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How does Petey plan to make money in Alabama after this tornadoe disaster??????????????????????????????????
Mobile County won't back $50 million in bonds for proposed car plant
Published: Tuesday, November 23, 2010, 7:30 AM Updated: Tuesday, November 23, 2010, 12:47 PM
By Katherine Sayre, Press-Register Press-Register
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View full sizeRevenge Supercars shows its Blade sportscar at the North American International Auto Show in January 2010 in Detroit. The Mobile County Commission has passed on a request to stand behind $50 million in bonds for the $75.5 million plant. (Courtesy Revenge Supercars)
MOBILE, Ala. -- The Mobile County Commission has declined to backstop millions of dollars in bonds for a proposed Revenge Supercars facility in Prichard, officials said today.
Still, efforts to bring Revenge’s proposed $75.5 million plant and test track to the proposed Alabama Motorsports Park will continue through other investors, according to leaders of both firms.
State authorities gave Revenge approval to sell tax-exempt bonds to build a facility in Prichard. The company wanted the Mobile County Commission to stand behind $50 million in bonds for the project, in essence borrowing the county’s credit. But commissioners shied away from such a deal.
Former Mayor Mike Dow, who is developing the motorsports complex where Revenge would be a tenant, said today that Revenge lowered the request to $40 million, but the commission again declined.
“They said they had their plate full,” Dow said.
Dow had set today as a deadline to work out a deal. The County Commission met for a regular meeting this morning, but members never mentioned the project.
Commission spokeswoman Nancy Johnson later said that organizers “couldn’t satisfy the commissioners’ concerns about obligations that would be incurred. It was too risky in their view.”
In recent discussions, commissioners have indicated that they didn’t want to put the county’s credit at risk. Under the proposal, the commission would have agreed to a “moral obligation” to repay millions of dollars if Revenge were to default.
Lawyers have said the county would not be legally obligated to repay the bonds. But commissioners have indicated that they thought the county would have to cover the debt or suffer an unacceptable hit to the county’s credit rating.
The bonds had to be issued by the end of the year.
Commissioner Mike Dean said while the county was uncomfortable with the deal, he continues to wish the group good luck in finding other investors.
Revenge, led by Australian auto designer Peter Collorafi, would be built on 200 acres within the proposed 2,800-acre Alabama Motorsports Park.
Collorafi today said in a written statement that the county’s decision was “unfortunate,” but the company still wants to move to south Alabama, even without the bonds.
“Revenge Supercars LLC is currently moving forward with alternative funding through ongoing negotiations with an international investor group, while continuing to put other well-respected team partners in place to ensure this forward-thinking project quickly comes to fruition,” Collorafi said.
He said that the project would bring 1,100 jobs along with 850 temporary construction jobs and a boost in revenue to Prichard and surrounding areas in Mobile County.
Meanwhile, Dow echoed assurances that the project will continue through other funding sources.
He said the bonds would have “fast-tracked” getting Revenge to the site starting next year, and now “we’re just in the process of making it happen.”
Related topics: Alabama Motorsports Park, Mobile County Commission, Revenge Supercars
private investors???????????????? who could that be???lol
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/11/mobile_county_declines_deal_wi.html
enjoyed a tour of the new Brembo facility in Michigan yesterday. State of the art building THIS CAME FROM REVENGE SUPERCARS FACEBOOK SITE CAN ANYONE VERIFY IT ACTUALLY EXIST??? DATE JUNE 25,2010
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO BANKING COMPANIES THAT WERE SUPPOSED TO INVEST IN AGEL???????????????????
http://www.financialfraudlaw.com/lawblog/updv%E2%80%99s-ex-ceo-convicted-securities-fraud/2074
UPDV’s Ex-CEO Convicted Of Securities Fraud
Submitted by Steven Meyerowitz on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 12:48pm
Following three weeks of trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn returned guilty verdicts against Kamal Z. Abdallah, the former chief executive officer at Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corp. (“UPDV”), on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. These charges arose out of his participation in a scheme to artificially inflate UPDV’s stock price. When sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco on June 17, 2011, Abdallah faces a maximum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment on the most serious charge.
The government’s proof at trial established that:
Abdallah served as UPDV’s chief executive officer from 2005 to 2008. During that time, he obtained hundreds of millions of shares of UPDV stock, some of which he received at no cost as part of his compensation. Shortly before Abdallah left UPDV, the company defaulted on over $14 million in loans, and one of its subsidiaries bounced approximately $2.5 million in checks to its suppliers. Neither Abdallah nor anyone else at UPDV disclosed these financial problems to UPDV’s shareholders or the investing public.
Beginning in June 2009, Abdallah orchestrated a scheme to unload as many of his UPDV shares as possible before the company went out of business. Due to a lack of demand for UPDV’s stock, Abdallah paid cash kickbacks to a co-conspirator in exchange for the coconspirator’s creating false demand for UPDV’s stock, which, in turn, increased UPDV’s share price and allowed Abdallah and another conspirator to sell tens of millions of UPDV shares at artificially high prices. Abdallah’s co-conspirator created the false demand by fraudulently inducing several stock brokerage houses to purchase a total of more than 200 million shares of UPDV. The co-conspirator telephoned each of these brokerage houses, falsely identified himself as a representative of an actual client of the broker, and placed orders to buy large blocks of UPDV common stock. After the brokerage houses purchased the stock, the co-conspirator ceased contact with the brokerage houses and failed to pay for the shares he had caused the brokerage houses to purchase.
The false demand enabled Abdallah and another conspirator to sell over 70 million UPDV shares for approximately $300,000. In exchange for the creation of the false demand, Abdallah paid his co-conspirator approximately $40,000 in secret kickbacks from his UPDV sale proceeds.
« ECOtality, Inc. (ETLY.OB) – Fuel from a Cell?Beijing Muncipal Water Bureau Awards China Voice Holding Corp. (CHVC.PK) with Second Contract »Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (UPDA.OB) Awarded $0.16 Price Target
Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation is focused on exploring, developing, producing, storing, distributing as well as blending oil and natural gas. The company operates as a holding company as it owns controlling interests in energy-related businesses and provides the necessary funds to develop energy reserves and leading-edge technologies. Through this strategic plan, the Company is able to both expand and diversify its asset portfolio and operations while simultaneously broadening its knowledge base and expertise.
The Company owns controlling interests in six operating subsidiaries focused on the areas of oil and gas exploration and production, distribution, storage and trading. The Company’s business model pursues joint-ventures that expand its assets and operations and provide the services of skilled energy industry professionals and financing support while at the same time reducing operating risk. The Company’s operating subsidiaries and joint ventures include UPDA Operators, Inc., Catlin Oil & Gas, Inc., Canyon Creek Oil & Gas, Inc., Aztec Well Services, Inc., Continental Fuels, Inc. and Heartland Oil & Gas Corp.
The Company is focused on low-risk oil and gas prospects providing high net revenue interests; frequently in regions of proven production. Universal Property Development believes that risks are reduced by utilizing advanced technologies for geological interpretation, drilling, geophysics and production engineering such as 3-dimensional seismic and magnetic survey data.
The analyst who completed the report stated, “UPDA’s value is the $157 million sum of the fair values of its oil and gas trading and exploration businesses. Also taking into account the Company’s 87% ownership interest in its largest subsidiaries, we derive a $0.16 price target for UPDA shares. Accordingly, we are initiating coverage of Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation with a Speculative Buy rating and a $0.16 price target”
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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 6:43 am and is filed under Beacon Equity Research, QualityStocks Stock Newsletters, Universal Property Development and Acquisition UPDA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Special Report: China set to unearth shale power
Companies:
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation
PetroChina Company, Ltd.
CNOOC, Ltd.
.
A worker performs a routine check to the valves at a natural gas appraisal well of Sinopec in Langzhong county, Sichuan province, in this file picture taken March 1, 2011. Just over a year ago, Beijing awakened to a technology revolution that has unlocked massive reserves of gas trapped within shale rock formations in the United States. China's confidence has been bolstered by a new report of its estimated reserves of shale gas, which shows them to be, by far, the largest in the world. REUTERS/Stringer/Files
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On Wednesday April 20, 2011, 11:31 am EDT
By Aizhu Chen
YUANBA, China (Reuters) - China has spent tens of billions of dollars buying into energy resources from Africa to Latin America to slake the unquenched thirst for fuel from its growing industry and burgeoning cities.
But China may have more energy riches under its own soil than policy makers in the world's second-largest economy ever dared imagine.
Just over a year ago, Beijing awakened to a technology revolution that has unlocked massive reserves of gas trapped within shale rock formations in the United States.
Once deemed too costly to extract, shale gas has turned around U.S. dependence on foreign gas imports. Just a few years ago, the United States was building scores of expensive facilities to import liquefied natural gas (LNG), looking at booming long-term demand forecasts and wondering which countries would supply the huge volume of imports it needed.
Instead, the United States is turning import facilities into export terminals, because its shale gas reserves are estimated to be big enough to meet domestic demand for 30 years. This is an American dream that China wants to emulate.
"America's shale gas production alone has exceeded that of total Chinese gas output. That gives us a lot of confidence," said Zhang Dawei, deputy director of the Strategic Research Center for Oil and Gas in the Ministry of Land and Resources(MLR).
