Saudi Arabia to burn less oil this summer

Saudi Arabia is likely to burn less crude in its power plants this summer as rising output from dedicated gas fields and gas would be associated with any increase in oil output to make up for lower Iranian production.

More supply from the Karan gas field and a likely rise in crude output, which would bring a bonus benefit of more gas as well, should save at least 100,000 bpd in crude use.

Last summer the world's leading oil exporter burned an average of 730,000 barrels a day (bpd) of crude for electricity to keep the population cool in the hottest months from July to the end of September, official figures indicate.

Hundreds of thousands of barrels of the kingdom's biggest export will again go up in smoke at power plants each day this summer, but the volume of oil used for power is likely to fall.

Read details: Reuters

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Supermassive black hole will 'eat' gas cloud

[ via BBC News / Science & Environment ] 14 Dec

Researchers have spotted a giant gas cloud spiraling into the supermassive black hole at our galaxy's centre.

Though it is known that black holes draw in everything nearby, it will be the first chance to see one consume such a cloud.

The cloud, which is described in Nature, should meet its end in 2013. The researchers have  plotted the cloud's squashed, oval-shaped path and estimate it has doubled its speed in the last seven years - to 2,350km per second.

The acceleration of the cloud's constituent material will create a shower of X-rays that will help astronomers learn more about our local black hole. Read full story for more on the rare pehenomenon about to take place.

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