by Matt Piotrowski, Washington, EI
Oil markets took a breather [sic] Wednesday [Mar 23], with little movement on either of the major benchmarks. It appears that Brent has settled down around the $115 per barrel level, while WTI looks comfortable in the $100-$105 range. The markets have already priced in an extended outage in Libya, but traders are having difficulty factoring in other pockets of instability in the Arab world. Unrest in Yemen, Syria and Bahrain this week is underpinning prices, and will likely do so for some time. There are some dangers on the downside, such as a fragile global economic recovery and a possible short-term decline in Japanese demand, but the risk to the upside appears greater. Societe Generale said this week that if another medium-sized oil producer similar to Libya were to lose output, Brent would rise to $125-$150. And if the turmoil spreads to Saudi Arabia, the world could be looking at $200 oil, the SocGen analysts said.
(U.S. crude ended at a 2-1/2 year high on Wednesday as Palestinian rocket strikes on Israel escalated Middle East geopolitical risks and U.S. gasoline inventories posted the biggest seasonal decline on record, amid ongoing unrest in MENA countries---Reuters. Light, sweet crude---benchmark WTI---for May delivery settled 78 cents higher at $105.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since September 2008. In London, Brent May crude futures settled down 15 cents at $115.55 a barrel. -- D.R.)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Egyptian Gas Supply to Israel Almost Back to Normal: Sources
Platts, Jerusalem, Mar 22, 2011
Gas deliveries from Egypt to Israel have reached 90% of volumes prior to the cutoff on February 5 [please see my post, including remarks, here -- D.R.] and will continue to ramp up this week, Israeli energy industry sources said Tuesday.
Supplies resumed on March 15 after the export pipeline, which was damaged by an explosion, was fixed. Shipments also resumed to Jordan.
Meanwhile, Ampal-American Israel Corp [please see remarks below -- D.R.], a partner in the East Mediterranean Gas Company -- which exports the gas from Egypt to Israel -- said in its annual report Friday [sic] that the future policy of the Egyptian government may not coincide with that of EMG.
The statement said that there is no certainty that Egypt will meet its commitments regarding the supply of natural gas to Israel in the future.
EMG supplied Israel with 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas in 2010 and its contractual commitments are to increase this to 3 Bcm in 2011. EMG has signed commitments to supply 4.8 Bcm/year of gas starting in 2013 [sic].
The Ampal statement follows remarks last week by Egypt's new oil minister Abdallah Ghorab. He said that his ministry is re-examining the gas agreement with Israel, specifically the price at which gas is sold to Israel and other countries.
Ghorab said the agreements, signed under the auspices of the previous minister Sameh Fahmi, include a mechanism that permits amending the gas supply agreements. The minister said this would not be a complicated process.
Jordan is currently paying around $3/MMBtu [please see remarks below -- D.R.] while prices to Israel were raised by nearly 50% last year to around $4.50/MMBtu when the long-term supply agreement was renegotiated.
Israeli energy industry analysts have said the price of Egyptian gas sold to Israel could go as high as $6-6.50/MMBtu. [Full story]
(Also, Egypt wants to raise price of gas to Jordan. EMG is a joint company owned by Egyptian businessman Hussein Salem, Egypt Natural Gas Company, Thailand's PTT, Israel's Merhav Group, Ampal-American Israel Corp, American businessman Sam Zell and Israeli institutional investors. Ampal holds a 16.8% interest in EMG, with 8.2% held directly and 8.6% held through the joint venture with certain Israeli institutional investors, of which Ampal owns 50% and a 4.3% interest is attributable to the institutional investors. Excluding the institutional investors, Ampal has a 12.5% interest in EMG. -- D.R.)
Gas deliveries from Egypt to Israel have reached 90% of volumes prior to the cutoff on February 5 [please see my post, including remarks, here -- D.R.] and will continue to ramp up this week, Israeli energy industry sources said Tuesday.
Supplies resumed on March 15 after the export pipeline, which was damaged by an explosion, was fixed. Shipments also resumed to Jordan.
Meanwhile, Ampal-American Israel Corp [please see remarks below -- D.R.], a partner in the East Mediterranean Gas Company -- which exports the gas from Egypt to Israel -- said in its annual report Friday [sic] that the future policy of the Egyptian government may not coincide with that of EMG.