China's confidence has been bolstered by a new report of its estimated reserves of shale gas, which shows them to be, by far, the largest in the world.
The U.S. Energy Information Agency in a report last month estimates China holds 36.1 trillion cubic meters (1,275 trillion cubic feet) of technically recoverable shale gas reserves -- significantly higher than the 24.4 tcm (862 trillion cubic feet) in the United States, which has the second-most.
Industry estimates in China peg shale gas resources slightly lower -- but still huge -- at 26 trillion cubic meters (tcm), although they have yet to give their own forecasts of how much of that is recoverable.
China's imminent shale rush comes at a critical point.
It will soon overtake the United States as the world's top energy user and is already the world's biggest coal burner. China also pumps more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other country.
Beijing's bureaucrats thus face a daunting challenge: how to clean up its brown skies while meeting the world's fastest growing energy demand.
Natural gas burns more cleanly than other fossil fuels and installing gas-fired power generation is cheaper and easier than building nuclear plants. The problem is China cannot meet its rising demand for gas with its limited reserves of conventional gas. It faces the prospect of becoming as dependent on international markets for gas as it is for oil, where China is the world's second-largest importer.
But shale gas may not be as clean as advertised, according to a study released last week by Cornell University in New York. This study argues that significant amounts of methane -- a potent greenhouse gas -- escape into the atmosphere during production in wells and distribution in pipelines.
Regardless, China is racing to find out how much shale gas it can exploit -- and how quickly it can get the technology and build the infrastructure it needs to pump it to market -- to reduce its dependence on foreign sources of gas.
AUCTION ACTION
The starting gun for that race is about to fire any day now.
The MLR said it would hold the first auction of shale gas blocks by the end of the first quarter of this year, so it is already overdue. The ministry had previously delayed the auction, initially scheduled last November, to open up the bidding to more domestic companies -- inject more competition into the process and quicken the pace of shale development.
The auction is for eight exploration blocks covering 18,000 square kilometers in four inland provinces: southwest Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou, and central Hubei province.
"We are aiming for major breakthroughs in locating the reserves in five years, and in eight years shale gas should take a significant position in China's energy mix," said Zhang at the land ministry. He talked of having shale gas account for one-tenth of China's total gas output by 2020.
China has identified shale gas as one of the country's top targets for technological breakthroughs in the 2011-2015 five-year plan, which means that Beijing will be opening the funding faucets for shale gas research.
China's National Energy Administration is setting up a shale gas laboratory in Langfang, near Beijing, to be financed mostly by PetroChina, and that will become China's national shale gas research center, officials say.
Experts say shale, which needs intensive drilling and many wells, plays to China's strengths.
"Shale gas projects are sometimes referred to as manufacturing operations. Which countries globally are particularly good at manufacturing?" said Robert Clarke, global head of unconventional gas research for Wood Mackenzie.
"China certainly comes to the forefront of your mind -- good in controlling costs, looking at efficiencies, and continually learning from earlier mistakes.
" PetroChina, which produces nearly 80 percent of China's total gas output, just last month completed its first horizontal shale gas well in the Weiyuan block of Sichuan province.
Its parent company and China's biggest oil and gas firm, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), said it aimed to have unconventional gas, mostly shale, account for about a fifth of total gas production by 2030.
CNPC predicts China's overall gas production will more than triple to 300 billion cubic meters by 2030 from 94 bcm in 2010. That would put shale gas output up near 60 billion bcm in 20 years, or more gas than India currently consumes.
That's quite a jump, because right now, China is pumping nothing at all from its shale gas reserves.
OBAMA'S VISIT
The shale rush only really began in China when President Barack Obama signed a cooperation pact on shale gas in November 2009 during a state visit to Beijing, just weeks before the Copenhagen climate talks. Washington thought that if China could increase gas usage at the expense of dirty coal, it would reduce the carbon footprint of the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluter.
U.S. firms had hoped the pact would help them leverage their technology to gain rare access to China's tightly controlled oil and gas reserves. China may have hoped to acquire some of that technology to help develop its fledgling shale industry.
Neither has materialized to any great extent so far. But the pact has undoubtedly helped smooth out any political objections to acquisitions by cash-rich Chinese energy giants of stakes in North American shale assets. In a flurry of recent deals, they have effectively purchased the technology and expertise they lack back home.
China's third-largest oil and gas firm CNOOC (HKSE:0883.HK - News) struck two deals with leading U.S. shale gas player Chesapeake (NYSE:CHK - News) over the last several months, giving it access to drilling leases in Texas, Wyoming and Colorado.
The deals marked CNOOC's triumphant entry into the United States after its 2005 bid for Unocal Corp was killed by strident political opposition over the involvement of Chinese state companies in the U.S. energy sector. Chevron (NYSE:CVX - News) later acquired the U.S. oil firm instead.
"Chesapeake has accumulated abundant experience in drilling and completion in various U.S. shale plays," CNOOC said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters. "The techniques and experiences we learn from the U.S. shale projects will benefit our potential participation in other areas in the future."
PetroChina (HKSE:0857.HK - News), the world's second-most valuable energy company, announced in February it would buy a $5.4 billion stake in Calgary-based Encana Corp's (NYSE:ECA - News) shale gas assets. Analysts say PetroChina paid a fat premium for that deal. But a CNPC executive said it was all about gaining expertise for shale.
"We don't care much about whether the market believes it's a good or bad price. The top priority is gaining access to a resource and mature technology," he said. "Price is only a secondary consideration."
U.S. companies, on the other hand, have had little luck getting their foot in China's door.
Majors like Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM - News) and ConocoPhilips (NYSE:COP - News), and smaller independents like Hess (NYSE:HES - News) and Newfield (NYSE:NFX - News), are looking for opportunities but Beijing-based international industry executives lamented the door was at best ajar.
In fact, ever since the failed Unocal bid, dealmaking between the world's two largest economies has been largely in limbo. A series of planned acquisitions has died in the hands of bureaucrats or politicians in Beijing and Washington, and other ideas haven't seen the light of day for fear they will also be blocked.
The energy sector has been a case in point. Six months after Obama's visit, China and the United States set up a shale gas task force and agreed to jointly conduct a shale gas project -- assessing the Lower Liaohe basin in northeastern Liaoning province. The block is part of an aging oil basin and fell short of U.S. expectations that it would cover a much wider area.
While the U.S. government and companies have invited Chinese geologists for technical workshops and field trips, Chinese firms have been more lukewarm about sharing technical information, or opening up new blocks for resource studies, industry officials said.
China remains wary about letting foreigners prowl too much around the interior.
SECRETIVE ENERGY APPROACH
"It's no secret China has a secretive approach to energy security ... Some in the government have a deep mistrust of U.S. motives," said a Beijing-based diplomat who requested anonymity.
China last year sentenced U.S. geologist Xue Feng to eight years in jail for leaking state secrets after he arranged the sale of an industry database to his then employer, Colorado-based consultancy IHS Energy.
China's notoriously vague state secrets laws drew international attention last year when Australian citizen Stern Hu and three colleagues working for mining giant Rio Tinto (LSE:RIO.L - News; ASX:RIO.AX - News) were detained for stealing state secrets during the course of tense iron ore negotiations.
China is especially sensitive when it comes to onshore oil and gas projects, which account for most of its domestic production.
Several rounds of onshore concessions in the 1990s attracted firms such as Exxon Mobil, BP (LSE:BP.L - News), Royal Dutch Shell (LSE:RDSA.L - News) and Chevron. But the companies were largely disappointed by how little they found after spending hundreds of millions of dollar drilling.
Royal Dutch Shell, whose current and previous greater China Chief Executive Officers are both Malaysian Chinese, has so far won the biggest access to China's onshore sector among international firms.
The first among international majors to win an onshore gas contract in northwest China's Changbei field in 2005, Shell is now drilling at least two shale gas wells in Sichuan's Fushun block under an agreement with PetroChina.
"It's too early to say that shale gas is a game-changer (in China) but I have great expectations," Shell CEO Peter Voser told Reuters last month in Beijing.
Shell is drilling 17 wells this year, which should give it a good idea about the potential, he said. "If we are successful, we are aiming to spend $1 billion a year over the next five years on shale gas (in China)," said Voser, adding the firm was spending $400 million this year.
China is the world's second-largest oil consumer and the fifth-largest producer. But a cap on domestic gas prices to support the domestic fertilizer sector meant gas reserves were neglected until the last decade, when rapid urbanization and industrial growth spurred demand for the fuel.
Rising demand has sparked pressure to open up the upstream gas industry to smaller state-run firms or even foreign investment.
The land ministry's Zhang, one of the officials organizing the shale gas block auction, has repeatedly delivered the same message: a diversified body of investors and an open market were key to the U.S. shale gas rush once the technological breakthrough was made, and the same holds for China.
"Money, technology is not a problem, but the (Chinese) monopoly system is," Zhang told Reuters after returning from a tour of government agencies and shale gas companies in the United States.
The Barnett shale deposit in Texas, he noted, attracted more than 100 individual operators, each drilling a few wells and looking to sell to bigger companies.
FRACKING CONTROVERSIAL
In Yuanba, a green hilly county dotted with rice paddies and vegetable farms about 500 kilometers from Sichuan province's capital of Chengdu in China's southwest, Sinopec Corp (HKSE:0386.HK - News) drilled its first shale gas test well last December.
