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| Japan mulls more than $100 million new spending on Fukushima water-crisis: sources Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 06:03 PM PST  Japan is considering more than $100 million in extra government spending to handle contaminated water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, boosting the budget allocation by at least a fifth, government officials familiar with the matter said. The additional budget allocation of between 10 billion and 15 billion yen ($98 million-$147 million) aims to accelerate work on containing leaks and decontaminating the water, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Dealing with contaminated water at the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) facility represents only a tiny slice of the response to the Fukushima crisis, triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which caused reactor meltdowns. Of the original allocation for the water crisis, 21 billion yen would come from emergency reserve funds from the budget for the fiscal year to next March. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Argentina's YPF says Repsol deal will attract oil investment Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:23 PM PST  By Karina Grazina BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The compensation deal being negotiated between Argentina's YPF will open opportunities for foreign companies to invest in the South American country's untapped oil and natural gas resources, YPF chief Miguel Galuccio told Reuters on Wednesday. The board of Repsol unanimously agreed on Wednesday to start formal talks with Argentina over a compensation offer for YPF assets that Buenos Aires seized last year. "Signing a deal between Repsol and the Argentine state will provide the confidence necessary to form new alliances with potential investors and drive non-conventional exploration," Galuccio told Reuters in an interview conducted by email. Full Story | Top |
| Cutbacks by resource firms to spark disputes with governments: report Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 04:10 PM PST By Eric Onstad LONDON (Reuters) - Disputes between resource groups and governments are likely to keep increasing as commodity prices fall and companies slash spending on new projects, according to a report by London-based think-tank Chatham House. "In the current climate, companies are focused on cutting expenditures and cutting their investments, especially on big greenfield projects," Jaakko Kooroshy, a research fellow at Chatham House and an author of the report, told Reuters. Over the first decade of this century, international arbitration cases between companies and governments in the oil and gas sector shot up tenfold compared with the previous decade while those in mining increased nearly fourfold, the report said. Disputes ramped up during periods of high prices as many governments felt they were not getting a fair share of profits from their resources, but the current slump in commodity prices has not dampened the tension. Full Story | Top |
| TransCanada shuts Alberta gas pipeline after rupture Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 03:56 PM PST  Canada's National Energy Board said on Wednesday it is investigating a pipeline rupture and natural gas leak on TransCanada Corp's Nova system near Boyle, Alberta. In October TransCanada cut gas deliveries to oil sands projects after a line break reduced gas supplies. Boyle is nearly 300 kms (190 miles) south of the oil sands production hub of Fort McMurray and TransCanada spokesman Davis Sheremata said no industrial customers had been affected. TransCanada said the cause of the line break was not yet known, adding that one customer may be affected while repairs take place. Full Story | Top |
| Higher clot risk seen with Thoratec heart pump: study Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 03:40 PM PST Researchers have found a higher rate of dangerous blood clots in patients who received Thoratec Corp's HeartMate II heart pump than had been seen in clinical trials or prior experience, according to a study published on Wednesday. They also found that when blood clots do develop, they are occurring closer to the time of HeartMate implantation than had been previously observed. The HeartMate II is a so-called LVAD, or left ventricular assist device, that is used to keep alive heart patients who are either ineligible for or awaiting a heart transplant. The devices have been shown to significantly improve the quality of life by assisting the heart's pumping function, primarily in those with advanced heart failure. Full Story | Top |
| Opioid over-regulation can leave cancer patients in intolerable pain Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 03:07 PM PST By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - A "pandemic of over-regulation" of opioid-based painkillers such as morphine and fentanyl means billions of cancer patients around the world suffer intolerable pain, researchers said on Thursday. Describing what they said was a "scandal of global proportions", researchers from the Global Opioid Policy Initiative (GOPI) said governments that over-regulate should consider the unintended consequences of restricting access to medicines and change their approach. More than 4 billion people live in countries - many of them in emerging and developing regions - where regulations, often imposed over the risk of addiction to the drugs, leave the patients in excruciating pain, they wrote in a global analysis published in the Annals of Oncology journal. "This is a tragedy born out of good intentions," said Nathan Cherny, from Israel's Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, who led the study. Full Story | Top |
