LyrArc Article Gist
A Caspian sea oil exploration project that was estimated at $10 billion now costs about $40 billion. Chevron, Exxon and Shell spent about $120 billion on oil exploration in 2013.

LyrArc Article Gist
The ship Prelude being built in S. Korean shipyards for Royal Dutch Shell measures 1600 feet for the hull from bow to to stern. It is designed to take gas and chill it to liquid as LNG from smaller gas fields where building pipelines is not the best option. It could supply enough gas to Hong Kong for one year. The entire processing plant is on the ship replacing the cost of building costly pipelines and plants. The LNG is then put on tankers for transport. The project is expected to cost $10 billion and Shell is going ahead with it even as it is selling stakes in costly projects in Australia to control spending. The advantages are that it is not affected by the rising costs of building gas pipelines on land in Australia, growing demand for LNG in Asia, and the technological viability of this method of producing LNG on ships for smaller gas discoveries where building pipelines is too costly.

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Pete Seeger used a sloop to take people down the Hudson River to educate them about the river and how it could come back to life if cleaned up. Today the river once polluted with sewage and oil pollution is clean enough to provide recreational opportunities. It also provides drinking water for the town of Poughkeepsie in New York. Hudson River Sloop Clearwater environmental organization which headed this effort is now the Riverkeeper which advocates environmental policies for the Hudson River. Seeger lived close to the outdoors in a log cabin on 17 acres near the Hudson River. He cut wood on this land since the 1960's and he says he loved the exercize and sound of cutting wood every day.

LyrArc Article Gist
Efforts to limit the increasing use of industrial or frozen food in restaurants by requiring the label on menus for fresh ingredients or "fait mason" (homemade).

LyrArc Article Gist
Yahoo CEO Mayer defends the progress made by the company especially in getting mobile users to the site. About 400 million users accessed the site on smartphones and tablets in Jan 2014, about half its users. Ad revenues are in steady decline.

LyrArc Article Gist
A shift to a limited agenda based on increasing the minimum wage, immigration reform and use of executive orders to get things done.

LyrArc Article Gist
Cyclicality and capital intensity in the auto industry keep Ford's share price down.

LyrArc Article Gist
RBS announced extra provisions for legal issues and settlements of 3 billion pounds in Jan 2014. RBS is also taking impairment charge of 4-4.5 billion pounds for an internal "bad bank" to cover losses from the 2008 financial crisis.