Using a vertical exploration well, the type designed for conventional gas, it struck a shale formation about 4,100 meters deep yielding a daily gas flow of 11,500 cubic meters.
It was a start. But for commercial production, shale gas needs a different type of well -- one drilled horizontally and used to pump in torrents of sand, water and chemicals to crack open channels in the rock for the gas to flow through.
The technique is called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," and it has opened up gas reserves trapped in rocks with little permeability -- reserves hitherto seen as too difficult and too expensive to exploit.
Sinopec plans to drill its first horizontal shale gas well around June in Fuling, not far from Yuanba and in the same geological Sichuan basin -- China's most prolific gas producing region.
Hydraulic fracking has provoked opposition from environmentalists who say the injection of chemicals contaminates water tables, concerns that are vividly depicted in the documentary Gasland.
The Oscar-nominated film showed tap water in the homes of families living near drilling sites in Pennsylvania turning a foul color and catching fire when touched with a lighter.(http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/).
Energy companies say there is no evidence that fracking has contaminated water supplies. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in March it would begin to take a closer look at the impact of shale gas drilling on both human health and the environment.
Shale's green credentials have also been questioned.
A study released last week by professors at Cornell said that while shale gas burns much cleaner than coal, it also leaks more methane in production, whether accidentally or through releases designed to relieve well pressure.
The research, led by Cornell University ecology professor Robert Howarth and published in the journal Climatic Change Letters, raised howls of protest from the gas industry, which said the study used flawed data and the document was political.
"Compared to coal, the footprint of shale gas is at least 20 percent greater and perhaps more than twice as great on the 20-year horizon ...," the study says.
The gas industry says producers already have the means to eliminate the bulk of these emissions, and the incentive to do so -- sales of trapped methane were worth $344 million in 2009.
CHINESE LEARN FAST
Indeed, much is yet to be learned about shale gas, especially in China, which has little expertise in interpreting shale data, a shoddy environmental record, and has only just begun to acquire operational experience with fracking.
"I have a lot of difficulty understanding the shale resource ... struggling to figure out where are the exact spaces in the rocks that trap the gas and oil," said Wei Zhihong, a shale gas project manager with Chengdu-based Sinopec South Exploration Corp, an exploration unit of number-two energy firm Sinopec Corp.
It worries him a little because his bosses are so eager to get the latest news on their shale projects in Sichuan.
"In a little over six months, I was called to take more than 10 trips to Beijing to update the management on shale gas," Wei said. "The company's very top boss on upstream listened in on many of the meetings. I have the feeling our big bosses are very keen on shale gas."
China's energy giants believe they can pick up the technology fast.
"We will develop and build our own knowledge based on what the international companies have showed us... we will compare that to our own gas basins and pick and choose the knowledge that is relevant to our own geological conditions," Wei said.
The United States is home to mostly shallow, broad marine basins, while China has a mix of lake, marine and continent-based structures. The difference in geology may initially result in a higher exploration cost for China and it will need to fine-tune existing fracking techniques.
"The question remains as to whether U.S. technology can easily be replicated in China. China's geological conditions are more complicated," said Song Yan, a senior researcher with PetroChina.
It took nearly two decades for U.S. companies to perfect shale gas technology, which requires many more wells being drilled than conventional reservoirs and often lots of failed early wells.
"Unconventional gas plays need hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of wells. It will be interesting to see if management fatigue develops in large companies -- are they going to continue investing in a statistical project if maybe the first 10 wells don't work?" Wood Mackenzie's Clarke said.
Chinese firms say they are undaunted by the technical hurdles. "You should have confidence in Chinese companies... If many small U.S. firms can do the job, why not big Chinese companies? They simply have not tried it before. Chinese (companies) are extremely good in emulating and imitating, they will get there very quickly," said Zhang at the land ministry.
Companies may also choose to pick up the know-how from service companies such as Baker Hughes, Halliburton (NYSE:HAL - News) and Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB - News), probably a quicker route than undergoing the lengthy negotiations that go with sharing equity with energy companies, analysts said.
Schlumberger, for instance, won a contract to supply Sinopec with long-term, on-demand service on well appraisals that covers both conventional and shale gas, said Sinopec's Wei.
"Is it a huge opportunity to service companies, or is it just an area in which the Chinese just want to learn what they need to do and then do it on their own?" said Gavin Thompson, Beijing-based head of China gas research of Wood Mackenzie.
This shale game will largely play out in Sichuan, one of the largest and most inaccessible provinces in China, just north of Tibet, with 87 million people.
SICHUAN'S GAS FRONTIER
Sichuan province is about four times the size of Pennsylvania, the U.S. state which holds the huge Marcellus shale deposit.
Sichuan is where China's Song Dynasty people invented bamboo wells to drill for salt about 1,000 years ago. Today, the province pumps nearly a quarter of China's total natural gas production.
One of China's main rice-growing provinces, Sichuan has rich water sources, sitting at the upper reaches of China's longest river, the Yangtze. Access to water is key to shale development because fracking is so water-intensive.
"If there are any major breakthroughs, they should come from Sichuan," said Guo Tonglou, chief geologist of Sinopec South Exploration Company. "We've done lots of work in the basin."
Explorers have sunk wells over 7 kms deep and made major discoveries such as Puguang, a conventional gas reservoir with proven reserves of 400 billion cubic meters, one of the country's largest gas fields. Geologists believe shale deposits normally sit close to big conventional reservoirs.
Few at Chinese firms think money will be a problem once companies prove sizeable reserves can be tapped.
"Decisions on spending come really quick nowadays if you can convince management it's a good project," said Sinopec's Wei.
The rising cost of importing gas is imparting some urgency to those decisions.
China is set to secure nearly a third of its gas consumption through imports by 2020, much of it from costly sources such as gas piped from Turkmenistan and a string of long-term purchase agreements for liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia, Qatar and Indonesia. The price of the gas in those contracts is indexed to oil, making them relatively expensive when oil prices are high compared to other fuels.
A rapid rise in domestic gas reserves, boosted by shale development, would be likely to depress domestic prices and may make China think twice about those LNG deals.
PetroChina's Chief Financial Officer Zhou Mingchun said in March the company lost 3.7 billion yuan in marketing 4.3 bcm of imported gas last year, mostly from Central Asia, because domestic gas prices were capped lower than import costs.
Still, China faces huge development costs in bringing shale gas supplies online. It only has 49,000 kms of gas pipeline grids, barely a tenth of the U.S. system, and would need to spend billions of dollars to build infrastructure to pump the gas to market.
Farmers such as Cui Jinlian, who is planting peas and eggplants by a conventional gas well near Yuanba county in Sichuan, say they've never heard of "shale gas" -- or had any idea it could contaminate the water they use for cooking and farming.
But Cui is aware the gas under their land has a poisonous component -- hydrogen sulphide (H2S)-- that can kill people. Gas pumped from the Sichuan basin, both conventional and unconventional, is mostly sour gas that contains H2S.
"It is no good for immediate use. The gas needs to be sent somewhere for processing first," said Cui in her musical Sichuan dialect, while resting by her small vegetable field. Piling up at the backyard of her simple one-story brick house were the dried tree twigs her family uses for cooking.
She knew also that hydrogen sulphide leaked from an explosion at a PetroChina exploration well in 2004 in Chongqing, killing hundreds of villagers in their sleep.
"Shale gas is a bit controversial, it can have a negative impact if done improperly," said Johnny Browaeys of CH2M, a U.S. consulting firm providing environmental and engineering services with an office in Shanghai.
"It's something we need to do right from the very start," said Browaeys, a fluent mandarin speaker who once lived in western China. "You don't want to get into a reputation issue."
(Editing by Simon Webb and Bill Tarrant)
I will believe when i see it, petey has more lies than any CEO I have ever seen on pink market, anyone on the board gets this article of bond financing or the PR post it so we all can verify.
April 5 (Bloomberg) -- T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire chairman of BP Capital LLC, talks about crude oil and natural gas markets, his plan for tax incentives and the need for new U.S. energy policy. Pickens speaks with Matt Miller and Carol Massar on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/68368976/
I think every natural gas investor should listen to this video!!!!
US program seeks to increase use of E-85 fuel
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EmailPrint..By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press Michael J. Crumb, Associated Press – 2 hrs 1 min ago
DES MOINES, Iowa – The federal government wants to increase production and use of a higher blend of ethanol fuel by giving financial assistance to gas stations that install more pumps for the fuel, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in advance of a formal announcement planned for Friday.
Vilsack said President Barack Obama wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help ensure 10,000 flex-fuel pumps for E-85 are available across the country within the next five years.
E-85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Current ethanol blends contain 10 percent ethanol. There are 8 million flexible fuel vehicles currently on the nation's roads and 2,300 stations where people can get E-85, Vilsack said.
"The president was pretty clear that he wants to reduce our nation's net dependence on foreign oil by one-third by 2025," Vilsack told The Associated Press. "One way to do that is to increase production and increase use of renewable biofuels."
He said the government will use funds from the Rural Energy for American Program to provide financial assistance to gas station owners who install E-85 pumps. The assistance would be through grants and guaranteed loans, he said.
