Saturday, August 10, 2013

Chinese Magazine Distribution

- Distribute Chinese magazines to stores in beverly hills, costa mesa and other retail clients
- Fluent in both English and Mandarin.
- Car & lisence is preferred

Posting ID: 3669113380

Posted: 2013-03-09, 1:00AM PST

Edited: 2013-03-09, 1:02AM PST

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Israel approves export of 40 percent of its gas

JERUSALEM  — The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved exporting 40 percent of Israel’s newfound natural gas reserves, keeping a larger amount for local consumption than originally expected.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet the decision struck a balance between domestic needs and the concerns of the exploration companies that will drill for gas underneath the Mediterranean Sea.

“It ensures the needs of the citizens of the state of Israel, both by filling the state coffers with considerable funds from exports and by supplying the local market with cheap energy,” Netanyahu said.

Last year, an advisory panel proposed exporting just over half of the country’s gas, sparking protests by Israelis who said the country should keep most of its reserves to reduce energy prices at home.

Israel began pumping gas from the large Tamar field off its coast earlier this year. It is expected to begin exporting when a second, larger field goes online in 2016.

The consortium that has developed the fields, led by Houston’s Noble Energy, did not immediately comment on Sunday’s decision. In the past, it has said it would have preferred the larger export levels.

Hebrew University professor Eytan Sheshinski, an expert on energy policy, said that despite the export numbers, he expected the energy companies to be satisfied with Sunday’s decision.

“When the dust settles, they can live with this decision, and I think it didn’t cross their red line,” said Sheshinski, who headed a committee that gave policy recommendations to the Israeli government in 2010 on taxing natural gas exports.

Sunday’s decision reserved 540 billion cubic meters of natural gas for the domestic market. Netanyahu said that amount would supply Israelis with natural gas for at least 25 years, a figure that Sheshinski said was largely accurate.

Earlier in the month, Environment Minister Amir Peretz said he wanted at least 600 billion cubic meters set aside for local use.

Last week, Netanyahu said that Israel seeks to earn $60 billion over the next two decades from the exports.


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Big money in Texas for STYLISTS! (San Antonio, TX)

Will you consider working for us as a team member? We can set up a personal interview via telephone and discuss the opportunity. Posting ID: 3668908429

Posted: 2013-03-08, 8:34PM PST

Edited: 2013-03-08, 8:34PM PST

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Gestational Surrogates Needed: Earn To $45K+ By Giving Gift of Life (CA)

Reply to: necraigslist@tinytreasuresagency.com [?]

Derrickhand - Key Energy Services - Field Operations - Fort Lupton, CO

We are currently seeking a Derrickhand for Rig Services location in Ft Lupton, CO.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Performing all well servicing tasks from an elevated position (rod basket or tubing board)

Assisting in rigging up or down

Picking up or laying down tubing

Working the floors or operating the rig when necessary

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
High school diploma, GED or equivalent

1-2 years of Derrickhand experience

Basic problem-solving and organizational skills

Excellent customer service, interpersonal and verbal/written English communication skills

Minimum of one (1) year basic oilfield servicing experience

Ability to multi-task and work in a fast-paced environment

CDL Class B license for driving rig

WHY WORK FOR KEY ENERGY SERVICES?

Key Energy offers a very competitive compensation and benefits package including medical, vision and dental coverage, life insurance, 401(k), education assistance, short-term disability coverage and paid time off. For consideration, please apply at the bottom of this page. EOE


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Part-time Preschool Teacher (Mar Vista)

Posting ID: 3668852554

Posted: 2013-03-08, 7:49PM PST

Edited: 2013-03-08, 7:49PM PST

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Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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US Treasuries to feel more heat

A market already hit by Fed indications of less quantitative easing faces more pressure as investors prepare for close of a tough three months

Read more from Financial Times


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SALON REPUBLIC WeHo has 1 LARGE FULL WINDOW SALON available (8000 Sunset Blvd. @ Crescent Heights)

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Oracle moves to embrace cloud upheaval

US software group set to announce Microsoft and Salesforce partnerships amid effort to reposition itself as growth in sales and new licences stalls

Read more from Financial Times


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‘Climate bomb’ warning after credits change

Some of the world’s leading refrigerant producers are threatening to release large amounts of a byproduct that is one of the most potent greenhouse gases

Read more from Financial Times


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Bartenders (Los Angeles)

Reply to: zs8pd-3669001516@job.craigslist.org [?]

Wanted caretaker for elderly woman. (Overland Ave Palms CA)

Posting ID: 3669081841

Posted: 2013-03-09, 12:01AM PST

Edited: 2013-03-09, 12:02AM PST

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Natural gas boom cools nuclear prospects — for now

Cheap natural gas, high construction costs and a disaster in Japan have combined to dim prospects for a resurgence in nuclear power — especially in Texas’ unregulated market where utility companies must bear all of the financial risk of building new plants.

Because new technology has unlocked natural gas in shale formations, its price has dropped and its use as a power generation fuel has grown.

“The shale gas situation is making it difficult for utilities to justify the cost of a new nuclear plant,” said Clayton Scott, chief nuclear officer for Invensys, a global technology company that provides control and safety systems to the power industry.

Power switch: Houston to buy half its power from renewable sources

Despite the challenges, the government predicts that nuclear power will have a place in the nation’s energy mix for decades. Advocates tout its lack of greenhouse gas emissions, and market analysts note that natural gas isn’t likely to stay cheap indefinitely.

