New clathrate shows promise for H2 storage

It’s not yet ready for use in your hydrogen-powered Shelby, but a newly discovered form of hydrogen clathrate may one day extend its range.

Also, researchers have finally created a long-predicted, diamond-like crystalline polymeric form of nitrogen that may have potential as an environmentally friendly, very-high-density energy storage medium. (Or a killer new bomb, depending on who wins the election… :~)

Deep Hot Biosphere author Gold dies

Thomas Gold, the controversial US-based astronomer and geoscientist, died yesterday in Ithaca, New York, at the age of 84. In his 1998 book The Deep Hot Biosphere, Gold proposed that oil and coal are not remnants of ancient surface life that became buried and subjected to very high temperatures and pressures. Gold instead argued that […]

China becomes Singapore’s 4th largest market for non-oil exports

SINGAPORE

Oil: Price ends above US$41 as funds flow in

The new data puts Opec output at its highest since December 1979, according to Geoff Pyne, an independent energy analyst and veteran Opec watcher.

With only Saudi Arabia holding any significant additional capacity, analysts expect little new oil to emerge when the cartel’s ceiling rises another 500,000 bpd from Aug. 1.

NZH

China speeds up building strategic oil reserve base

China’s import of fuel oil rose 69% in the first four months of this year as against 44% last year.

AT

Traders welcome fuel oil futures’ launch cautiously

Traders have welcomed the impending resumption in trading of fuel oil futures which is the second futures product this year after the debut of cotton futures last month. Traders hope the futures will allow them to tap into China’s booming oil market.

China Daily

Oil at $41, demand hits 20-year high

U.S. oil prices held firm near $41 Friday as the most robust demand growth in more than two decades pushes OPEC to pump crude at near capacity. World supplies are vulnerable to the slightest production hiccups.

CNN

Pipeline attacks in Iraq halt oil exports to Turkey

Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the sabotage has cost the government $1 billion in oil sales over the past 10 days.

Seattle Times

Exxon-Mobil to build N. Gas to Diesel plant in Qatar

Another read between the lines? Is it interesting that Exxon-Mobil is looking to convert Qatari natural gas to diesel? I wonder whether the business rationale is to create cheaper diesel, or anticipation that current petroleum diesel will become much more scarce and expensive enough (due to depletion) to make this profitable? Afterall, there is a several year lag time by the time these thing come on-line. Seems to match the depletion time lines that Matt Simmons has been putting forth for Arabia.

HoustonChronicle.com

Canada to Boost Daily Oil Output 38% by 2015, Producers Say

Production of oil trapped in sand in Northeastern Alberta will climb to 2.6 million barrels a day, compared with about 1 million last year, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said in its annual supply forecast. Output from conventional oil wells will decline to about 25 percent of the country’s production from more than 50 percent.

Bloomberg

Oil Prices Dip on OPEC Move

The small decline came even though the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it had decided on an increase in its production ceiling of half a million barrels a day by August, and also cancelled a July 21 meeting on the issue.

The Street

Another book on Peak Oil

‘THE FINAL ENERGY CRISIS’ by Andrew McKillop

VHeadline.com

Spies? Even Maxwell Smart wouldn’t believe it

THE bungling Israeli “spies” at the centre of a major diplomatic row would make Maxwell Smart look like James Bond.

TA

Realistic Choices in Future Energy Investments

We expect energy demand to rise significantly through 2020, even with substantial gains in the efficiency of energy use. And a major reason for this growth will be greater energy use in the developing world, where modern energy underpins the relatively rapid economic progress that is likely to occur. What we have seen, continue to […]

OPEC to Make Quota Boost, May Cancel July 21 Meeting

OPEC will enforce a decision to boost the group’s output quota by 2 percent as planned as of Aug. 1 and is discussing whether to cancel a meeting scheduled for July 21, officials at the group’s Vienna headquarters said.

BloomBerg

Iraq oil lines sabotaged

SABOTEURS damaged oil pipelines at separate sites in Iraq’s north and south while insurgents gunned down an officer with the state-run oil company today amid a series of attacks on the country’s most vital industry.

AN

Oil climbs above $41 as supply fears persist

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – U.S. oil prices rose to a six-week high above $41 (22.1 pounds) as concerns over security of supplies were heightened by a surprise fall in key fuel stockpiles in the United States.

