Calgary's Suncor Energy Inc. and Conestoga-Rovers & Associates (CRA), Waterloo, Ont., signed a 5-year agreement to pursue opportunities to produce alternative and renewable energy from Canadian municipal landfills. CRA is an international engineering and environmental services firm. Suncor and CRA plan to identify, design, develop, and operate landfill gas projects in Canada. Landfill gas is produced by the natural decay of organic wastes, such as kitchen scraps and lawn cuttings, in municipal landfills. The recovery of this gas could provide a reliable source of methane fuel for heating or generating electricity; it also has the potential for providing carbon dioxide for commercial use, the companies say.
Chevron Corp. has formed Silicon Valley Oil Co., an online marketplace that will facilitate sales of fuels and lubricants to commercial and industrial customers via the internet. The site, which will allow ordering and bidding, is set to launch in the third quarter. Several petroleum marketers have agreed to participate in the site from its inception and to provide feedback during live testing. They include Hasco Oil Co. of Long Beach, Calif., and Thomas Petroleum Inc. of Victoria, Tex. "SVOC is an outgrowth of an internal project that only carried the Chevron brand," said Patricia Woertz, president of Chevron Products Co.
Petroleum Heat & Power Co. entered into an agreement with Essential.com, an online business that offers energy and communications services to small businesses and consumers, under which Essential.com will offer heating oil to customers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
BASF AG, Bayer AG, Dow Chemical Co., DuPont, and Ticona/Celanese AG jointly announced the formation of Omnexus, an independent global e-marketplace for plastics injection molders. Andersen Consulting has been selected by Omnexus to refine the business model for the site, and IBM Corp., Ariba Inc., and i2 Technologies Inc. will serve as technology providers. The North American headquarters of Omnexus will be in Atlanta, while European headquarters will be based in Switzerland. Plans call for the site to be operational in the US Oct. 1, in Europe Jan. 1, 2001, and in Asia and the rest of the world in spring 2001.
The National Petroleum Council will report in December on what the US should do to protect energy facilities from physical and cyber attacks. NPC is the Energy Secretary�s oil and gas industry advisory group. US Energy Sec. Bill Richardson requested the study last year as part of a federal initiative designed to protect critical US industry infrastructure no later than 2003. Richardson said the study should "review the potential vulnerabilities of the oil and gas industries to attack, both physical and cyber, and to advise me on policies and practices that industry and government, separately and in partnership, should adopt to protect or recover from such attacks."