4 utilities) has gone from 70% coal, 16% NG 5 years ago to 47% NG, 35% coal now. They are now 3rd in NG use behind NextEra Energy (S FL) and Calpine.

NG elgen up 24% last year in US. Expect 14% more this year.

AEP used 80M tons of coal in '08. Expects to use 55M this year. By '20, 50% of elgen will be from coal. And they spent $7.2B in last decade reducing coal emissions 80%.

Duke E, Sumitomo finalized 50/50 ownership deal for 2 Kansas wind farms, securing $353M for construction, operating costs for 299MW total. Online yearend.

Fuji Electric - turbine gen equipment supplier - invested $10M in Energy Source's 49MW geothermal plant near Salton Sea. Online in '15.

Fed holds 1.5X of Treasury bonds than China and a little more than that of Japan's holdings. $1.7T to $1.1T of China's. China leveled off in '10. Fed up from $.7T in '10. Fed bought 61% of '11 issuance.

Petro China expects to spend $60B this decade to find oil around the world.

In Nixon years, 2% of labor force was disabled. Now it's 6%. Since June '09, 4.7M added. If unemployed were reported like back in Depression, it would be 22%, slightly below Depression #'s.

Onward and upward, pards.