energy

AP - Oil prices hovered near $77 barrel Thursday in Asia amid signs of a slowing U.S. economy and weak demand for crude.

Reuters - A natural gas well operated by Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group has been burning for nearly a week since drilling in the well caused gas to leak out and explode, Xinhua reported on Thursday.

Reuters - Republicans and some moderate Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday began picking apart a new energy bill that they complained goes too far in holding oil companies responsible for accidents like the massive Gulf of Mexico spill.

AP - A hundred days ago, shop owner Cherie Pete was getting ready for a busy summer serving ice cream and po-boys to hungry fishermen. Local official Billy Nungesser was planning his wedding. Environmental activist Enid Sisskin was preparing a speech about the dangers of offshore drilling.

AP - Federal air pollution standards for the oil and gas industry are sorely outdated amid ramped up drilling, leaving thousands of emissions sources “under the radar,” citizens groups said Wednesday.

AP - Crews took another step toward readying the relief well expected to finally kill the Gulf of Mexico oil gusher, removing the plug they had popped in before clearing the area ahead of Tropical Storm Bonnie last week, federal officials said Wednesday.

Reuters - At least 12 people died and 15 were seriously injured on Wednesday after an explosion at an abandoned plastics and chemicals factory in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, state television said.

AFP - US Senators feuded Wednesday over whether oil firms should have to pay for all economic damages from spills like the Gulf of Mexico disaster, a dispute that could sink a pared-back energy bill.

Reuters - ConocoPhillips , the third-largest U.S. oil company, reported a 150 percent increase in underlying quarterly profit, in a dramatic bounceback of its volatile refining business.

AP - The government’s point man for the Gulf spill says he’s planning to meet with coastal parish officials to talk about what’s next now that the oil has stopped flowing.