Two nuclear power plants operate in Texas, providing about 12 percent of the power on the state’s electric grid. NRG Energy’s South Texas Project in Matagorda County, about 90 miles southwest of Houston, has two units with a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts. Luminant’s Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Somervell County, about 40 miles south of Fort Worth, has a capacity of 2,400 megawatts from its two units.

NRG is pursuing a permit for a future expansion at South Texas, but has no near-term construction plans. Exelon, which owns the largest nuclear fleet in the country, has dropped plans for an entirely new plant in Victoria Ccounty.

New nuclear plants can take almost a decade to permit and build, and are costlier than other options.

Electricity needs: NRG to restart power plant to meet summer demand

Construction of nuclear generation capacity costs $3,900 to $4,400 per kilowatt, according to the Electric Power Research Institute, an industry research organization based in Palo Alto, Calif.

That’s more than triple the cost of natural gas capacity — $1,060 to $1,150 per kilowatt — and even outpaces costs of building photovoltaic solar or offshore wind generation capacity.

At the middle of those ranges, a nuclear plant the size the South Texas Project would cost about $11 billion, while 2,700 megawatts of natural gas generation would cost about $3 billion.

The financial benefits of nuclear power come to life, however, as soon as the plant is turned on.

“Nuclear energy resources typically generate electricity very cost effectively, so they tend to operate at their maximum operating point whenever they are available,” said Warren Lasher, head of planning for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the grid for about 90 percent of the state. “When nuclear plants come off of a maintenance outage, they ramp up to their maximum output and they stay there.”

These relatively low operating costs and the resulting price stability for nuclear-generated wholesale electricity have prompted new nuclear plant construction in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Unlike their counterparts in Texas, however, electric utilities in those states operate in a regulated environment, meaning their rates are set under laws that allow them to recapture some construction costs from ratepayers before operations begin.

“One of the ways they are dealing with the high capital costs is that they are getting paid as they go,” said Tony Pietrangelo, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington-based trade association.

Economist: Climate change a financial threat to oil companies

The pay-as-you-go approach also applied in Texas when its existing nuclear plants were built in the 1980s, easing the burden of financing. But the deregulated market in place since the early 2000s prevents utilities from billing customers for future power generation.

That means companies must design, finance and build new plants before deriving any income from them, and without knowing what rates the market will bear by then.

That discourages new nuclear construction in the near term, because of the high up-front costs.

“My own view is that at least until the end of this decade, it would be impossible for a non-regulated power generator to contemplate a nuclear new build,” said Bill Hunter, a senior utilities analyst with Moody’s. “Even in the next decade, the folks who will be building nuclear power plants will be regulated utilities. ”

Investors also are concerned about how regulatory uncertainty could affect costs — particularly since the 2011 Japanese earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi plant meltdown brought renewed attention to nuclear power’s potential for disaster, even though the probability of such events is low.

Regulatory costs factored into Southern California Edison’s decision earlier this month june to close permanently its San Onofre nuclear plant in San Diego, which hasn’t generated power since a radiation leak in early 2012.

Coal concerns: Sun sets on two more coal plant projects

Even so, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that nuclear plants will generate 17 percent of the nation’s total electricity by 2040 — just slightly lower than its 19 percent share now — based on the expectation that most existing plants will receive the 20-year renewal of their licenses.

The United States has 103 operating nuclear plants, and owners are investing heavily in preventive maintenance and modernized safety systems to ensure the plant’s health for decades to come.

“The plants that exist will continue to run,” said Dennis Koehl, CEO of the South Texas Project, which is owned jointly by NRG Energy and by municipal utilities CPS in San Antonio and Austin Electric in the state capital.

He said the owners spend tens of millions of dollar a year maintaining and replacing plant equipment and investing in new technology. “We do ongoing surveillances on the equipment, making modifications to improve the plant’s performance,” Koehl said. “Our overriding priority is to ensure the continued safe and reliable operation of the facility.”

The two South Texas Project units are licensed to operate until the end of the 2020s, and their owners have applied for a 20-year renewal. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved more than 90 percent of license renewals, and South Texas operators anticipate approval sometime in the next year.

The stability of nuclear power operating costs could mitigate the effects of future rises in natural gas prices.

Because prices are more volatile for natural gas than for nuclear fuel, gas generators are hesitant to enter into contracts locking in long-term wholesale rates for the power they provide retailers.

Survey: Industry officials expect oil, natural gas prices to rise

That might drive Texas retailers — which also operate in a competitive, deregulated market — toward longer-term deals for nuclear power, said Bernie Neenan, an energy economist with the Electric Power Research Institute.

“As the spot market prices keep moving up, at some point retailers will break and say, ‘I can’t risk buying all my needs on the spot market,’?” Neenan said.

But in a country awash in natural gas that is hovering around $4 per million British thermal units — less than a third of its cost just five years ago — it might be some time before prices rise enough to assure generation companies they can recoup costs of building new nuclear plants.

“It is not an accident that the only place new plants are being built are places where all the risk is being placed on the ratepayer, and not on the utility,” said Jim Marston, regional director of the Texas office of the Environmental Defense Fund. “That tells me something about how utilities think about nuclear power. If it is utility money at risk, utilities have not been willing to go forward.”

Moody’s Hunter, however, believes that higher power prices over the longer term, combined with the need for fuel source diversity, eventually will encourage a move back to investing in nuclear.

“In the next decade, there will be more activity, because you can’t run a whole country on one fuel source,” Hunter said. “Utilities can’t just build more natural gas plants, because it will leave them more exposed when prices go up.”


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