The statement said that there is no certainty that Egypt will meet its commitments regarding the supply of natural gas to Israel in the future.
EMG supplied Israel with 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas in 2010 and its contractual commitments are to increase this to 3 Bcm in 2011. EMG has signed commitments to supply 4.8 Bcm/year of gas starting in 2013 [sic].
The Ampal statement follows remarks last week by Egypt's new oil minister Abdallah Ghorab. He said that his ministry is re-examining the gas agreement with Israel, specifically the price at which gas is sold to Israel and other countries.
Ghorab said the agreements, signed under the auspices of the previous minister Sameh Fahmi, include a mechanism that permits amending the gas supply agreements. The minister said this would not be a complicated process.
Jordan is currently paying around $3/MMBtu [please see remarks below -- D.R.] while prices to Israel were raised by nearly 50% last year to around $4.50/MMBtu when the long-term supply agreement was renegotiated.
Israeli energy industry analysts have said the price of Egyptian gas sold to Israel could go as high as $6-6.50/MMBtu. [Full story]
(Also, Egypt wants to raise price of gas to Jordan. EMG is a joint company owned by Egyptian businessman Hussein Salem, Egypt Natural Gas Company, Thailand's PTT, Israel's Merhav Group, Ampal-American Israel Corp, American businessman Sam Zell and Israeli institutional investors. Ampal holds a 16.8% interest in EMG, with 8.2% held directly and 8.6% held through the joint venture with certain Israeli institutional investors, of which Ampal owns 50% and a 4.3% interest is attributable to the institutional investors. Excluding the institutional investors, Ampal has a 12.5% interest in EMG. -- D.R.)
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
PLATTS ANALYSIS: China Feb Oil Demand at 9.58 mil b/d, 2nd Highest Ever
Platts, Singapore, Mar 22, 2011
China's apparent oil demand in February climbed 10.1% year on year to 36.65 million mt or an average 9.58 million b/d, with demand reaching its second highest level ever barely two months after hitting its all-time high, according to a Platts analysis based on recent figures released by the government.
The rebound in oil demand, after a dip in January, was attributed to increased crude throughput by several refineries ahead of scheduled turnarounds and higher production by other plants coming back from planned maintenance.
Oil demand in February was up 4.2% from January's 9.19 million b/d, and just a tad lower than the all-time high reached in December of 9.62 million b/d.
China does not release official oil demand statistics. Platts calculates the country's oil demand based on official data on refiners' crude throughput and net oil product imports.
State-owned refineries processed 35.21 million mt of crude oil in February or an average of 9.22 million b/d, surpassing the previous record high of 9.16 million b/d in December.
Crude throughput in February was 10.4% more than a year ago, and 4.9% higher than the January's 8.79 million b/d. Net oil products imports in February were 5.1% higher year on year at 1.44 million mt, but 15.8% less than net oil product imports of 1.71 million mt recorded in January. [Full story]
(China is the world's second largest oil consumer behind the United States---please see "Top 25 World Oil Consumers, 2009-2010, here. According to the BP Energy Outlook 2030, China is the largest source of oil consumption growth, with consumption forecast to grow by 8 million b/d to reach 17.5 million b/d by 2030, overtaking the United States to become the world's largest oil consumer. -- D.R.)
China's apparent oil demand in February climbed 10.1% year on year to 36.65 million mt or an average 9.58 million b/d, with demand reaching its second highest level ever barely two months after hitting its all-time high, according to a Platts analysis based on recent figures released by the government.
The rebound in oil demand, after a dip in January, was attributed to increased crude throughput by several refineries ahead of scheduled turnarounds and higher production by other plants coming back from planned maintenance.
Oil demand in February was up 4.2% from January's 9.19 million b/d, and just a tad lower than the all-time high reached in December of 9.62 million b/d.
China does not release official oil demand statistics. Platts calculates the country's oil demand based on official data on refiners' crude throughput and net oil product imports.
State-owned refineries processed 35.21 million mt of crude oil in February or an average of 9.22 million b/d, surpassing the previous record high of 9.16 million b/d in December.
