News From All Over -- March 31, 2015

Well, that was it. It's a wrap. The US-Iran-French-Chinese-et-al talks have come to an end. A "general statement" will be released later and the group will re-assemble in June, 2015.

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Today's EIA Blurb

And here it is:

For the first time, EIA is providing monthly data on rail movements of crude oil, which have significantly increased over the past five years. The new data on crude-by-rail (CBR) movements are integrated with EIA's existing monthly petroleum supply statistics, which already include movements by pipeline, tanker, and barge. The new monthly time series of crude oil rail movements includes shipments to and from Canada and dramatically reduces the absolute level of unaccounted for volumes in EIA's monthly balances for each region…

Total CBR movements in the United States and between the United States and Canada were more than 1 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2014, up from 55,000 bbl/d in 2010. The regional distribution of these movements has also changed over this period. --- EIA 

Well, that was helpful. 

In other news, the sun came up in the east today.

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The fourth section of The Wall Street Journal today is "Business & Environment." Lots of EPA stuff, green energy stuff, lots of short interviews with movers and shakers. After going through the four or five pages of interviews very, very quickly, I was left with these notes:

• green energy folks talk a lot in generalities; not a lot of facts or figures
• everyone in the know agrees that renewable energy accounts for 1% of all US energy
• think tank representative on renewable energy: "[for solar] there are a range of subsidies, and they are very, very substantial. My back-of-the-envelope calculations of my own system is about two-thirds of the cost is subsidized."
• as in oil, there are sweet spots when it comes to solar -- the US is not in the sweet spot; Chile is
• the elite, the rich can personally afford solar panels on their roofs, mostly as tax credits
• Lisa Jackson over at Apple is still unintelligible
• when Apple talks about their green energy successes, they are talking apples and oranges (US and overseas) -- their US carbon footprint represents 2% -- two percent -- of their total global carbon footprint (they manufacture almost everything overseas; they have non-carbon-producing retail stores in the US)

I did not read the "Utilities Adapt to a New Era," but I did note the graph that depicts global energy growth over the next 25 years:

Take-aways:

• nuclear power will grow the most: 90% -- probably in China
• natural gas will grow almost as much: 88% -- advantage -- the US
• not only is coal still the most important, but coal energy will grow a whopping 51%
• solar and wind will more than double -- and will approach a third of natural gas energy
• the amount of energy that will be needed in 2015 is astounding

In another interview (which I can't find on-line but is in the print edition), Robert Murray discusses coal. He notes that "China burned four billion tons last year, a new 500-megawatt power plant, every year. Australia killed their carbon tax. They're going back in coal world-wide."

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For The Archives

New York Times -- as US and Iran make deals, Saudi makes its own moves.

As America talks to Iran, Saudi Arabia is lashing out against it.

The kingdom, Iran’s chief regional rival, is leading airstrikes against an Iranian-backed faction in Yemen; backing a blitz in Idlib, Syria, by jihadists fighting the Iranian-backed Assad regime; and warning Washington not to allow the Iranian-backed militia to capture too much of Iraq during the fight to roll back the Islamic State, according to Arab diplomats familiar with the talks.

Through Egypt, a major beneficiary of Saudi aid, the kingdom is backing plans for a combined Arab military force to combat Iranian influence around the region. With another major aid recipient, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia is also expected to step up its efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, potentially setting off an arms race in the region.

Foreign Policy -- How France became an Iran hawk.

France’s policy is dictated by a set of principles with regard to nonproliferation that have guided administrations on both sides of the political spectrum in the talks with Tehran since 2002. And the tension with Washington is just one expression of a larger disagreement between the two countries over U.S. strategy in the Middle East.

Differences between Washington and Paris have been quietly brewing for months. The French feel that they are being kept out of the loop in critical discussions. The multilateral framework of Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany) has turned into a bilateral discussion between Iran and the United States.

At the end of his administration, the president will have thrown everyone under the bus except, a) Valeri Jarrett; b) Iran; and, c) environmental fanatics.