Vilsack had initially planned to announce the program at a plant in Greensboro, N.C., that makes pumps for the fuel, but he canceled the trip because of the ongoing budget negotiations in Washington D.C.
He said the program will help the U.S. in its effort to achieve the goal of producing 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022. The nation currently produces about 13 billion gallons, Vilsack said.
Vilsack said he believes the U.S. has enough production capacity to meet the demand of the expansion effort. "But the more demand we create the more opportunity there will be for those who make the pumps," he added. "There is the side benefit, I believe, for additional job growth."
Vilsack also said Obama has instructed the USDA to finance four biorefineries to produce biofuels from a variety of sources, not just corn. Other possible materials that could be used are agricultural waste, such as corn cobs or husks, switch grass and animal waste, Vilsack said.
"We want to spread this industry to all four corners of the country and not just have it focused in the Midwest," he said.
The funds for the biorefineries will come from existing energy programs contained in the 2008 Farm Bill.
Vilsack spoke to the AP Thursday, the same day the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the leading advocacy group for the auto industry, testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that it is willing to work with the ethanol industry to increase ethanol use.
Bob Dineen, chief executive of the Renewable Fuels Association, said using higher ethanol blends "is critical to our national energy goals.
"That means more flexible fuel vehicles, more conventional vehicles using blends about E10, and more blender pumps at gas stations," Dineen said in a written statement.
Your right because if he wanted to reward shareholders he could have any of billionares out there invest millions in RVGD if it was legit as much as petey claims this company to be legit, right now. Billionares are buying up companies left and right, blockbuster just got bought out come on now is this guy serious??? He will wait till december to say he will introduce some new car come january for 2012 auto show lets wait and see this is the routine of RVGD!!!
with everything going on in detroit i doubt it,lmao thousands are leaving detroit its been reported every 22 sec someone leaves the motor city, so i wonder how in the world does petey plan to overcome this issue lmao
with everything going on in detroit i doubt it,lmao thousands are leaving detroit its been reported every 22 sec someone leaves the motor city, so i wonder how in the world does petey plan to overcome this issue lmao
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/natural-gas-america-fuel-future-20110323-094805-684.html
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....Natural Gas: America’s Fuel of the Future?
By Jennifer Carinci | Breakout – 11 hours ago
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The nuclear-plant scare in Fukushima, Japan, has again forced the U.S. and President Obama to face what could be the greatest question of the century: What will fuel America toward energy independence? The answer could lie in one of the energy market's longest-running underdogs -- natural gas.
As an investment, it's the biggest loser in the energy complex, down nearly 6% in 2011, compared with crude oil's 12.5% gain and a whopping 20% rise for heating oil. Good old natty just can't make any sustainable gains, but veteran traders like Dan Dicker, author of the upcoming book "Oil's Endless Bid: Taming the Unreliable Price of Oil to Secure Our Economy," aren't giving up on the prospect that nat gas is on the brink of a breakout.
Like fellow believers, Dicker is putting his money where his mouth is, getting into gas producers such as Devon (DVN) and Apache (APA). He told Breakout "we'll be forced" to greatly expand the production and use of natural gas. (Dicker is not thrilled with energy futures ETFs, which he discussed in an earlier interview.)
Oil majors such as ExxonMobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are also betting big on gas, exploring massive expansion in this space. Tapping into the U.S.'s own natural resources, Chevron expects to drill 70 wells this year in the Marcellus shale, the gigantic rock formation beneath Pennsylvania, New York and other states.
Despite the vast energy riches beneath the earth, nat gas has its own set of troubles. Safety and environmental concerns over producing the gas through hydraulic fracturing are under scrutiny. This method, which involves drilling through and shattering thousands of feet of rock formations, has been called out for creating carbon dioxide emissions and potentially harmful water contamination.
Still, supporters of natural gas, like Dicker, say it's "domestic, cleaner, abundant and cheap as hell."
..
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ford-plans-to-team-with-apf-3880535396.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=
Ford plans to team with Sollers in Russia
Ford teams up with Russian automaker to expand in that nation's fast-growing car market
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{"s" : "f,gm,tm","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} Sharon Silke Carty and Nataliya Vasilyeva, Associated Press, On Friday February 18, 2011, 5:15 pm EST
DETROIT (AP) -- Ford Motor Co. is teaming up with Russian automaker Sollers to make and distribute cars in Russia, one of the fastest growing auto markets.
Under a deal announced Friday, Sollers will build Fords at Russian plants, helping boost a struggling local industry. Ford will have access to a huge market that could bolster its revenues.
Financial details weren't disclosed, but the automakers said they will have equal stakes in their joint venture called Ford Sollers. Ford declined to give production or sales targets for the venture.
The announcement came shortly after Italian automaker Fiat SpA backed out of a potential partnership with the same Russian company. The unraveling of the Fiat Sollers venture gave Ford an opportunity to step in.
Ford and Sollers are expected to finalize their deal in June. The venture's operations could start by year's end.
The Dearborn, Mich., company began selling cars directly to Russians in 2002, and like many car makers is eager to expand business there as demand improves.
While domestic auto companies in Russia have been struggling, the market itself has been gaining strength. Car sales in Russia rose by 30 percent last year to 1.9 million, according to the Moscow-based Association of European Businesses. Nine of the 10 best-selling models were produced locally, while Ford Focus was in the top five best-sellers.
Ford's sales in Russia increased to 91,000 in 2010 from 82,000 the year before, but they haven't grown as fast as the rest of the market. Ford needs to grow in emerging markets such as Russia, Brazil, India and China to maintain momentum. The company's market share in the U.S., the most profitable region in the world, isn't expected to increase dramatically even though it has returned to profitability. It is relying on markets outside the U.S. to increase sales.
Ford's stock fell 20 cents, or 1.25 percent, to $15.77 on Friday.
Under the Ford-Sollers deal, plants in the St. Petersburg region and Tatarstan will make Ford passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and engines. The venture will also produce parts for Ford vehicles made in Russia and distribute imported Ford products and accessories.
The joint venture will help strengthen Russia's auto industry and its local supply base, said Ford of Europe CEO Stephen Odell.
Many automakers have used joint ventures to make inroads in international markets. General Motors' partnership with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. in China has helped it become one of the largest automakers in the country.
Russia has poured millions of rubles into its stagnant car industry over the past decade to try to resuscitate it. Last year, the government said the industry would survive only in partnership with global players.
Fiat and Russian automaker Sollers had signed a memorandum of understanding last year to produce up to 500,000 vehicles a year in Russia in a bid to become the country's second-largest car maker. The two companies said in a joint statement Friday that they would "pursue independent strategies." Fiat owns U.S. automaker Chrysler.
Fiat's proposed partnership with Sollers had been viewed as a key joint venture. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin oversaw a high-profile ceremony last February that announced the potential deal. But the venture fell into a financial limbo for months after VEB, a Russian state-owned bank which was expected to give the car makers a 2.1 billion euro ($2.85 billion) loan, said in December that Fiat and Sollers had not provided enough documents to support the application for the loan.
Fiat will maintain a presence in Russia. Sollers has a license to produce Fiat vehicles, including assembly of the Fiat Ducato light commercial vehicle.
Ford is not the only automaker angling for more of the Russian market. General Motors Co. increased its sales there 12.4 percent last year. Russia's largest automaker, AvtoVAZ, is partly owned by France's Renault SA.
Last week reports indicated that Toyota Motor Corp. would join forces with Sollers to boost its auto production in Russia. News reports said Toyota would use Sollers' existing factory in the Russian far eastern port city of Vladivostok to produce cars and possibly sport utility vehicles. Japanese firm Mitsui & Co. is also said to be joining Toyota in the Russian project.
A Toyota spokeswoman said at the time that nothing had been decided.
Russian market watchers were encouraged by last year's car sales. They forecast them to expand by another 20 percent this year, to at least 2.2 million, provided the economy continues to recover from a downturn. Sales last year were supported by the government's scrappage program which propped up sales of cheap cars, mainly Russian brands.
Although Russia's growing middle class prefers foreign cars, Russian brands still sell better because of their low prices, accounting for at least a third of all sales.
The country's number one brand Lada sold over 500,000 cars last year while the second most popular brand Chevrolet posted sales of slightly over 100,000 units.
Vasilyeva reported from Moscow. Carty reported from Detroit. Michelle Chapman contributed from New York.
mmmmmmmmmmmmm ford is making money but RVGD cant mmmmmmmmmmmm something wrong with this picture!!
your right well there must be some serious money laying out there if you can afford to shell out 1.5 million plus for a super car in Great Recession we have to wait and see what peter has in store for RVGD shareholders ,what excuse this time mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm????????????????????????????
http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1721/million-dollar-supercar-will-be-sold-through-us-dealers/
Million-Dollar ‘Supercar’ Will Be Sold Through U.S. Dealers
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Buzz Up! By Jonathan Welsh
Italian supercar manufacturer Pagani Automobili SpA. said today it will enter the U.S. market with its new model called the Huayra. The company says it will begin selling the 700-horsepower car in the U.S. through a dealer network beginning later this year. Its price is expected to be more than $1 million.
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Pagani released pictures of the new two-seater and information about its specifications late last month, but its pending availability in the U.S is big news for the speed-addled and well-heeled. Pagani’s current model, the Zonda, has been a perennial leader in top-speed and brute-power contests run by car magazines for the past decade and has been tantalizingly out of reach for many would-be customers in the States.
Pagani will sell the new Huayra through U.S. dealerships.Named after Huayra Tata, an ancient God of wind, the Huayra has a six-liter, 12-cylinder engine with two turbochargers built by Mercedes-Benz’s AMG performance unit, which is responsible for the German company’s most powerful models. The engine breathes through a pair of air intakes behind the occupants that the company describes as “a tribute to the supersonic aircraft of the late 1950s and 1960s.” They were designed to allow air into the engine without unnecessarily disturbing aerodynamics.
Pagani, which is based in San Cesario sul Panaro, near Modena, Italy, says it has built five Huayra prototypes and has been road testing them for the past four years. The test cars have traveled more than 300,000 miles and will cover about 600,000 miles before entering the U.S. market. The company says the car complies with the strictest European and American safety and emissions standards.
The car is to make its debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month. The company says it will reveal its specific plans for unveiling the Huayra in the U.S. in the coming weeks
wow i wonder how does peter plan to keep up with this company this will be interesting to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The board defintely need to read this for any oil stock!!!!!!
New drilling method opens vast oil fields in US
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-drilling-method-opens-apf-2851595693.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
A new drilling technique is opening up vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil in the western United States, helping reverse a two-decade decline in domestic production of crude.
Companies are investing billions of dollars to get at oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California. By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day -- more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now.
This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.
"That's a significant contribution to energy security," says Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse.
Oil engineers are applying what critics say is an environmentally questionable method developed in recent years to tap natural gas trapped in underground shale. They drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up.
Because oil molecules are sticky and larger than gas molecules, engineers thought the process wouldn't work to squeeze oil out fast enough to make it economical. But drillers learned how to increase the number of cracks in the rock and use different chemicals to free up oil at low cost. "We've completely transformed the natural gas industry, and I wouldn't be surprised if we transform the oil business in the next few years too," says Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, which is using the technique.
Petroleum engineers first used the method in 2007 to unlock oil from a 25,000-square-mile formation under North Dakota and Montana known as the Bakken. Production there rose 50 percent in just the past year, to 458,000 barrels a day, according to Bentek Energy, an energy analysis firm.
It was first thought that the Bakken was unique. Then drillers tapped oil in a shale formation under South Texas called the Eagle Ford. Drilling permits in the region grew 11-fold last year.
Now newer fields are showing promise, including the Niobrara, which stretches under Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas; the Leonard, in New Mexico and Texas; and the Monterey, in California.
"It's only been fleshed out over the last 12 months just how consequential this can be," says Mark Papa, chief executive of EOG Resources, the company that first used horizontal drilling to tap shale oil. "And there will be several additional plays that will come about in the next 12 to 18 months. We're not done yet."
Environmentalists fear that fluids or wastewater from the process, called hydraulic fracturing, could pollute drinking water supplies. The Environmental Protection Agency is now studying its safety in shale drilling. The agency studied use of the process in shallower drilling operations in 2004 and found that it was safe.
In the Bakken formation, production is rising so fast there is no space in pipelines to bring the oil to market. Instead, it is being transported to refineries by rail and truck. Drilling companies have had to erect camps to house workers.
Unemployment in North Dakota has fallen to the lowest level in the nation, 3.8 percent -- less than half the national rate of 9 percent. The influx of mostly male workers to the region has left local men lamenting a lack of women. Convenience stores are struggling to keep shelves stocked with food.
The Bakken and the Eagle Ford are each expected to ultimately produce 4 billion barrels of oil. That would make them the fifth- and sixth-biggest oil fields ever discovered in the United States. The top four are Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, Spraberry Trend in West Texas, the East Texas Oilfield and the Kuparuk Field in Alaska.
The fields are attracting billions of dollars of investment from foreign oil giants like Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Norway's Statoil, and also from the smaller U.S. drillers who developed the new techniques like Chesapeake, EOG Resources and Occidental Petroleum.
Last month China's state-owned oil company CNOOC agreed to pay Chesapeake $570 million for a one-third stake in a drilling project in the Niobrara. This followed a $1 billion deal in October between the two companies on a project in the Eagle Ford.
With oil prices high and natural-gas prices low, profit margins from producing oil from shale are much higher than for gas. Also, drilling for shale oil is not dependent on high oil prices. Papa says this oil is cheaper to tap than the oil in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or in Canada's oil sands.
The country's shale oil resources aren't nearly as big as the country's shale gas resources. Drillers have unlocked decades' worth of natural gas, an abundance of supply that may keep prices low for years. U.S. shale oil on the other hand will only supply one to two percent of world consumption by 2015, not nearly enough to affect prices.
Still, a surge in production last year from the Bakken helped U.S. oil production grow for the second year in a row, after 23 years of decline. This during a year when drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the nation's biggest oil-producing region, was halted after the BP oil spill.
U.S. oil production climbed steadily through most of the last century and reached a peak of 9.6 million barrels per day in 1970. The decline since was slowed by new production in Alaska in the 1980s and in the Gulf of Mexico more recently. But by 2008, production had fallen to 5 million barrels per day.
Within five years, analysts and executives predict, the newly unlocked fields are expected to produce 1 million to 2 million barrels of oil per day, enough to boost U.S. production 20 percent to 40 percent. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates production will grow a more modest 500,000 barrels per day.
By 2020, oil imports could be slashed by as much as 60 percent, according to Credit Suisse's Morse, who is counting on Gulf oil production to rise and on U.S. gasoline demand to fall.
At today's oil prices of roughly $90 per barrel, slashing imports that much would save the U.S. $175 billion a year. Last year, when oil averaged $78 per barrel, the U.S. sent $260 billion overseas for crude, accounting for nearly half the country's $500 billion trade deficit.
"We have redefined how to look for oil and gas," says Rehan Rashid, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "The implications are major for the nation."
Associated Press writer James MacPherson contributed reporting from Stanley, N.D.
http://www.pinkinvesting.com/article/view/Heartland-Oil-Gas-Corp.-HTOG.PK-Silenced-By-The-Ghost-of-Criminal-Past
Heartland Oil & Gas Corp. (HTOG.PK) Silenced By The Ghost of Criminal PastHeartland Oil and Gas Corp. (PINK:HTOG) was born to life in 1998 in order to devote itself to the exploration and development of oil and gas properties. According to the official data, in 2007 Universal Property Developments and Acquisition Corporation (UPDV) acquired a 52% interest in HTOG, which in 2008 had subsequently decreased to 16% due to a reverse stock split and a couple of additional transactions.
Unfortunately, later on, instead of bringing progress, the acquisition by UDPV brought havoc to HTOG. In Aug. 2009, Kamal Abdallah, president of UDPV, was arrested by the FBI on allegations of conducting a pump and dump scheme of UPDV stock. In the mean time, another subsidiary of UDPV was put under investigation about a major petroleum theft scandal. Eventually, Abdallah was prohibited from becoming a head of any public company and from offering of penny stock.
According to forum discussions, Abdallah had managed to swindle $27 million from HTOG, which subsequently devastated the company. As a result HTOG has been reduced to to a sub-penny stock, and has been hiding from the public for more than a year now.
Recently, some indications of excitement have embraced HTOG stock, which was most probably due to the rumors of a forthcoming acquisition. However, the lack of any tangible evidence to testify the rumors renders the notion of the company's take-over a sheer mirage.
The disheartened HTOG investors, who would catch at any straw like a drowning man, got fascinated by the idea of a possible merger. But the truth is that the company has suffered a major blow to its image and since then had subsided into dead silence. And based on this fact there is absolutely no possibility of predicting the fate of HTOG, at least not until it gets the courage to speak to the public.
Business
http://www.pr-inside.com/universal-property-development-and-r2311795.htm
"Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (UPDV) - Financial Review" Published
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2010-12-17 05:32:11 - Recently published research from GlobalData, "Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (UPDV) - Financial and Strategic Analysis Review", is now available at Fast Market Research
Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation (UPDA) is a Florida based energy company. The company is engaged in acquisition, production, development, storage, distribution of oil and natural gas. UPDA operates as a holding company and holds controlling interests in six energy businesses. The company operates through six subsidiaries, which are Canyon Creek Oil & Gas, Inc., Catlin Oil and Gas,
Inc., Aztec Well Services, Inc, UPDA Operators, Inc., Heartland Oil & Gas Corp, and Continental Fuels, Inc. The company's areas of operations are across the Jack County, Palo Pinto County, Dallas county, Coleman County, Bexar County, Harris County, Cameron County in United States.
This comprehensive SWOT profile of Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation provides you an in-depth strategic analysis of the company's businesses and operations. The profile has been compiled by GlobalData to bring to you a clear and an unbiased view of the company's key strengths and weaknesses and the potential opportunities and threats. The profile helps you formulate strategies that augment your business by enabling you to understand your partners, customers and competitors better.
This company report forms part of GlobalData's 'Profile on Demand' service, covering over 50,000 of the world's leading companies. Once purchased, GlobalData's highly qualified team of company analysts will comprehensively research and author a full financial and strategic analysis of Universal Property Development and Acquisition Corporation, including a detailed SWOT analysis, and deliver this direct to you in pdf format within two business days. (excluding weekends).