Crude throughput in February was 10.4% more than a year ago, and 4.9% higher than the January's 8.79 million b/d. Net oil products imports in February were 5.1% higher year on year at 1.44 million mt, but 15.8% less than net oil product imports of 1.71 million mt recorded in January. [Full story]
(China is the world's second largest oil consumer behind the United States---please see "Top 25 World Oil Consumers, 2009-2010, here. According to the BP Energy Outlook 2030, China is the largest source of oil consumption growth, with consumption forecast to grow by 8 million b/d to reach 17.5 million b/d by 2030, overtaking the United States to become the world's largest oil consumer. -- D.R.)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Continental: Bakken's Giant Scope Underappreciated
by OGJ editors, OGJ, Feb 16, 2011
The Bakken play [please see map below -- D.R.] in the Williston basin could become the world’s largest discovery in the last 30-40 years, a senior manager at Continental Resources Inc. said Feb. 16.
Ultimate recovery from the overall play is now estimated at 24 billion bbl of oil, compared with US reserves of nearly 20 billion bbl, he told the NAPE Expo in Houston.
The 24 billion bbl figure is five times the US Geological Survey’s 2008 estimate and compares with the 151 million bbl the survey put forth as recently as the mid-1990s, said Jack Stark, Continental senior vice-president, exploration (OGJ, Apr. 21, 2008, p. 37).
Close to 2 billion bbl of the 24 billion will come from the underlying Three Forks [region], which Continental helped prove to be a separate reservoir, Stark noted (OGJ Online, July 10, 2008).
The increases resulted as technology evolved over a 20-year span from marginal or uneconomic vertical wells to open hole stimulations in single, dual, and trilaterals to liners with staged fracs that are resulting in 50% rates of return today, Stark said. Industry also began drilling into the Middle Bakken dolomite, which is more porous and permeable than the upper and lower Bakken shale source rocks.
Production exceeds 400,000 b/d including Montana and North Dakota, Stark estimated, and smaller volumes are being produced in Canada. So recovery of that volume of oil will take years.
Industry has completed 2,750 horizontal wells since 2000. It is running 165 rigs that likely will drill 1,800 more wells in 2011, and production could reach as much as 1 million b/d within a few years, Stark said. The Bakken is continuous under nearly 15,000 sq miles.
The play’s numerous operators are drilling 18,000-21,000-ft wellbores that include 9,500-ft laterals and applying 18-30 frac stages/well, said Stark.
In general, higher initial potential producing rates indicate higher estimated ultimate recoveries, but the correlation isn’t 1:1 “due to overriding geological factors,” he said. Operators seem to reach a point of diminishing returns between 18 and 24 frac stages and are still seeking the ideal number of stages, he said. [Full story]
(The Bakken formation was discovered in 1953 and as early as 1974, it was postulated that vast amounts of petroleum were contained in the formation itself but it was not economically viable as the oil was trapped in shale, i.e., fine sedimentary rocks. With the development of new drilling techniques, it became possible to horizontally drill right into the flat shaped deposits and collapse the oil rich rocks by fracking---i.e., pumping sand/proppant and liquids at high pressure into the well bore---in order to allow the oil to flow back up. Applying new drilling techniques alongside higher oil prices made it economically viable to exploit the oil trapped in the Bakken shale as well as other formations such as the Cardium in Alberta and the Viking in Saskatchewan. Armed with the same proven technology, the industry has now set its eyes on the Southern Alberta Basin. With its similarities to the Williston Basin, the companies are excited about the potential of this new emerging light oil play dubbed: The Alberta Bakken, stretching from Southern Alberta into Montana---please see BeatingTheIndex.com blog here. Wood Mackenzie's Upstream M&A Service report "2010 in Review and the Outlook for 2011" shows that US shale gas in particular had an exceptional year in 2010 - continuing a steady increase in deal activity over the last five years - with acquisition spend amounting to US$39 billion, equivalent to 21% of all global merger and acquisition---M&A---activity. Also, "2010 ended with a flurry of shale oil transactions, centered on the Bakken play where we anticipate further activity in the coming year. In the last two months of 2010, there were four US$1 billion plus Bakken deals announced, pushing cumulative M&A spend in North American tight oil beyond US$15 billion," said Luke Parker, manager of WoodMac's M&A research---please see my post here. -- D.R.)
Map of the Bakken Formation Oil and Gas Play
Source: Geology.com here. Description: The Bakken is below parts of northwestern North Dakota, northeastern Montana, southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba.
