Oil’s Slippery Slope

As the neo-conservative dream of a “liberated” Iraq came true in April 2003, who would have predicted that 16 months later oil would become the ultimate time bomb for the Bush administration?

And the Saudi royal/oil family cavalry is not exactly coming to the rescue.

Click here for the full story…

Has Supply Hit Its Peak?

In 1956 a grouchy, iconoclastic Shell Oil geologist named M. King Hubbert forecast that U.S. oil production would peak by the early 1970s. The general reaction to his prediction was disbelief and ridicule

Fortune.com

Crude Oil Rises as Iraq Violence Raises Concern About Exports

We American’s love our SUV’s

SPORT UTILITY vehicles roared into stump speeches this month, flattening all common sense. At a speech last week introducing President Bush, Virginia’s Governor George Allen juiced the crowd by asking how many people arrived there in their SUVs and pickup trucks. After a show of hands, Allen was quoted by The Washington Post as saying, […]

Customers come last on oil nations’ political agenda

Most important, the consuming countries have realised that the political dynamics of their suppliers trump the needs of customers every time. Consider three of the largest producers, sitting on some 40% of the world

What $50/barrel oil means to you

So what does such a whopping price for oil mean to your finances?

FARK
| MSN Money

Oil Haves and Have-Nots

the world is heading toward an oil crisis of historic proportions. The crisis will come, they say, not when the wells go dry, but when world oil production reaches a peak and begins to decline.

Scientific American

Bush Policy on Oil Reserves Limits Options

The peak point of view suggests that US Oil reserves may well be needed to maintain our military abilities. I’d bet Bush and Cheney feel the same way. But pressure is mounting for GWB to open the taps, as in this Bloomberg story (that reads a bit like an editorial) Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) — President […]

China fears food crisis as imports hit $14bn

“China has become a net importer of farm produce, raising concerns at the highest levels of government about the security of the food supply for 1.3bn people as land and water shortages put pressure on domestic grain production.”

FT

Changes to world economy mean oil prices have less impact on prices

“While we shouldn’t let down our guard, it seems the risk of a widespread outbreak of inflation because of this oil price runup is limited,” says Doug Porter, senior economist with BMO Nesbitt Burns.

Fundamental economic changes over the past two decades seem to have permanently chilled price pressures, he says.

Canada.com

”Miracle” needed to calm oil markets

Raki Kotak LONDON, Aug 22 (Agence France-Presse) LONDON, Aug 22 (AFP) – World oil prices could sally past 50 dollars a barrel and hold at high levels for the foreseeable future on a combination of tight, unstable supplies and rising demand, notably from Asia, traders and analysts said. Iraqi output levels remain chronically volatile in […]

Short-sighted economic habits of oil consumers

It lubricates all our lives. But can we live without the black stuff, asks Heather Stewart Sunday August 22, 2004 The Observer Sky-high oil prices are already taking their toll, eating into consumers’ spending power and squeezing corporate margins; but the short-term economic pain is also a harsh reminder to the world’s richest countries that […]

British Author of book on dominance of carbon fuel decries British oil decline

Peter Odell Saturday August 21, 2004 The Guardian It is paradoxical that Gordon Brown chooses to castigate Opec’s members for failing to produce enough oil to bring prices down while ignoring Britain’s role as one of the world’s top 10 oil and gas producing countries. He also fails to recognise that declining UK oil and […]

The hydrogen challenge to Arab oil has it’s pitfalls

World oil prices continue to soar – driven by the continuing power struggle in Iraq, by fears for the solvency of the Russian oil giant Yukos, and by surging demand for oil in Asia, notably in China. Even President Hugo Chavez’s convincing victory in Venezuela on August 15 — and his pledge to continue supplying […]

Calif. Plan Aims to Add Solar Energy to Homes

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California should try to add solar energy systems to 1 million homes by 2017 to save electricity and cut pollution from power plants, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Friday. New legislation by state Sen. Kevin Murray to implement the energy plan would require home builders to offer solar panels as an […]

Natural Gas Seems Headed the Way of Oil: More Demand, Less Supply, Higher Cost

“Do we ever want to be in a situation in 20 years when we say, ‘We’d better do this for the Russians or we’ll be in a blackout?’ ” said Amy Myers Jaffe, senior energy analyst at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston.