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the adminstration has passed a tax break to upgrade race car tracks 12/24/2010 mmmmmmmmmm something is defintely going on behind close doors??????????? mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Interesting article???? Tax write off for race car tracks?????posted by yahoo today mmmmmmmmmmmmmm???????????
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The massive new tax bill signed into law by President Barack Obama is filled with all kinds of holiday stocking stuffers for businesses: tax breaks for producing TV shows, grants for putting up windmills, rum subsidies for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
There is even a tax break for people who buy race horses.
Millions of homeowners, however, might feel like they got a lump of coal. Homeowners who don't itemize their deductions will lose a tax break for paying local property taxes.
The business tax breaks are part of sweeping legislation that extends Bush era tax cuts for families at every income level through 2012. Obama signed the $858 billion measure a week ago. It also provides a new payroll tax cut for wage earners and extends jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed.
Most of the business tax breaks -- about 50 in all -- are part of a package that expires each year, creating uncertainty for tax planners but lots of business for lobbyists. Many of these tax breaks have been around for years but expired at the end of 2009 because lawmakers couldn't agree how to pay for them.
The new law extends most of them through 2011, some through 2012. They will be paid for with borrowed money.
Nearly 1,300 businesses and trade groups formed a coalition urging Congress to extend the business tax breaks. Others lobbied for specific provisions, including a generous tax credit for research and development and subsidies to produce alternative energy.
There is a generous tax break for banks and insurance companies that invest overseas, a tax credit for railroad track maintenance, more generous write-offs for upgrading motorsport race tracks, and increased deductions for businesses that donate books and computers to public schools and libraries.
Many of the tax breaks are designed to encourage economic activity. But passing them each year at the last minute, or skipping a year and passing them retroactively, isn't terribly efficient, said Clint Stretch, a tax expert at Deloitte Tax LLP.
"It gives it a lot of dignity to call it a `system,' " Stretch said.
Every year, taxpayers risk losing their favorite tax breaks, if they are not renewed. That's what happened to millions of homeowners. For 2008 and 2009, homeowners who didn't itemize their deductions were able to get an extra deduction -- on top of the standard deduction -- for paying local property taxes. Individuals could reduce their taxable income by as much as $500, couples could cut theirs by $1,000.
The provision, which has saved homeowners about $1.6 billion a year, expired for 2010 and was left out of the new tax law.
"A lot of Americans don't make so much money that they itemize their tax returns. But those same Americans own property," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who sponsored the original tax break. "It seems to me that they, too, should have the ability to deduct it. It's a matter of equity."
Taxpayers who itemize will continue to be able to deduct local property taxes. About two-thirds of tax filers don't itemize.
Among the provisions in the new law:
--A tax break that allows profitable companies to write off large capital expenditures immediately -- rather than over time -- giving some companies huge tax shelters.
The tax break, known as bonus depreciation, benefits automakers, utilities, heavy equipment makers like Caterpillar Inc., and John Deere, air freight companies like Fedex Corp., and wireless companies like Verizon and AT&T, said Anne Mathias, director of research for the Washington Research Group, which provides research to institutional and corporate investors. It will save companies nearly $21 billion over the next decade.
"It helps companies that use expensive capital equipment, that spend a lot of money," Mathias said. "It also helps places where the economy is growing, like wireless infrastructure, because there is a pretty big wireless build out right now."
The tax break is also available to people who buy race horses and farmers who buy cattle for breeding or dairy, according to a depreciation list produced by the Internal Revenue Service.
--An exemption that allows banks, insurance companies and other financial firms to shield foreign profits from being taxed by the U.S. through 2011. Cost: $9.2 billion.
The tax break is important to major multinational banks and financial firms, such as Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, and to the financing operations of other international companies, Mathias said.
--A tax credit for research and development, benefiting a wide range of industries, including pharmaceutical and high tech companies. The law extends the tax credit through 2011, at a cost of $13.3 billion.
"The House and the Senate are in the holiday spirit and giving US companies a present of $13 billion in potential R&D Tax Credits!" says a press release by Braithwaite Global Inc., a firm that advises companies on applying for research tax credits.
--Increased tax rebates to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands from a tax on rum imported into the United States. The U.S. imposes a $13.50 per proof-gallon tax on imported rum, and sends most of the proceeds to the two U.S. territories.
Previously, the rebate was $10.50 a gallon. The new law extends a more generous rebate of $13.25 a gallon through 2011. Cost: $262 million.
--Extends a grant program for the production of wind, solar and other renewable energy through 2011. Cost: $3 billion.
"This is a great holiday present for the 85,000 American workers in the wind energy industry, tens of thousands of whom will now be able to get back to work in a sector that has been a bright spot in the recession so far," Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, said in a statement.
--Extends a 50 percent tax credit for expenses related to railroad track maintenance through 2011. Cost $331 million.
--Enhanced deductions for companies that donate food to the needy, books to public schools or computers to public libraries, through 2011. Cost: $537 million.
--A tax break that allows TV and movie productions to more quickly write off expenses, extended through 2011. Sexually explicit productions are ineligible. Cost: $101 million.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-tax-law-packed-with-apf-4189829582.html?x=0&.v=3
absolutlely right but also the pontaic is longer available either because it is discontinued brand!!!!! how come the pontiac cars are not removed from revenge website any thoughts anyone???? web address posted for news that was reported today 12/20/2010!!!
Pontiac. It was once one of GM's marquis divisions, with must-have muscle cars like the GTO and the Trans Am. But GM could never revive Pontiac's faded glory, and when the automaker was forced to shrink following its 2009 bankruptcy, Pontiac got the boot. The last dealerships closed in October. Saturn, a newer GM division, closed as well.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/20-Companies-That-Cratered-in-usnews-3358422380.html?x=0
DOES anyones know what happned to the deal REVENGE signed with POET Ethanol maker or has that gone down the drain as well???????
RVGD not listed at NAISAS mmmmmmmmmmmmmm wondered how did that happened?????????????????????how in the world does petey plan to raise money when the car is not listed at the most prestigious event for cars this upcoming year when multimillionares and billionare investors will be there???????? ..... zgoldies was right period!
lmao yeah right!!!! did you see the competition revenge has waiting for them at detroit motor show??????????? did anybody pay attention to la motor show??? did u see the new supercar jaguar hybrid, oh and dont forget LEXUS LFA SUPERCAR (395,000) which is already sold out in USA and cost more than RSC Blade, by the way the car was actually finished for viewing so consumers can see inside and out, I hope petey gets his ducks in row because they wont be able to quack come january lmao!!!!!
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm stalling the plan mmmmmmmmmmmm im not surprised!!!!let see what excuse he has for shareholders for not completing the blade or new car in january!!!
I agree since he is so good at OPM this would be perfect oppurtunity for him!!!
I agree 100% also petey will make new excuses come monday when the deal falls through wait and see, make all excuses until motor show in jan
Revenge not at the la auto show mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm how did that happen???? cough!! cough lmao!!!! wow wait for the excuses in january wait and see!!!
another interesting article petey better keep eye out on new competition!!Fuel of the Future? Methanol Has "Huge Potential," Methanex CEO Says
.Americans are increasingly moving away from traditional combustion engine autos in favor of more energy efficient and cleaner burning hybrids and electric vehicles.
Toyota has had great success with its Prius model – selling more than 115,000 this year alone. The Japanese automaker continues to increase its Lexus hybrid offerings as well.
The electric car is also getting renewed attention with the high profile launch of the Chevy Volt (coming soon) and the Nissan Leaf.
Any discussion on the future of transportation would not be complete without discussing methanol, says Bruce Aitken, CEO of Methanex, the world’s largest methanol producer. Not widely used in the U.S. in cars, “30% of all methanol today goes into fuel in some way or another, it’s the sector that’s growing most rapidly as well,” Aitken says; China, for example, uses more than one billion gallons of methanol per year as a transportation fuel.
Tech Ticker caught up with Aitken in New York this week, where he was showing off the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-fuel, which runs on a mixture of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol.
The major advantage of methanol comes down to price. “The good news about methanol is it’s very inexpensive to produce relative to the competition. Today methanol sells around $1.20 per gallon,” Aitken tells Aaron in the accompanying clip. And, unlike ethanol, methanol doesn’t benefit from government subsidies that keep prices artificially low. “You don’t need subsidies; you can manufacture the stuff and it’s competitive with gasoline," he says. "That’s why it has huge potential.”
Investors apparently agree. Methanex shares are up about 62% in the last year. Aitken is confident the stock has further to run. "We’re only half way there,” he boasts. “On any sort of multiple analysis we’re still a cheap stock."
But, like the future of methanol as a transportation fuel, the market will be the ultimate judge.