The Bakken play [please see map below -- D.R.] in the Williston basin could become the world’s largest discovery in the last 30-40 years, a senior manager at Continental Resources Inc. said Feb. 16.
Ultimate recovery from the overall play is now estimated at 24 billion bbl of oil, compared with US reserves of nearly 20 billion bbl, he told the NAPE Expo in Houston.
The 24 billion bbl figure is five times the US Geological Survey’s 2008 estimate and compares with the 151 million bbl the survey put forth as recently as the mid-1990s, said Jack Stark, Continental senior vice-president, exploration (OGJ, Apr. 21, 2008, p. 37).
Close to 2 billion bbl of the 24 billion will come from the underlying Three Forks [region], which Continental helped prove to be a separate reservoir, Stark noted (OGJ Online, July 10, 2008).
The increases resulted as technology evolved over a 20-year span from marginal or uneconomic vertical wells to open hole stimulations in single, dual, and trilaterals to liners with staged fracs that are resulting in 50% rates of return today, Stark said. Industry also began drilling into the Middle Bakken dolomite, which is more porous and permeable than the upper and lower Bakken shale source rocks.
Production exceeds 400,000 b/d including Montana and North Dakota, Stark estimated, and smaller volumes are being produced in Canada. So recovery of that volume of oil will take years.
Industry has completed 2,750 horizontal wells since 2000. It is running 165 rigs that likely will drill 1,800 more wells in 2011, and production could reach as much as 1 million b/d within a few years, Stark said. The Bakken is continuous under nearly 15,000 sq miles.
The play’s numerous operators are drilling 18,000-21,000-ft wellbores that include 9,500-ft laterals and applying 18-30 frac stages/well, said Stark.
In general, higher initial potential producing rates indicate higher estimated ultimate recoveries, but the correlation isn’t 1:1 “due to overriding geological factors,” he said. Operators seem to reach a point of diminishing returns between 18 and 24 frac stages and are still seeking the ideal number of stages, he said. [Full story]
(The Bakken formation was discovered in 1953 and as early as 1974, it was postulated that vast amounts of petroleum were contained in the formation itself but it was not economically viable as the oil was trapped in shale, i.e., fine sedimentary rocks. With the development of new drilling techniques, it became possible to horizontally drill right into the flat shaped deposits and collapse the oil rich rocks by fracking---i.e., pumping sand/proppant and liquids at high pressure into the well bore---in order to allow the oil to flow back up. Applying new drilling techniques alongside higher oil prices made it economically viable to exploit the oil trapped in the Bakken shale as well as other formations such as the Cardium in Alberta and the Viking in Saskatchewan. Armed with the same proven technology, the industry has now set its eyes on the Southern Alberta Basin. With its similarities to the Williston Basin, the companies are excited about the potential of this new emerging light oil play dubbed: The Alberta Bakken, stretching from Southern Alberta into Montana---please see BeatingTheIndex.com blog here. Wood Mackenzie's Upstream M&A Service report "2010 in Review and the Outlook for 2011" shows that US shale gas in particular had an exceptional year in 2010 - continuing a steady increase in deal activity over the last five years - with acquisition spend amounting to US$39 billion, equivalent to 21% of all global merger and acquisition---M&A---activity. Also, "2010 ended with a flurry of shale oil transactions, centered on the Bakken play where we anticipate further activity in the coming year. In the last two months of 2010, there were four US$1 billion plus Bakken deals announced, pushing cumulative M&A spend in North American tight oil beyond US$15 billion," said Luke Parker, manager of WoodMac's M&A research---please see my post here. -- D.R.)
Map of the Bakken Formation Oil and Gas Play
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Kogas to Send Up to 500,000 Tonnes of LNG to Japan
LNG World News, Mar 18, 2011
South Korea said on Friday Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS), the world’s top corporate buyer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), would supply 400,000-500,000 tonnes of LNG to quake-hit Japan, as requested by Japanese utilities.
South Korea’s economy ministry said in a statement that the state-run entity’s gas supply on a swap basis would be made from late March through April, following a government announcement on the supply plan on Sunday.
Global LNG prices jumped about 10 percent this week after Friday’s earthquake shut nuclear power plants in the world’s third-largest economy [after the U.S. and China], prompting increased demand for LNG.
Analysts reckon the world’s top LNG buyer may import about an extra 1 billion cubic feet per day to make up for the 9 gigawatts of nuclear power lost.
“We will continue to discuss with Japan possible further supplies if needed, while we maintain sufficient inventory levels,” said a government source with direct knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified. [...]
South Korea’s current LNG inventory stands at 1.5 million tonnes, adding that supply to Japan would come from incoming shipments, not current inventory, the source said.
The ministry also noted South Korea’s emergency oil product and boron supply to Japan, referring to about 4.5 million barrels of shipments by four Korean refiners, as Japanese refiners grapple with the loss of about a third of their 4.5 million barrel-per-day refining capacity [sic].
Japan’s worst quake on record, which sparked a nuclear crisis, has caused the loss of around 9,700 megawatts (MW) of nuclear and 10,831 MW of thermal power generation.
To help stop fission nuclear reactions, South Korea said on Wednesday it would send some of its reserve boron to Japan after a request from Tokyo for the metalloid, which is being mixed with seawater to limit damage to Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors. [Read full]
(Japan is the third largest oil consumer in the world behind the United States and China and the third-largest net importer of crude oil. It is the world's largest importer of both LNG and coal---please see Japan Energy Profile, prepared by the U.S. EIA, here. For information on Japan's nuclear crisis and its impact, please see also my posts under the category/label "Japan." South Korea is the world's second largest importer of LNG. For Asian LNG market, please see my posts here and here. -- D.R.)
South Korea said on Friday Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS), the world’s top corporate buyer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), would supply 400,000-500,000 tonnes of LNG to quake-hit Japan, as requested by Japanese utilities.
South Korea’s economy ministry said in a statement that the state-run entity’s gas supply on a swap basis would be made from late March through April, following a government announcement on the supply plan on Sunday.
Global LNG prices jumped about 10 percent this week after Friday’s earthquake shut nuclear power plants in the world’s third-largest economy [after the U.S. and China], prompting increased demand for LNG.
Analysts reckon the world’s top LNG buyer may import about an extra 1 billion cubic feet per day to make up for the 9 gigawatts of nuclear power lost.
“We will continue to discuss with Japan possible further supplies if needed, while we maintain sufficient inventory levels,” said a government source with direct knowledge of the matter, who declined to be identified. [...]
South Korea’s current LNG inventory stands at 1.5 million tonnes, adding that supply to Japan would come from incoming shipments, not current inventory, the source said.
The ministry also noted South Korea’s emergency oil product and boron supply to Japan, referring to about 4.5 million barrels of shipments by four Korean refiners, as Japanese refiners grapple with the loss of about a third of their 4.5 million barrel-per-day refining capacity [sic].
Japan’s worst quake on record, which sparked a nuclear crisis, has caused the loss of around 9,700 megawatts (MW) of nuclear and 10,831 MW of thermal power generation.
To help stop fission nuclear reactions, South Korea said on Wednesday it would send some of its reserve boron to Japan after a request from Tokyo for the metalloid, which is being mixed with seawater to limit damage to Japan’s crippled nuclear reactors. [Read full]
(Japan is the third largest oil consumer in the world behind the United States and China and the third-largest net importer of crude oil. It is the world's largest importer of both LNG and coal---please see Japan Energy Profile, prepared by the U.S. EIA, here. For information on Japan's nuclear crisis and its impact, please see also my posts under the category/label "Japan." South Korea is the world's second largest importer of LNG. For Asian LNG market, please see my posts here and here. -- D.R.)
Saturday, March 19, 2011
BOEMRE Approves First FPSO Use in Gulf of Mexico
by Nick Snow, OGJ, Mar 17, 2011
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement [the former Minerals Management Service] approved Petrobras America Inc.’s application to use a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel to produce oil and gas from its Cascade-Chinook project in the Gulf of Mexico. This will be the first time that FPSO technology has been used in the [U.S.] gulf, the US Department of the Interior agency said on Mar. 17.
The BW Pioneer FPSO [please see image below -- D.R.] will receive production through dual flow lines, which connect it to two free-standing hybrid risers for each field, also a new technology for the gulf, Petrobras America said.
BOEMRE said it approved the project’s production safety system permit and supplemental deepwater operating plan following extensive consultations with the producer.
The FPSO will have a production capacity of 80,000 b/d of oil and 16 MMcfd of natural gas, with production expected to begin soon, it indicated.