Nigeria: U.S. Offers Military Help to Protect Offshore Oil

The United States, keen to develop new sources of oil supply outside the Middle East, has offered to help Nigeria protect the flow of oil in the Gulf of Guinea and combat terrorist attacks on the oil industry, officials said.

All Africa

Surprised in October?

It is highly unlikely that we shall see an “October surprise” in which the Saudis flood the crude oil market in order to bring prices down sharply and thereby help ensure a Bush re-election. Faced with rising welfare costs and escalating political tensions, the kingdom has a corresponding need for additional capital expenditure for increased oil capacity. Goldman Sachs estimates that the Saudis require an average price of at least $30 a barrel over the next 5 years just to maintain real per capita expenditure.
ZNet

Democrats Push a Bill That Might Kill OPEC

If the case were decided in favor of the United States, OPEC would be required to cease its operations or the U.S. would be able to impose trade remedies

Moscow Times

IEA Foresees Oil Demand Growth Cooling

The sizzling growth in world oil demand will cool somewhat to 2.2 percent in 2005, as China and other oil-hungry developing countries approach their limits for refining and transporting crude, the International Energy Agency predicted Tuesday.

Demand next year will average 83.2 million barrels a day, and crude supplies from Russia, Angola and Brazil will meet the bulk of the increased needs, the agency said in its monthly oil market report.

The New York Times

Physics Today: Basic Choices and Constraints on Long−Term Energy Supplies

Population growth and energy demand are exhausting the world’s fossil energy supplies, some on the timescale of a single human lifespan. Increasingly, sharing natural resources will require close international cooperation, peace, and security.As we enter a new millennium, we are growing increasingly concerned about the limits of our fossil fuels that are driving the world’s […]

Peak Oil reaches Investors

The optimum price for Saudi Arabian oil is US$25 per barrel. Currently it is at US$40 per barrel. This is 60% above the price at which alternative energy sources and alternative oil extraction methods become cost productive. The only oil left to find is underwater. In fact, the planet’s proven untapped deepwater oil reserves could more than triple in the next 20 years. According to experts, proven deepwater reserves could jump from the current 50 billion barrels to 114 billion barrels.”

Investors.com

Simmons: The Implications of Saudi Arabian Oil Declining

Matt Simmons argues that “there is no other oil producer on Earth that can even begin to replace a significant shortfall in Saudi Arabia’s oil. So if Saudi Arabia is at peak production then so is the World.”

RealVideo

Does Global Warming Affect Oil Production?

The Alaska Department of Revenue noted that this June’s average temperature of 44.3 degrees at pump station No. 1 compares with a three-year average for June of 40.3 degrees. Higher temperatures in summer reduce production because compressors work less efficiently in warmer weather.

ADN

AL QAIDA COULD DRIVE OIL PRICES TO $60/BARREL

“The possibility exists that Al Qaida, with its intimate knowledge of the market, could spike prices up to as high as $60 a barrel,” Wihbey told the conference on July 9. “This is a significant number, because it means $3 a gallon.”

ME News

A New World of Oil

For a country with an allegedly huge marginal surplus of oil production, turning to such extraction techniques is likely to prove an unwise move. With bottle-brush drilling, a shaft is drilled horizontally over long distances with a number of brush-like openings. Water is then forced under pressure into the reservoir, forcing the oil upwards toward the well heads. Extraction is thereby increased. However, when the water table hits the horizontal shaft, often without warning, the whole field may go virtually dead and production will immediately drop off to virtually nothing.

ZNET

China and Japan’s oil rivalry unavoidable

In the eyes of Japanese, oil is a lethal weapon that can be used to contain China, especially when taking into account the fact that China is one of the largest consumers and is heavily dependent on other countries and regions for crude.

CD

World oil demand will continue to grow rapidly in 2005

“Continued expansion of both the automobile fleet and the highway network will sustain road fuel consumption. On the other hand, limited refining and oil import capacity and transportation bottlenecks may put a cap on Chinese demand growth by constraining supply,” the IEA said.

Coal-bed Methane Video Special CBC

Coalbed methane story

Video webcast from CBC’s The National

Story starts about 23:40 into the clip

CBC

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