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/fuel-of-the-future-methanol-has-%22huge-potential%22-methanex-ceo-says-535597.html?tickers=meoh,xom,xle,OIL,tm,f,USO&sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode=
IF petey was smart he would get celebrity race cars drivers behind this idea if he really wants it to take off , that way revenge shareholders would profit once everybody support this potential idea of race cars in alabama~~~~!!!
interesting article for everybody to know
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GOP-victory-could-boost-apf-3659732978.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=
GOP victory could boost natural gas drilling
GOP victories in Pa. and Washington could boost natural gas drilling; friendlier climate seen
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FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2008 file photo, the drilling rig for a natural gas well into the Marcellus Shale is seen behind a foundation for equipment that remains on site after the well is tapped in Houston, Pa. The Republicans' big Election Day victories in Pennsylvania and on Capitol Hill could mean an early Christmas for the drilling companies that are rushing to exploit the Marcellus Shale, one of the biggest known natural gas deposits in the nation. Republican Gov.-elect Tom Corbett is a lot friendlier to the industry than outgoing Democrat Ed Rendell. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
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{"s" : "cog","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} Marc Levy, Associated Press, On Thursday November 11, 2010, 1:57 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The Republicans' big election victories in Pennsylvania and on Capitol Hill could be Christmas-come-early for the drilling companies that are rushing to exploit the Marcellus Shale, the biggest known deposit of natural gas in the nation.
Republican Gov.-elect Tom Corbett is seen as a lot friendlier toward the industry than outgoing Democrat Ed Rendell, who has clashed with natural gas companies over both taxes and tougher new clean-water regulations.
Also, the GOP takeover of the U.S. House will almost surely doom efforts in Congress to impose federal regulation over gas drilling.
Among many Republicans, there is elation. GOP strategist Karl Rove told participants in an oil and gas industry conference in Pittsburgh last week that they can now expect "a period of sensible regulations."
"As a signal, is it good? Yes," said a more cautious-sounding William Garner, a Houston lawyer and former investment banker who specializes in the natural gas industry. "But will it make a difference? Time will tell."
Among other things, the incoming governor opposes any attempt to slap a gas-extraction tax on the industry. Pennsylvania is the largest gas-drilling state without such a tax, and Rendell tried and failed to persuade the Legislature to approve one. Corbett has also said he will lift Rendell's executive order preventing the issuing of any more drilling leases in state forests.
A drilling boom has been under way since 2008 in the Marcellus Shale, a vast underground geologic formation that extends from West Virginia and eastern Ohio through Pennsylvania into southern New York. Some geologists estimate it could yield enough natural gas to supply the entire East Coast for 50 years.
Its huge commercial potential was underscored earlier this week when oil giant Chevron struck a $4.3 billion deal to buy Atlas Energy, a major Marcellus Shale driller.
Combining a new process of horizontal drilling with a technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, drillers are unlocking vast deposits there and in other formations around the U.S. such as the Barnett Shale in Texas -- a boom that could ensure cheap and plentiful natural gas for many years to come for homeowners, factories and power plants.
The drilling frenzy in the Marcellus Shale is also credited with enriching landowners and pumping new life into trucking companies, short-line railroads, quarries and steel-pipe makers, as well as the restaurants and hotels hosting out-of-state drilling crews. An industry-financed study by Penn State projected that the boom would generate tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local taxes in the coming years.
However, the use of fracking -- in which millions of gallons of water, sand and toxic chemicals are injected into each well to break apart the shale and release trapped gas -- is raising pollution concerns across the Northeast.
While the industry maintains that fracking has been proved safe over the decades, homeowners are coming forward with tales of wells producing brown, foul-smelling water or water polluted with methane and chemicals.
In the northeastern Pennsylvania town of Dimock, a hotspot of Marcellus Shale exploration, some residents no longer use their polluted well water and can light their taps on fire because of methane they say seeped into their wells because of drilling.
The Rendell administration intends to bill Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. the $12 million cost of installing a water line to serve 14 families in Dimock. Cabot denies the methane is connected to its drilling.
The gas drilling business got what it wanted in the election of Corbett, who received nearly $1 million in donations from the industry. Among his first actions this week was to name Christine Toretti, a national GOP committeewoman and owner of a Pennsylvania drilling company, as co-chair of his transition team.
Without giving specifics, Corbett on Wednesday promised a "reasonable" regulatory stand that protects the environment. He will be able to appoint a new head of the Department of Environmental Protection, which under Rendell has tried to aggressively deal with the problems brought by the gas rush.
"I look at this as an industry that's going to be here long after all of us in the room are gone," Corbett said. "It is going to be a great industry and we need to develop it properly. We need to develop it protecting the environment and growing jobs in Pennsylvania."
Congress exempted fracking from federal clean water regulations in 2005, but some lawmakers have been pushing to undo that.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., sponsor of a measure that would subject fracking to regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency, predicts a bleaker landscape now for his bill.
"If anything, there are more votes against it," he said Tuesday.
Whether events ultimately unfold to the industry's liking remains to be seen.
The election doesn't affect a web of state and federal regulatory bodies that could stand in the way of drilling, industry analysts said. The EPA, for example, could try to regulate fracking without congressional approval.
Rolf Hanson of the Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania, an industry lobbying group, said: "I for sure don't see this as, 'All of a sudden things are going to be rosy for the industry and we're going to get a free pass.'"
Interesting article
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GM-reports-2B-3Q-profit-ahead-apf-4260471184.html?x=0
GM reports $2B 3Q profit ahead of stock offering
General Motors posts $2B 3Q profit, boosting case for stock sale as new models add to revenue
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FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2010 fie photo, General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson, announces plans to spend $190 million to build a new Cadillac small car at its Lansing Grand River plant in Lansing, MIch. General Motors said Wednesday, Nov. 10, it made $2 billion in the third quarter, a strong showing that helps the company's pitch to investors who may buy stock in an initial public offering. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, file)
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{"s" : "f,mtlqq.pk","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} Tom Krisher and Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Auto Writers, On Wednesday November 10, 2010, 10:29 am
DETROIT (AP) -- Strong profits on new cars and trucks helped General Motors Co. earn $2 billion in the third quarter, enhancing the company's appeal as it nears next week's initial public stock offering.
The third-quarter earnings of $1.20 per share nearly match what GM made in the first two quarters of the year combined, aided by profits from overseas and healthy revenue from North America, the company said Wednesday. The earnings were boosted by higher prices from newly introduced models such as the Buick LaCrosse, a midsize luxury sedan.
They also were another indication of a widespread recovery among global automakers. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Chrysler and Ford all reported improved results in the most recent quarter as auto sales slowly rise.
The strong quarter meant that GM met projections it made a week ago that net income for the quarter would be $1.9 billion to $2.1 billion.
It was the third-straight profitable quarter for GM, which needed $50 billion in U.S. government aid to make it through bankruptcy protection last year. The company has repaid or plans to repay taxpayers $9.5 billion, and the government hopes to get back the remaining $40 billion with the Nov. 18 common stock offering and several follow-up sales.
The latest results reversed a $908 million loss, or 73 cents per share, in the third quarter of last year, a short quarter for GM because it spent the first nine days in bankruptcy protection.
The Detroit automaker posted $34.1 billion in revenue for the July-through-September quarter, up 35 percent from the $25.1 billion in the shortened period last year. GM had said last week that revenue could reach $34 billion for the quarter.
Revenue has been steadily increasing this year, largely due to gains in North America and explosive sales growth in China.
For the quarter, GM reported strong profits in all of its regions but Europe, where it lost $559 million. The company reported $2.1 billion in profits from North America, and its international operations, including Asia and Latin America, made $646 million.
The earnings per share figure for the quarter was adjusted for a three-for-one stock split approved by GM's board last week in advance of the initial public offering.
The third-quarter earnings come in the middle of a two-week "road show" in which GM executives are fanning out to U.S. and European money centers to sell investors on the upcoming IPO. The positive third-quarter performance should help them make their case.
But investors likely will have questions about the losses in Europe and how GM will handle increasing competition that's coming in the U.S. for several key GM models. For example, the new Chevrolet Cruze compact now is the newest car in its class in the U.S., but Ford, Honda and others soon will unveil strong new products.
Another problem that surfaced in GM's earnings report: its global market share fell to 11.5 percent from 11.9 percent in the third quarter of 2009. The company said its share partly declined because it saw fewer sales to rental, corporate and government fleets. Fleet sales accounted for a little more than a quarter of the company's sales in the latest period, compared with 34 percent of its sales in the second quarter.
GM said it ended the quarter with $35.8 billion in cash, up from $33.6 billion in the previous quarter, and $8.6 billion in debt, up from $8.2 billion. GM said the increase in debt was primarily due to unfavorable fluctuations in currency, including a stronger Canadian dollar and a weaker British pound.
The company also said it made a second-quarter accounting mistake involving devalued Venezuelan currency, reducing cash by $199 million. GM says doesn't consider the error to be material. GM has been plagued by accounting errors and has listed lax financial controls as a risk factor in its IPO.
In the stock sale, three of GM's four owners -- the U.S. government, Canadian and Ontario governments and a union health care trust -- will sell 365 million shares, or about a quarter of the company's outstanding common stock, for between $26 and $29 a share. The IPO will raise about $10 billion for the three owners and allow the largest, the U.S. government, to reduce its stake in the company from 61 percent to just over 40 percent.
The reduced stake is symbolically important for GM, because some Americans resented the company's taxpayer funded bailout. The perception that GM stood for "Government Motors" has hurt the company's car sales, GM has claimed.
The U.S. Treasury will sell 264 million shares and will make about $7 billion if the shares sell in the middle of the $26 to $29 price range. The Canadian governments and union trust are expected to make about $3 billion.
