Reconstructing an oil deposit consumed by fire in the north Siberia's Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area will cost $48 million.  Despite the huge blaze, pipeline operator Transneft says that regional oil supplies are secure.  The conflagration was blamed on a lightning strike.  Further details on the Russia-Mongolia uranium deal, which apparently settled a $150 million debt owed to Moscow, are to be on Reuters.  The Dornad deposit at the center of the deal supposedly holds seven times as much uranium as Russia mined last year.  Taftnet has struck oil in Libya's Ghadames Basin.  RusHydro is hoping to raise electricity rates over what is permitted by the government in order to rebuild its Siberian power plant.  TNK-BP is hoping to recover $204 million from the Federal Customs Service for overpaid customs duties.  Pipeline maker Transneft may sell $1.12 ...

Recently, I had the unique opportunity to tour two different oil sands operations near Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta. I saw a massive open-pit oil sands mine, and the associated reclamation effort, operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. I also visited an in situ oil sands recovery project called Surmont, operated by ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP).

The trip was sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which paid for the airfare and accommodations. Managers at both Syncrude and ConocoPhillips granted me access to any parts of their operations I wanted to see (within allowances for safety). And everyone answered any and all questions I asked.

Post-trip, I have complete editorial freedom to write about what I saw and learned. And I learned a lot. So this is Part I of a two-part series. Watch for Part II.

The Past and Future of Oil and Oil Sands

The first thing that struck me about visiting

...

Solanex Management Inc. is in the business of development, manufacture, distribution, marketing and sales of alternative, renewable and waste energy technologies. One of the current products that the company is focusing its marketing and sales efforts on is the Thermal Destructor which is used to clean contaminated soil sites.

Solanex’s Thermal Destructor is a self-contained, mobile, soil residue combustion system used for cleaning contaminated sites by sterilizing soil. A common use for this technology is in the oil industry with the practice of cleaning up hydrocarbon spills at the end of the life of a production well by passing the soil and substrate through a rotary kiln. In this kiln, the hydrocarbons are burned, delivering sterile and cleaned soil and clay residues.

The company’s Thermal Destructor consists of a high-efficiency, waste or gas-fired combustion chamber and a new generation exhaust gas, low-pressure drop liquid scrubber effective in trapping pollutants

...