The project is in the gulf’s Walker Ridge area in 8,200 ft of water [2,500 meters] about 165 miles [266 kilometers] off Louisiana. [Full story]
Source: Petrobras via MARINE LOG.com here
(Also, the FPSO has an oil storage capacity of 500,000 barrels. Natural gas processed by the BW Pioneer will be transported to shore by pipeline, while crude oil will be offloaded to shuttle tankers for transportation. In the event of a hurricane or tropical storm, the facility is designed to disconnect from the turret-buoy and move off location until the storm has passed. FPSOs are widely used in offshore Brazil and West Africa---e.g., please see its use in Ghana, here. The FPSO vessel to be used in the project is owned and operated by Oslo-based BW Offshore. The company already operates another FPSO ship in the Mexican side of the Gulf, among many others around the globe. -- D.R.)
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement [the former Minerals Management Service] approved Petrobras America Inc.’s application to use a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel to produce oil and gas from its Cascade-Chinook project in the Gulf of Mexico. This will be the first time that FPSO technology has been used in the [U.S.] gulf, the US Department of the Interior agency said on Mar. 17.
The BW Pioneer FPSO [please see image below -- D.R.] will receive production through dual flow lines, which connect it to two free-standing hybrid risers for each field, also a new technology for the gulf, Petrobras America said.
BOEMRE said it approved the project’s production safety system permit and supplemental deepwater operating plan following extensive consultations with the producer.
The FPSO will have a production capacity of 80,000 b/d of oil and 16 MMcfd of natural gas, with production expected to begin soon, it indicated.
The project is in the gulf’s Walker Ridge area in 8,200 ft of water [2,500 meters] about 165 miles [266 kilometers] off Louisiana. [Full story]
(Also, the FPSO has an oil storage capacity of 500,000 barrels. Natural gas processed by the BW Pioneer will be transported to shore by pipeline, while crude oil will be offloaded to shuttle tankers for transportation. In the event of a hurricane or tropical storm, the facility is designed to disconnect from the turret-buoy and move off location until the storm has passed. FPSOs are widely used in offshore Brazil and West Africa---e.g., please see its use in Ghana, here. The FPSO vessel to be used in the project is owned and operated by Oslo-based BW Offshore. The company already operates another FPSO ship in the Mexican side of the Gulf, among many others around the globe. -- D.R.)
Friday, March 18, 2011
Japan's Nuke Agency Raises Accident Severity Level to 5 from 4
Kyodo News, Tokyo, Mar 18, 2011
Japan's nuclear safety agency said Friday that it has raised the severity level of the country's nuclear accident involving the Fukushima Daiichi [i.e., No. 1] nuclear power station to 5 from 4 on a 7-level international scale.
The provisional evaluation would mean that the country's disaster has come to the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979. [Full story]
(The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 was ranked a Level 7. For information on Japan's nuclear crisis and its impact, please see my posts under the category/label "Japan." UPDATE: Japanese authorities said Tuesday/Apr 12 they do not expect the radioactive release from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to heavily increase amid the ongoing restoration efforts, although they recognized the disaster has reached the highest severity level of 7 on an international scale. The government, however, stressed that Japan's situation is different from Chernobyl, as the amount of the radioactive substances released from the Fukushima plant is so far about 10 percent of that from the former Soviet nuclear plant---please see Kyodo News, Apr 12, 2011, here. -- D.R.)
Japan's nuclear safety agency said Friday that it has raised the severity level of the country's nuclear accident involving the Fukushima Daiichi [i.e., No. 1] nuclear power station to 5 from 4 on a 7-level international scale.
The provisional evaluation would mean that the country's disaster has come to the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979. [Full story]
(The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 was ranked a Level 7. For information on Japan's nuclear crisis and its impact, please see my posts under the category/label "Japan." UPDATE: Japanese authorities said Tuesday/Apr 12 they do not expect the radioactive release from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to heavily increase amid the ongoing restoration efforts, although they recognized the disaster has reached the highest severity level of 7 on an international scale. The government, however, stressed that Japan's situation is different from Chernobyl, as the amount of the radioactive substances released from the Fukushima plant is so far about 10 percent of that from the former Soviet nuclear plant---please see Kyodo News, Apr 12, 2011, here. -- D.R.)
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