| Heavy rain, snow in eastern U.S. thwarts some Thanksgiving travel Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:44 PM PST  A wintry blast of heavy rain, wind and snow across the eastern United States disrupted Thanksgiving travel plans on Wednesday for some of the millions of Americans hitting the roads and taking to the skies on the busiest holiday travel day of the year. While the travel delays were not as bad as many had feared, meteorologists warned that falling temperatures could create icy road conditions for those who put off travel until Wednesday night. The wintry weather caused around 265 flight cancellations and prompted delays at major airports along the East Coast, including Boston's Logan Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, according to the FlightAware.com tracking site. Tim O'Heir, an audio professional working on a Broadway show in New York, said his flight home to Dallas from LaGuardia Airport was delayed by two hours. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: High-ethanol gas - Not coming to a pump near you Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 02:16 PM PST  By Michael Hirtzer CHICAGO (Reuters) - A month ago, Steve Walk was on the brink of deals to sell two big oil refiners some of his company's specialized oil pumps, which serve up fuel that is 85 percent ethanol, a biofuel made mostly from corn. Walk's company, Protec Fuel, sells and installs the equipment needed to dispense so-called E85. The number of stations across the United States dispensing E85, which is a rarity despite the growing use of biofuels, would have jumped by 10 percent. But those deals are on hold after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal earlier this month to slash the minimum volume of ethanol to be used in the country's gasoline supply next year. Full Story | Top |
| Dow and S&P 500 hit records, Nasdaq lifted by tech Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 01:55 PM PST  By Luke Swiderski NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 closed at record highs on Wednesday, led by Hewlett-Packard's jump a day after the personal computer maker's earnings, while the Nasdaq finished at a 13-year high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq got its biggest boost from Apple Inc Technology stocks have lagged the broader market this year, with the S&P information technology sector index rising almost 21 percent, compared with the S&P 500's 27 percent surge. Many traders were out for the Thanksgiving holiday, as the U.S. stock market will be closed on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| Energy supplier npower to cut 1,400 UK jobs: source Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:58 PM PST  , is expected on Thursday to announce it is moving 1,000 back-office jobs to India from Britain and axing another 400 in the UK, a source familiar with the matter said. The source said that npower will also outsource 550 jobs to another company within the UK. RWE recently said it planned to cut 6,750 jobs across Europe during 2014 to 2016 to fight a deep crisis in Europe's energy industry. Npower is among the big six energy suppliers in the UK that have raised household electricity and gas charges. Full Story | Top |
| Spain's Repsol says board backs preliminary YPF deal Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:43 PM PST  unanimously agreed on Wednesday to start formal talks with Argentina over a compensation offer for assets Buenos Aires seized last year that could end an 18-month standoff between the two countries. Sources with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters that the deal is worth $5 billion, half of what Repsol was initially demanding after Argentina seized its majority stake in energy company YPF "With the aim of developing a preliminary agreement, Repsol has decided to start talks soon between its teams and the Argentine government to find a fair, efficient and quick solution to the controversy," Repsol said in a statement, without providing details of the offer. Bilateral ties between Spain and Argentina have been on ice since the nationalization in April 2012, so any deal has significance beyond Repsol's own interests, particularly for Argentina as it seeks to restore investor confidence. Full Story | Top |
| France's Credit Agricole to close 50 branches by 2015: paper Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:30 PM PST  PARIS (Reuters) - Credit Agricole , France's third-biggest bank, plans to close about 50 branch offices in the Paris region by 2015, French daily Les Echos said. A total of 50 offices will be closed and two new ones opened in the Ile de France region, reducing the bank's network there to 277 offices from the current 325. Offices with less than six staff will be targeted first, but the project will involve no job cuts, the paper said. No one at the bank was immediately available for comment. ... Full Story | Top |
| Brazil's OGX Maranhão changes name to Parnaíba Gás Natural Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 12:27 PM PST RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - OGX Maranhão, the Brazilian on-shore natural gas producer, has changed its name to Parnaíba Gás Natural, said Eneva SA , one of three companies that owns a stake in the company, in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday. OGX Maranhão was formerly controlled by OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações SA , the Brazilian oil company founded by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista. OGX filed for bankruptcy protection in a Rio de Janeiro court on October 31. ... Full Story | Top |
| Detroit lighting decision put off due to possible attorney conflict Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:33 AM PST The judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy case on Wednesday postponed deciding whether the city can redirect utility tax revenue to help fix its broken street lights, citing a potential conflict of interest among attorneys representing the city's Public Lighting Authority. Law firm Miller Canfield represents the lighting authority, but also represents Detroit in other matters in the city's bankruptcy proceedings. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes asked attorneys from all parties involved to submit briefs by December 4 to address the potential conflict of interest and whether Miller Canfield should be disqualified from representing the Public Lighting Authority. Full Story | Top |
| Libya's power production at 'lowest level' due to protests: minister Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013 11:23 AM PST Libya's power production has hit a low due to protests by members of two minority groups stopping gas and petrol supplies getting to electricity plants in the west of the OPEC producer, the electricity minister said on Wednesday. Militias, tribesmen and civil servants demanding more political rights or higher pay have seized most oilfields and ports, bringing crude exports to a fraction of their capacity. In another escalation, members of the Amazigh and Tibu, two minorities complaining of political marginalization, have staged protests hampering power stations in western Libya, the minister, Ali Muhairig, told reporters. "Power production has fallen to what is considered to be the lowest level," he said, putting output at around 4,600 megawatt - less than the almost 6,000 megawatt measured in summer when output traditionally comes under pressure due to rising demand for air-conditioning units. Full Story | Top |
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