|
|
Change Your Life! |
‘Expensive’ grants to make ‘cheaper’ fuels |
|
News
|
|
|
September 24, 2000
LOS ANGELES (AP) - British Petroleum Amoco Corp. says it will give dlrs 20 million in grants to two California universities to invent easier and cheaper ways to convert methane - natural gas - into cleaner burning fuels and chemicals. The 10-year grants will go to chemists and engineers at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and the University of California, Berkeley, John Browne, BP group chief executive, said Friday. The company, the owner of Arco gasoline, controls some of the world's largest natural gas reserves in Alaska and the countries of Australia, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Trinidad. Browne said Caltech and Berkeley were chosen from six contenders for their expertise in making methane into fuels and chemicals. BP has no methane production plants in California, Browne said. Caltech specializes in freezing the gas and then thawing it into a liquid fuel that can be shipped. Berkeley is better at making the gas burn with oxygen, creating chemicals with reduced levels of smog-causing emissions. Methane, or natural gas, is used to heat and power such appliances as stoves in millions of households. Methane also generates electricity for industrial use. Providers add an odor to the flammable gas so that consumers know when it is leaking. There have been fires and deadly explosions caused by undetected pockets of methane. Browne also addressed Friday's release of 30 million barrels of oil from the U.S. government's emergency stockpile of 571 million barrels. The government said the release ordered by President Bill Clinton was made, not to drive down the rapidly rising price of oil products, but to avoid a home heating oil shortage in much of the country as winter approaches. "The release may take the heat out of the market by reducing prices," Browne said. "Some thought nothing would be done, some thought something would be done. At this time, we don't know what the market reaction might be to the release." Browne said he doubted there would be a shortage, saying a stockpile of crude worldwide was at a 50-day reserve controlled by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. He said the recent sharp rise in prices for oil products faced by consumers may have more to do with the dlrs 10 per gallon price of crude oil 20 months ago being too low for producers to make a profit. "Historically, prices have moved along a narrow band in the dlrs 15 to dlrs 22 range. When the price drops too low the pain begins to be felt along the production chain until it reaches consumers," Browne said. |