Energy Roundup: Battery Cars from Detroit, Latest U.S. Rig Count, TransCanada Pipeline Update, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Banking on Batteries -- Included in the published survival plans of the Big Three Detroit automakers: GM's Chevy Volt, scheduled for production in 2010; Ford is accelerating R&D on a family of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery electric vehicles; and, Chrysler is planning its ENVI line. [Source: Green Energy News]

Ocean Power Technologies records an $8 million backlog for wave-energy buoys -- Chief Financial Officer Chuck Dunleavy told the Cleantech Group that the company is responding to a fast-growing interest in marine power in the U.S. (within the last couple years) and across Europe, within the last five years. [Source: Cleantech Forum].

Power transformer manufacturers accused of price fixing -- European regulators are focusing on the market for transformers, which are used to reduce or increase the voltage in an electrical circuit. Although the European Commission did not name the alleged violators, Siemens AG of Germany, ABB Ltd. of Switzerland, Areva SA of France and Toshiba Corp. of Japan all said they received the charges. [Source: The Wall Street Journal]

US rotary rig count continues to fall -- US drilling activity continued to decline this week, down 62 to 1,790 rotary rigs still working, compared with 1,824 during the same period a year ago, according to the latest count by Baker Hughes. [Source: Oil & Gas Journal]

Alaskan pipeline seen as threat to gas export market -- Ralph Glass, AJM Petroleum Consultants' vice-president of operations, said Alaska has the potential to back Canadian gas out of its traditional export markets in the U. S. Midwest if and when the TransCanada Pipeline is built. [Source: Calgary Herald]

Gazprom, Shell JV Begins Year-Round Oil Export from Sakhalin II Project -- Sakhalin Energy's Chief Executive Officer, Ian Craig, said that commencement of year-round oil export from its new oil export terminal had begun. Sakhalin II, located 13-16 km offshore the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk, is the world's largest integrated, export-oriented oil and gas project as well as Russia's first offshore gas project. [Source: Rigzone]