High fuel costs spell winter tragedy

With the effects of high oil prices yet to knock through into the developed economies, this winter could be the first of many. Fuel poverty for the poor and the pensioner could be a problem the world will see balloon over the next decade and beyond.

Al Jazeera

Pennslyvania Alternative Fuels Incentive Fund Signed

Senate Bill 255, sponsored by Sen. Robert M. Tomlinson (R-Bucks), establishes the Alternative Fuels Incentive Act and establishes a separate fund in the State Treasury to be known as the Alternative Fuels Incentive Fund. The fund is to consist of a portion of revenues allocated from the utilities gross receipts tax. Moneys are to be […]

‘Significant’ oil find made in North Sea

“The discovery was also welcomed by Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party, who said that reports suggested the field could contain around 500 million barrels of oil.” PO.com asks if there is any better evidence of current peaking of conventional oil than this pronouncement that a weeks worth of oil is a “major” […]

OPEC Output Down 480,000 Barrels Per Day in November, According to Platts

Apart from Iraq, whose output fell by 400,000 b/d, from 2.2-mil b/d in October to 1.8-mil b/d in November, three other countries–Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the UAE–reduced output. Saudi output eased back to 9.5-mil b/d from October’s 9.55-mil b/d while Nigerian and UAE output edged down by 20,000 b/d each.

Platts

Printable Solar Panels

Printable solar cells? An attempt to get perpetual funding from the DoE/NSF/etc.? The usual product brochureware, claiming energy paybacks in three weeks. nanosolar.com

National Commission on Energy Policy

Bipartisan Commission Issues Strategy to Address Long-Term U.S. Energy Challenges. Links to 148 p. report (.pdf) and other info: National Commission on Energy PolicyDetailed Recommendations on Oil Security, Climate Change, Natural Gas, Nuclear Energy, and Other Key Topics the Result of 2 Years of Research and Consultation. “Political and regional polarization has produced an energy […]

Iraqi Troops Increased via Bait-and-Switch

NPR is reporting that there are several lawsuits against the “Stop Loss” policy of retaining “voluntary” soldiers against their will.

This NPR interview includes a segment where a soldier claims he signed up for a one-year tour of duty only to find himself indefinately in Iraq.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4206736

UK May Miss Greenhouse Gas Emission Targets

The UK may miss its internal carbon dioxide emissions targets, mainly due to increased coal burning in power plants following a sharp spike in natural gas prices. Kyoto targets will be thus far unaffected.

Weekly EIA report

Oil inventory stocks up and in recent days prices down, but: EIA weekly report“U.S. crude oil imports averaged nearly 10.9 million barrels per day last week, up 808,000 barrels per day from the previous week, and the second highest weekly average ever. snip Distillate fuel inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels last week, but are […]

New worry for OPEC: Oversupply

Because of OPEC’s efforts, there is now more oil on the market than is needed. With the group’s production at its highest in 25 years, some producers fear oil prices will tumble as demand slows next year on high prices and a usual seasonal brake in the second quarter. OPEC might be tempted to act preemptively and reduce output.

International Herald Tribune

A plan for U.S. energy security?

The United States must diversify its global oil supplies, expand a world network of strategic petroleum reserves and raise fuel efficiency standards to ensure its energy security, a panel of experts will recommend Wednesday.

CNN Money

Tribal timebomb

Although Saudi Arabia has developed remarkably over the past decades and has become more urbanized, thanks largely to oil wealth, compared to many Middle Eastern countries its tribal system is still strong and deep-rooted.

Asia Times

The disappearing dollar

Dec 2nd 2004
From The Economist print edition

How long can it remain the world’s most important reserve currency?

THE dollar has been the leading international currency for as long as most people can remember. But its dominant role can no longer be taken for granted. If America keeps on spending and borrowing at its present pace, the dollar will eventually lose its mighty status in international finance.

The Economist

Slump in Oil Prices Blamed on

Stocks Fall as Energy Shares, J&J Weigh
Tue Dec 7, 2004 03:30 PM ET

…snip…

Traders also said program, or computer-driven, trading linked to the futures market pulled down the indexes.

“This is what happens when there is no real point of view; no one is wildly bullish and no one is wildly bearish and along comes a sell program and all hell breaks lose,” said Larry Wachtel, senior vice president at Wachovia Securities LLC. “Lower oil prices are good for consumer spending, but it hurts oil stocks.”

…snip…
click for full story

Russia May Stop Exporting Energy Sources by 2010 — Expert

“If we don’t learn how to increase energy efficiency, but continue to develop the oil and gas sector, we will stop exporting energy sources because they will be absorbed by the domestic market,” said the expert.

Mosnews

Russia Set to Quote Ruble Against Combined Euro/USD Basket in Early 2005

In fact, the CBR has started switching to a composite dollar-euro basket for the ruble earlier this year without an explicit announcement to do so. The CBR used a flexible peg to a single currency, the dollar, before.

