The big wheel spins: The oil industry on Tuesday made a last-ditch appeal for exceptions to proposed reporting rules that U.S. businesses say would give foreign competitors an unfair advantage while forcing them to stop drilling in Qatar, Cameroon and other countries. The Houston Chronicle reports the Securities and Exchange Commission is set to vote today on whether to require oil, gas and mining companies traded on U.S. exchanges to disclose what they pay to foreign nations in licenses, taxes, royalties and other fees in exchange for extracting natural resources from the countries. Read the full story here for complete details.
All that foreign oil: Like many Iraqis, gas station owner Anmar Abdul-Sattar sees little reason to celebrate the postwar petroleum gains that have turned Iraq into a leading oil producer. “The country is increasing its oil revenues, but we’re not feeling it on the ground,” he says. It’s a widely shared sentiment. Frequent power cuts, the state’s inability to prevent near-daily bloodshed, and yawning gaps in basic services have left ordinary Iraqis convinced they are sharing little in the country’s growing oil wealth. Read the full feature here.
Without a wing: Forget the flying car. In the future of our dreams, we want to be gliding around Jedi-style on hover bikes like the one currently in development by Aerofex, an aerospace company in Manhattan Beach. As The Los Angeles Times reports, Aerofex recently posted new video of its hovercraft gliding inches over a crackly brown desert. Unfortunately, the company tells Innovation News Daily that it has no plans to bring the vehicle to market anytime soon. Check out the full story and see the video here.