GM also plans to raise $3 billion by selling 60 million preferred shares for $50 each. The preferred shares pay a set dividend and become common stock in three years. GM will use the money to shore up its pension plans and pay debt.
For the first nine months of the year, GM made $4.2 billion, a dramatic turnaround from gigantic losses of previous years. In the four years before the 2009 bankruptcy, GM lost more than $80 billion because it was saddled by enormous debt and costly labor contracts. But the debt was dramatically reduced and labor costs were cut in the government-funded restructuring, and now GM is smaller and leaner. The automaker also cut four brands to focus precious marketing dollars solely on Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC.
AP Auto Writer Sharon Silke Carty contributed to this report.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/GM-reports-2B-3Q-profit-ahead-apf-4260471184.html?x=0
interesting article fuel efficiency mmmmmmmmm
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Govt-pushing-more-fuel-apf-316561891.html?x=0
Gov't pushing more fuel efficiency for trucks
More miles per gallon a goal of first-ever efficiency rules for medium- and heavy-duty trucks
o" : "","j" : ""} Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer, On Monday October 25, 2010, 9:11 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Future generations of semi-trucks, school buses and large pickups will need to cut fuel consumption and emissions by 10 to 20 percent under first-ever fuel efficiency rules for trucks announced Monday by the Obama administration.
For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department released proposed fuel economy requirements and reductions in tailpipe emissions for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, beginning with those sold in the 2014 model year and into the 2018 model year.
The proposal, which is expected to be finalized next summer, seeks a 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption from big rig combination tractors by 2018. Large tractor-trailers tend to be driven up to 150,000 miles a year, making them prime candidates for improved fuel efficiency.
Heavy duty pickup trucks, such as heavy-duty versions of the Ford F-Series, along with large vans would face separate gasoline and diesel truck standards phased in beginning in the 2014 model year. Vehicles running on gasoline would need to reach a 10 percent cut in fuel consumption and emissions by 2018 while diesel vehicles would need to hit 15 percent reductions by then.
So-called "vocational trucks" such as garbage trucks and transit and school buses would need to achieve a 10 percent reduction in fuel consumption and emissions by 2018.
The White House has sought stricter fuel economy standards across the nation's fleet as a way to reduce dependence on oil and cut greenhouse gas emissions tied to global warming. The fleet of new cars, pickup trucks and SUVs will need to reach 35.5 mpg by 2016, and the government is developing plans for future vehicle models that could push the standards to a range from 47 mpg to 62 mpg by 2025.
Medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks are much less fuel-efficient than conventional automobiles; the fleet of tractor-trailers typically get about 6 mpg to 7 mpg, while work trucks can achieve 10 to 11 mpg. While only representing 4 percent of the vehicles on the road, they consume about 20 percent of the transportation fuel in the U.S.
EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said that in addition to the reduction in pollution, "greater fuel economy will shrink fuel costs for small businesses that depend on pickups and heavy duty vehicles, shipping companies and cities and towns with fleets of these vehicles."
The improvements in fuel efficiency will come through a combination of more efficient engines, improved aerodynamics and better tires.
The agencies estimated the new requirements would add $7.7 billion to the costs of heavy-duty trucks but said the efficiency upgrades would save $49 billion over the life of the vehicles. They said the operator of a semi-truck, for example, could pay for the $5,900 in technology improvements in less than a year and save as much as $74,000 over the truck's lifetime.
Truck manufacturers and suppliers have sought national standards that help them plan for the changes. Rich Freeland, president of Cummins Inc.'s engine business, said the regulations would "add real value to our customers, as better fuel economy lowers their operating costs."
Bill Graves, president of the American Trucking Associations, said the proposal was "feasible and can be attained through technologies currently available to motor carriers."
President Barack Obama said in May that he intended to release the standards this year, estimating then that the fuel efficiency of tractor-trailers could be improved by 25 percent using existing technologies.
A National Academy of Sciences report issued this year said the trucks could make broad improvements during the decade through existing technologies. It found that using advanced diesel engines in tractor-trailers could reduce fuel consumption by up to 20 percent by 2020 while hybrid versions of garbage trucks and buses could see a 35 percent cut in fuel use by 2020.
Environmental groups said they supported the push for greater fuel efficiency but said the plan should be strengthened to boost the long-term benefits.
Dan Becker, director of the safe climate campaign for the Center for Auto Safety, said that while the administration deserves credit for issuing the standards, "the bad news is that the proposal leaves almost half of the pollution savings on the table compared to what the National Academy of Sciences recommended."
The requirements would be voluntary at first but most trucks would need to comply in the 2016 or 2017 model year.
Commercial trailers would not be included in the requirements. Jackson said the agencies may consider regulating the trailers in future rulemaking.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101103/ap_on_bi_ge/us_auto_sales
By DEE-ANN DURBIN and SHARON SILKE CARTY, AP Auto Writers Dee-ann Durbin And Sharon Silke Carty, Ap Auto Writers – 1 hr 55 mins ago
DETROIT – General Motors Co. said Wednesday that strong demand for its pickups and wagons lifted October sales 3.5 percent and helped the automaker overcome weak car sales, good news as it prepared for an initial public offering expected later this month.
GM said shoppers are starting to feel more confident, which bodes well for future auto sales. October's results indicate demand for cars and trucks may be rebounding in earnest after a bumpy year. Analysts expect last month to be the best October for the industry in three years.
Sales of GM's SUVs and wagons were strong, up 36 percent for October and up 64 percent year to date. Sales of the automaker's most popular wagons - the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain and Cadillac SRX - jumped 58 percent compared with last October. Truck sales also rose, spurred by the newly launched Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra, which posted sales increases of 12 percent and 13.2 percent, respectively.
"Consumers are beginning to believe that they've already weathered the worst," said Don Johnson, vice president of U.S. sales operations for GM. The economy is showing "signs of a steady recovery, and we do believe they will bode well for the auto industry."
The industry sales rate should hit its strongest point of the year, Johnson said. Sales could hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12 million, up from a low of 10.5 million in February.
Car sales were a bit weaker. Sales of the Chevy Cobalt were down nearly 60 percent, and Camaro sales fell 36 percent.
Sales to corporate customers made up a large chunk of GM's October sales, accounting for 26 percent of monthly volume. In the past, automakers have used fleet volume to boost monthly sales numbers by pushing weak selling models into rental company fleets, often losing money on the deals. GM said the automaker's fleet sales are now healthy, because vehicles are going primarily into profitable corporate and government fleets.
Most automakers were reporting U.S. auto sales Wednesday, but several reported results Tuesday. Among them:
-- Hyundai said its October sales jumped 38 percent as sales of the new Sonata midsize sedan more than doubled.
-- Subaru sales rose 25 percent for the month on strong sales of the Outback and Forester wagons.
-- Volkswagen sales rose 18 percent with a boost from sales of the new Jetta. Jetta sales were up 32 percent over last October.
exactly but at least they have the deceny to reveal information to their shareholders and not hide behind closed doors like revenge, peter needs to step his game up if he wants to hang with the big boys!!!
where are the prs??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? from petey oppps no where to be found!!!!
Interesting article, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm revenge should do the same!!!
GM nears terms for initial public offer
Sources: GM nears terms for initial public offering; shares could sell between $26 to $29 each
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FILE - In this file photo taken Dec. 12, 2008, the General Motors logo is seen outside the company's headquarters in downtown Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
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MTLQQ.PK 0.27 -0.01
{"s" : "mtlqq.pk","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} Tom Krisher and Sharon Silke Carty, AP Auto Writers, On Monday November 1, 2010, 6:08 pm
DETROIT (AP) -- General Motors Co. stock should sell between $26 and $29 per share in an initial public offering that could happen in mid-November, two people briefed on the matter said Monday.
The people said the U.S. government is expected to reduce its stake in the automaker from 61 percent to around 43 percent in the sale.
Terms of the sale are not final because GM's board has yet to approve them, although it has accepted the general outline, another person said.
Bankers leading the sale are recommending that the final share price be revealed Nov. 17 and the sale take place on Nov. 18, according to the people.
A price range could be formally announced in a regulatory filing within the next 48 hours, two of the people said.
None of the people wanted to be identified because they had not been authorized to speak on the matter.
A "road show" to woo investors to buy shares of the company could begin as early as Wednesday. It generally will be aimed at hedge, pension and mutual funds, but presentations are expected for individual investors.
The historic sale would return GM to the New York Stock Exchange, where it was a symbol of American industrial might for more than 92 years before being booted off last year as financial troubles sent it into a government-funded bankruptcy.
GM is now a private company that's owned by the U.S. government, a United Auto Workers health care trust, the Canadian and Ontario governments and former GM bondholders.
The four owners hold about 500 million shares total, and the U.S. government's stake is about 304 million.
To bring the share price down, more shares will be issued, a move called a split that likely would give the owners three or four shares for every one they currently hold.
U.S. taxpayers became GM's biggest shareholder when they gave the automaker $50 billion to survive bankruptcy restructuring and emerge as a smaller company with far less debt.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sources-GM-nears-terms-for-apf-2397874185.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=
absolutely correct and i dont believe Revenge owns anything unless there is a pr about it,peter did not disclose a pr to the public anybody can make up email and post it online come now, you have to do better than that where is the proof??????