Mosnews

Fuel/Electricity situation in Iraq

Dahr Jamail is an American who speaks Arabic and converted to Islam. As far as I know he’s the only Western reporter still at large in Iraq; he has to take tremendous security precautions, but I think his reports are one of the few ways of learning the real situation on the ground.

This report is interesting for us because he has a paragraph on the power and fuel situation in Baghdad, which might give us an indication how things could go after the Peak.

Fallujah as a ‘Model City’

California Nuclear Plants To Close Unless Repairs Completed

The Los Angeles Times reports two California nuclear power plants — San Onofre and Diablo Canyon — must be taken out of service unless $1.4 billion in repairs are undertaken. The repairs would replace the plants’ generators, eight in all. The San Onofre plant would require holes bored in the containment vessel. The plan is to complete repairs within five years.

OPEC Cuts Dollar Exposure Over Past 3 Years

The report said Middle Eastern central banks appear to be switching reserves from dollars to euros and sterling to avoid incurring losses as the dollar has fallen and to prepare for a shift away from pricing oil exports in dollars alone, the report said. OPEC Cuts Dollar Exposure Over Past 3 Years -FT DJ OPEC […]

Oil – From Blessing to Curse

This term has become a label for a prediction that the supply of oil would rise until the early 2000’s and then go into permanent decline at the same time as oil demand is surging. This concept argues that abundant, cheap, oil is steadily coming to an end and warns of dire consequences. Search engines retrieving information on “peak oil” return many reports including conflicting views.

MichNews.com

DPA: You Do the Math

Bartlett likes to point out that throughout most of history, population growth was flat — but by 1960 it grew to about a 2 percent increase each year.

Now it’s growing at 1.3 percent, a growth that “continues to put pressure on oil, natural gas, coal and other fuels,” he said.

Bartlett believes that world oil will peak this year, and once “at the peak you’re halfway through.”

AAPG

EIA/DOE Oil Price Forecast

The following excerpt is from the Annual Energy Outlook for 2004 published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the United States Department of Energy (DOE). Excerpt: EIA/DOE Annual Energy Outlook 2004 with Projections to 2025. Oil Prices Are Expected To Remain Near Recent Historical Levels Crude oil prices are determined largely in an international […]

Oil rises on fears of Opec action

Oil prices have begun to climb again on fears that producer cartel Opec is set to cut back production to halt the recent price fall. US light sweet crude was trading at $42.70 a barrel in Monday trade, after hitting lows of $42.05 on Friday. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4070069.stm

All Options Open for OPEC Meeting

MSN Money TEHRAN (Reuters) – All options, including cutting quotas, are up for discussion when OPEC ministers meet in Cairo this week to plan their response to a sharp fall in prices, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Monday. Asked whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) might consider cutting quotas and not […]

Oman predicts lower oil production in 2005

MUSCAT: Oman, which has battled to halt a drop in oil production, is estimating a lower daily output of 750,000 barrels next year, the national economy minister said in remarks published Sunday. Estimated production for next year is 4.1 percent down on the figure for the first nine months of 2004 and 8.4 percent lower […]

Kuwait to invest $40 bn in oil facilities

KUWAIT CITY: OPEC-member Kuwait is planning to invest up to 40 billion dollars over the next 15 years to modernise its outdated oil facilities and boost capacity to four million barrels a day, the chief executive of the state energy company said. “We have a massive investment programme.We plan to spend between 30 billion to […]

Nigerian Militants Block Oil Output

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) – Hundreds of unarmed Nigerian villagers, including women and children, seized three oil platforms operated by multinational oil companies on Sunday, shutting 90,000 barrels per day of production in a dispute over jobs. Members of the Kula community in the southeastern Rivers state occupied the platforms, operated by Royal Dutch Shell […]

The age of cheap oil is over, and price volatility is here to stay

Put away the stack-heeled shoes and the Slade records. Higher oil prices may have rekindled memories of glam rock and loon pants, but the west is not about to return to the days of sky-high inflation that marked the 1970s. That was the good news Nov. 30 from the west’s premier economic thinktank. From its […]

The Cardboard House

Design concept

The Cardboard House represents the reduction of technology and the simplification of needs. By demonstrating that we are able to recycle 100% of the building components at extremely low cost, the Cardboard House is a direct challenge to the housing industry to reduce housing and environmental costs.

http://www.housesofthefuture.com.au/hof_houses04.html

Oil industry expert gives warning on conservation of energy

and another thing … Getting away from it all from: Offshore Engineer by: Rick von Flatern Monday, November 01, 2004 In the US, the survival of the government hinges largely on the retail price of a gallon of gasoline. So it is surprising how few solutions to rising oil prices have been forwarded by any […]

« 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