Sony to cut 10000 jobs

Struggling electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony Corp. said on Thursday it would cut about 7 percent of its global work force, sell more than $1 billion in assets and post a loss this year. The inventor of the Trinitron TV and Walkman cassette player said it would book 210 billion yen in restructuring charges in the two business years through March 2007 as it closes 11 of its 65 global factories and slashes 10,000 jobs.

Sony has already cut 20,000 jobs and significantly lowered fixed costs under a previous three-year restructuring plan that was scheduled to end in the current business year.

Delta to cut 9000 jobs

news.yahoo.com, reuters.com :

Delta Air Lines Inc. said on Thursday that it plans to eliminate up to 9,000 jobs, or 17 percent of its work force, as part of a plan to save $3 billion as it seeks to revive itself in bankruptcy.

Delta, the No. 3 U.S. airline, sought bankruptcy protection last week after an unsuccessful struggle with surging fuel prices and a crushing debt load of more than $20 billion. Delta said it expects to cut 7,000 to 9,000 jobs from its work force of 52,000 employees by the end of 2007.

Exxon Mobil shuts biggest US refinery

reuters.com :

Exxon Mobil on Thursday told Texas regulators it was shutting its Baytown, Texas oil refinery which at 557,000 barrels per day is the largest refinery in the United States. "Shutdown of Baytown refinery operating units in preparation for Hurricane Rita," Exxon reported to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

(2005-09-22 22:29:08 SGT) [Energy] Permalink Comments [1]

Over 70% US Gulf oil production shut down

channelnewsasia.com :

More than 70 percent of US oil production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut down because of the threat of Hurricane Rita and the aftermath of Katrina, authorities reported.

"Today's shut-in oil production is 1,097,357 (barrels of oil per day)," MMS [the Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service] said, adding that this represented 73.16 percent of the US production of 1.5 million barrels per day in the Gulf of Mexico. A total of 469 manned platforms, out of 819, and 69 of the 134 rigs were evacuated.

(2005-09-22 13:16:50 SGT) [Energy] Permalink Comments [3]

Peak Oil on Time Magazine

Excerpted from article by Matthew Simmons on time.com :

For decades, almost all public-policy planners, aided by most oil experts, assumed that the Middle East had vast quantities of proven oil reserves that could be extracted at extremely low cost, thereby enabling oil demand to grow to almost any level. After spending more than two years researching my book Twilight in the Desert, I am convinced that it is highly improbable that Middle Eastern oil - and particularly Saudi Arabian oil - can grow to those far higher levels. Instead there is a risk that Saudi Arabia's oil output and the rest of the Middle East's oil supply may start to decline.

The bottom line: the global oil supply has probably peaked. While the world expects to consume 120 million bbl. a day two decades from now, actual supply may be half that rate. This conclusion aptly portrays the potential magnitude of the energy ditch we are now in.

In the near term, the global economy needs to significantly reduce its oil intensity. Because 70% of the world's oil is used as transportation fuel, that would be the place to start. If a high percentage of products now transported by large trucks were shifted to the global rail system, an efficiency savings of three- to tenfold could be realized.

We also need to pull out all the stops to find new oil supplies. A second change would come through embracing "distributed work." And we need to manufacture more products and grow more food close to markets where they will be consumed.

If a master plan is quickly adopted on a global scale, the world can safely cope with a peak in oil production and create a more sustainable and enjoyable economy at the same time. If we ignore these changes and peak oil does occur, the unforeseen consequences could create a far darker world.

(2005-09-22 13:09:04 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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