NY Times

All the evidence points to even higher oil prices in the future

br>
OPEC oil cartel and its largest member, Saudi Arabia, seem to have lost their traditional ability to bend the market to their will. On three separate occasions since May, leaders of both, have promised the world more crude, and oil has sagged on the news. Each time, however, it has recovered and gone on to a new record.

Globe and Mail

EIA Lists Saudi Arabia As ‘Area Of Concern’

For the first time, the U.S. Department of Energy’s statistics arm has included Saudi Arabia on its list of “Areas to Watch.” The addition of Saudi Arabia brings to 42% the amount of the world’s daily oil produced by countries the Energy Information Administration says may be unreliable suppliers, highlighting one of the factors driving prices to record highs.

Al Jazeera questions Saudi figures

How much over OPEC quotas is Saudi Arabia producing? Their promises don’t quite add up.Oil market outlook mired in confusion By Adam Porter in France Thursday 19 August 2004, 14:06 Makka Time, 11:06 GMT When the oil market is under such pressure, statements by powerful players can have a significant impact on prices. Saudi Arabia […]

Unconventional natural gas will have to pinch hit for conventional natural gas

Unconventional gas resources fill the gap in future supplies In North America, there should be enough gas to go around for years to come, but it will increasingly be from low-permeability, low-flowrate unconventional gas deposits. With a little technological boost, this may be the lower-risk path. Perry A. Fischer, Editor It was just 1998 when […]

Jesus Rejects OPEC Oil Output Increase

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Venezuela’s foreign minister said Friday that OPEC wouldn’t raise oil output because the cartel already is producing at its limit of 26 million barrels per day.

FW

Iraq fighting pushes oil near $50

LONDON, England — Oil prices are approaching the $50-a-barrel level as renewed violence in the Iraqi city of Najaf and strong demand in China and India fuel supply concerns.

CNN

Farce this Time: Renewed Pessimism about Oil Supply

“Similarly, the total number of wells drilled historically in the United States as of 1970, the year that production peaked in the lower-48 states, was 33.4 per 100 square kilometers of sedimentary basin. Yet, in the rest of the world, the number is less than one. And at current drilling rates, it will be nearly […]

How does this oil crisis compare to 1979?

New Oil Crisis: 1979 In Spades Dan Ackman, 08.20.04, 8:40 AM ET NEW YORK – With crude oil prices nearing $49 a barrel and rising, the real (adjusted for inflation) price of oil is still not as high as it was in the early 1980s. But it’s getting close, and, in some ways, the situation […]

Oil price tops 48 dollars on threats to Iraqi oil wells

AFP[ THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2004 11:41:41 PM ] LONDON: World oil prices shot above 48 dollars a barrel for the first time on Thursday as Shiite Muslim militia threatened to torch Iraqi oil fields. New York’s benchmark light sweet crude for delivery in September spiked 93 cents to an all-time high 48.20 dollars in early […]

and the stink goes on….

The Carthage turkey-parts-to-oil plant, promised to be emission free, is still stinking the place up, according to this local news story.CARTHAGE, Mo. – A group of Carthage residents plans to raise concerns with the Carthage City Council about odors produced by a local company that converts poultry wastes to oil products. Petitions are being circulated […]

My name is Asia and I’m an Oil-aholic,

The first step is admitting you have a problem.SINGAPORE – Asian countries are scrambling to limit the impact of record-high oil prices on their growing economies through energy conservation, but analysts say such moves are unlikely to dampen strong demand for fuel imports. The region is trying to curb its burgeoning oil consumption by cutting […]

Iran Warns of Preemptive Strike to Prevent Attack on Nuclear Sites

Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani warned that Iran might launch a preemptive strike against US forces in the region to prevent an attack on its nuclear facilities. “We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will do to us. Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the […]

The Good News About Costly Oil

Expect prices to slowly come down — and if they don’t, fear not. Even at $75 a barrel, we wouldn’t see a recession in the U.S. Oil prices are surging again, leading to fears that the age of cheap energy is coming to an end. In the mid-1970s and again in the early 1980s, oil prices surged only to drop back. This time, we at Standard & Poor’s expect oil prices to slide gradually to the $30 range over the next two years.

BW Online

Japan nuclear power plant accident results from pipe

The escaped steam that killed four at the Mihama nuclear plant was the result of not replacing a 27-year-old pipe. TOKYO, Aug. 17 (Xinhuanet) — Last week’s disaster at west Japan’s Mihama nuclear power plant was likely caused by Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO)’s failure to check on a well-known phenomenon in which steam pipes […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy