Crude Oil, Gasoline Plunge as OPEC Pledges to Boost Production

““This decision is disappointing because 2 million barrels a day doesn’t even cover what OPEC is actually pumping now,” said Chris McCormack, a broker with ABN Amro Inc. in New York.

As OPEC members are already producing above their limits, the increase in quotas may add only 800,000 to 1 million barrels a day of crude oil to the world market, said Kuwait’s minister, Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Ahmad al-Sabah. ”

Bloomberg

Herrera: Impressions from Berlin

“The concept that the world

Alberta conventional natural gas production likely peaked in 2001

Conventional natural gas production in Alberta likely peaked three years ago and a yearly decline of about 2.5 per cent should be expected, the province’s energy regulator said Thursday in its annual reserves report.

canada.com

Car owners turning to vegetable oil as cleaner, cheaper fuel alternative

Vegetable oil is becoming so popular that a Massachusetts company called Greasecar is buying it in bulk from a distributor and selling it to local customers. It’s priced at 90 cents a gallon, said company founder Justin Carven.

MLive – Associated Press

OPEC hike ‘unlikely’ to dampen oil prices

Dr Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, told Aljazeera.net that long-term oil prices would spiral because of the world’s overdependence on Middle East oil.

AlJazeera

Oil vs. jobs

“This is a disconnect; job growth is psychologically and practically the core of what’s happening in the economy,” said William Hummer, principal and market strategist at Wayne Hummer in Chicago. “In sharp contrast, the oil price is volatile. It’s certainly not meaningless, but it’s subject to so many variations that it doesn’t have the same importance.”

CNN – Money

The Future of Oil

A recent rise in gas prices has refueled debate over the long-term use of oil as an affordable energy source. Jeffrey Brown gets perspectives from Paul Roberts, author of a new book titled “The End of Oil,” and Daniel Yergin, author of “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power.”

PBS Streaming Video

A $2 gallon of gas is just the beginning

The strategy for both campaigns so far has been pretty simple: Gas prices are rising rapidly. Blame it on the other guy. Present yourself as the guy who will make gas cheaper.

New York Press

OPEC Agrees Two Million Bpd Oil Increase

OPEC on Thursday agreed to raise oil output by two million barrels a day, eight percent, in a bid to ease crude prices from $40 a barrel, Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah told Reuters.

The deal by the 11-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries also promises to add a further 500,000 barrels a day in August, Attiyah said.

But the cartel will meet again on July 21 to review policy.

Reuters

Opec: The oil cartel in profile

According to Mr Scanlan, the Opec countries cannot afford to treat oil “as just another commodity”.

“When the price falls it creates real pain. They have to feed and give welfare to their people, the same as Western countries,” he says.

BBC

Audio Interview: Chris Skrebowski

Chris Skrebowski, Editor of Petroleum Review, speaks with Julian Darley about the state of Saudi oil wells and their dependence on maximum reservior contact wells, as well as share options, financial incentives for unreasonably favorable expensing of oil fields, and Shell Oil.

GlobalPublicMedia

US invaded Iraq to protect the Dollar from OPEC and Euros

This information about Iraq’s oil currency is not discussed by the U.S. media or the Bush administration as the truth could potentially curtail both investor and consumer confidence, reduce consumer borrowing/spending, create political pressure to form a new energy policy

ratical.org

Prices lead teens to cruise control

“I don’t drive around like I used to,” said Puckett, 23. Instead he and his friends “park and sit.”

As gas prices rise, they see fewer and fewer friends even making the drive to the parking lot. On a normal weekend night, 200 cars would be here, some said; on a recent Saturday night, there were about 40 cars.

CNN.com

Why oil prices are stubbornly high

“Thus energy analysts believe that OPEC will have to back up its statements by pumping oil out of the ground. “It will take a physical presence of oil to deflate expectations,” says Michelle Billig, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former analyst at the Department of Energy.”

Christian Science Monitor

Saudi’s Missing Barrels of Oil Production

World oil supply has almost certainly peaked, but the mass acknowledgement of its imminent effects has not happened yet. So, in the eyes of the business sectors and the American public, Peak Oil isn’t really here yet.

From the Wilderness

Global Climate Change and Peak Oil

One of the most dramatic findings of the report concerns the shrinkage of what had been permanent ice shelves inside the Arctic circle. Satellite studies conducted by NASA have shown more recently that Arctic perennial sea ice has been decreasing at an average rate of 9% per decade.14 The above satellite photos demonstrate just how dramatic this retreat is.

From the Wilderness

British may stike due to crude cost

As rising oil prices pushed gasoline past $5.79 per gallon in Britain, truck drivers threatened strikes and cabbies filling up at the pumps complained about working extra hours to make ends meet.

Yahoo – AP

OPEC bypasses the quota system – is the peak now?

“OPEC ministers said they will increase oil production and prevent shortages, allowing members to pump at will and bypass the quota system that has governed supplies for most of the last two decades.”

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ax8zYnKw9Mxg&refer=top_world_news

Japan looks at Iraq oil venture

The move is part of resource-poor Japan’s strategy of seeking stable oil supplies after Arabian Oil was forced to give up major drilling rights in the Khafji oil field in the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 2000.

CNN

U.S. economists agree oil prices likely to ease

Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, JP Morgan Chase’s chief economist John Lipsky, Banc of America chief economist Mickey Levy and Morgan Stanley’s director of global economics Stephen Roach said they expected oil to slip back to around $35 a barrel from more than $42 as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) increases supply and market speculation moderates.

Forbes.com

N.Y. Crude Oil Falls From Record on Calls for OPEC Output Rise

“OPEC has indicated that they’ll increase quotas by about 10 percent, but they don’t have a tremendous amount of extra capacity,” said Kurt Hallead, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Austin, Texas. “The Saudis can increase production by 2-to-2.5 million barrels but everyone else has the ability to do a fraction of that.”

Bloomberg

Saudi Militants Fire at Americans, Oil Shaky

Suspected militants shot at U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, adding to fears over stability that have sent oil prices to record highs since 22 people, mostly foreigners, died in an al Qaeda attack.

Reuters

Sustainable oil?

Analysis of seismic recordings revealed the presence of a “deep fault” at the base of the Eugene Island reservoir which was gushing up a river of oil from some deeper and previously unknown source.

worldnetdaily.com

UAE to Pump Extra 400,000 Bpd in June

“In the present circumstances, I believe that the increase must be above two million bpd in order to be effective, but these issues will be discussed when we meet in Beirut,” Nasseri said.

Yahoo – AP

Oil and grains soar, CRB nears record

Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah said the “fear factor” was inflating crude costs by $9 a barrel.

Forbes.com

Saudi Arabian Oil

NPR’s Steve Inskeep talks to Robert Baer, a former CIA agent who worked in the Middle East. They discuss potential future terrorist attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure. Over the weekend, armed militiamen killed 22 workers at a compound in the Saudi city of Khobar. Baer is the author of upcoming book Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude.

NPR – Audio

ASPO Updates

The interest for Peak Oil is growing dramatically. A year ago you might find one or two articles per week. Today it

As prices hit the roof, oil wars will keep burning

In the end, oil is not just another commodity as coffee, cocoa or orange juice which responds simply to supply and demand. It is a “strategic” commodity governed by politics, the economic needs of the countries producing it, which are high, and the price paid for it, which can depress world economy if it is too high. This is a very difficult mix. The sort of china shop where bulls should not be allowed. So, fasten your seat belts.

AoL

Is an oil peak upon the world?

“Humanity’s way of life is on a collision course with geology

Iraq and the Problem of Peak Oil

‘By some estimates,’ Cheney stated, ‘there will be an average of two percent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead, along with, conservatively, a three percent natural decline in production from existing reserves.’ Cheney ended on an alarming note: ‘That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day.’ This is equivalent to more than six Saudi Arabia’s of today’s size.

currentconcerns.ch

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