Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, was interviewed by Clean Skies News regarding government policies and the use of new technologies. He noted a "green use" of the stimulus package and that we need to accelerate the pace if we are serious about a global strategy.

Key messages regarding government policies include:
- Energy efficiency measures
- Global framework for carbon prices
- Pushing government R&D money towards new technology investments
- Decarbonizing the power sector

Manouchehr Takin, an analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies, talks about the future of offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Takin provides insight on:

- how the industry will manage through the regulation & control on deep water explorations
- the importance of deep water exploration to meeting global demand
- the contribution of deep water drilling over the next 10-15 years especially in regions such as Brazil

See the entire interview

Many companies are stepping up to offer solutions on cleaning up oil spills. Presented by Clean Skies News, here's a look look at some of the technology ideas that could help BP clean up their spill.  

President Obama today announced the appointment of Michael Bromwich to lead an overhaul of the regulation of offshore drilling.  So exactly who is the new Oil Regulator? 

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Wall Street Journal
Bromwich Named to Head Oil Regulator

President Barack Obama has chosen a former assistant U.S. attorney and Justice Department inspector general to lead an overhaul of the regulation of offshore oil drilling, the White House said Tuesday.

Michael R. Bromwich will oversee the reorganization of the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency charged with regulating the industry, the White House said in a statement.

The statement added that Mr. Bromwich will be responsible for developing a new oversight structure for regulating the industry, to replace "long-standing, inadequate practices with a gold-standard approach for environmental and safety regulation."  Read more

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The Washington Post
Michael Bromwich, new MMS director, has a history of tackling tough assignments

The man appointed Tuesday by President Obama to oversee offshore oil drilling has no experience with oil and gas issues but he has a reputation for cleaning up embattled organizations.

Michael Bromwich will need those skills as the new director of the Minerals Management Service, an agency that has come under fire in recent years for failing to adequately monitor offshore oil and gas development.   Read more

An independent team of experts gathered to study the gulf situation. Participating in the study is Titanic director James Cameron who expressed his frustration regarding the spill and with the BP executives handling of the situation so far.

Cameron's team came up with a few concrete ideas to slow down the flow, capture the oil and identified what they can do to add value regarding the environmental impact. The report comes out today.

We bring you the video of Cameron's interview as he discusses some of the team's ideas.

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An interesting venture was announced recently between the United States and China that could be deemed "a bit nutty". The venture focuses on research to develop algae or oily nut biofuels that can be used by Chinese airlines. Boeing is just one of the organizations participating in the research partnership.  (see the article)

Interestingly in 2008, Boeing also participated in a similar joint venture with Air New Zealand (read article). The oily nuts of choice are from the non-edible jatropha plant as they are not edible crops and don't encroach on crop lands. According to the article, Boeing has been working closely with the Hawaiian Agricultural Research Centre to research and cultivate jatropha for mass airline commercial use.

Frequent fliers relax - the peanuts are safe.

Shell announced a $4.7 billion cash deal increasing its holdings of shale gas deposits.  The deal puts Shell hot on the heels of Exxon and BP in unconventional gas reserves. Read more about the acquisition.

We often hear that out of the bad must come some good. With the impact from the massive BP oil spill, there must be some good that will come down the long and winding road. With all the eyes scrutinizing the petroelum industry's offshore drilling practices, it is inevitable that changes are coming that may help this industry avoid self-destruction. Some of the changes we've read about are tougher permitting and inspections, higher rates for taxes and insurance and additional safeguards on drilling rigs. While change is good it does come at a cost, so we'll have to see what type of impact is see at the bottom line.

Read the full article.

Seems the gulf oil spill isn't only impacting the warm waters of the Gulf. Rather it's reaching northward to artic waters as well. In an article on Fox News, it seems that Shell Oil's $3.5 billion effort to explore the artic has come to a temporary halt due to a moritorium set as a result of the Gulf disaster. As the debate heats up among residents, environmentalists and petroleum companies, we'll see how this all shakes out at the end of this month.

Read the article