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News from January 2005
Life on Earth snuffed out by global warming
SUFFOCATING global warming is to blame for the worst mass-extinction on Earth, according to international researchers tracking the cause of the “Great Dying” 250 million years ago.
Until now, circumstantial evidence suggested that an asteroid wiped out more than 90 per cent of all marine life and almost 75 per cent of all land plants and animals, like that which took out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
Outposts of Tyranny
In this week’s Senate confirmation hearings, Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice listed six countries as “outposts of tyrannyâ€Â: Cuba, Belarus, Burma, Iran, North Korea and Zimbabwe.
A longer list might have been put forward, containing twelve to twenty names. But this is the Age of Television, which puts a premium on abbreviation and verbal condensation. What is significant in Ms. Rice’s listing is not the size of the list or the list itself.
Bolivian fuel protests escalate
Tens of thousands of Bolivians have rallied in Santa Cruz – the country’s economic capital – to protest against cuts in fuel subsidies.
Organisers pledged that the protests, the culmination of days of unrest over fuel prices, would remain peaceful.
Oil prices surge after Cheney’s remarks on Iran
Cheney said that Washington was concerned that Israel might strike Iran in an attempt to halt its nuclear program, which Iran asserts is being used solely for peaceful purposes, but the US claims is used as a cover for a nuclear weapons program.
“One of the concerns people have is that Israel might do it without being asked,” Cheney told MSNBC in an interview.
Santos makes largest oil field discovery in its history
Analysts expect the field to hold between 250m and 500m boe, with some saying it could even reach 700m boe.
The discovery comes as Australia is attempting to re-open stalled talks with East Timor, the former Indonesian province that won independence in 1999, over the division of oil and gas royalties in the Timor Sea between the two countries.
Japan’s ageing workforce: built to last
Japan is the world’s least fertile major country and its population will start shrinking next year. Those of us on PO know that one of the major problems associated with PO is the world’s exploding population. This article reminds us of the Catch-22 of population: Increase it and there aren’t enough resources, reduce it and face a demographic nightmare. Will Japan be able to change to a different system to manage the population implosion, or will they start to absorb massive numbers of immigrants to keep the ship afloat? And what should they change to keep their country stable and maintain a good standard of living?
Japan’s ageing workforce: built to last
44 Leading California Lawmakers Demand Hearings on LNG
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
44 Leading California Lawmakers Demand Hearings on LNG
San Francisco, CA, January 11, 2005 – 44 California lawmakers have signed highly critical letters to the California Public Utilities Commission expressing disappointment at the CPUC’s decisions concerning Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), and calling on the Commission to hold public, evidentiary hearings on LNG. One letter, written by Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara, was signed by 24 House Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, and was sent to the Commission last month. The second letter, written by State Senator Christine Kehoe of San Diego and signed by 20 state legislators, was sent to the Commission late yesterday.
OPEC – the non existent cartel
OPEC and Bush2 New Economy rhetoric Andrew McKillop Providing yet more ‘justification’ for what UN Secretary General Annan, and millions of others call an illegal war in Iraq, the American neoconservative house magazine, the ‘Wall Street Journal’ had this to say about OPEC in a 29 July 2003 article by its editorial writer Claudia Rosett. […]
Safety of LNG questioned
Dreams of a giant LNG infrastructure are being disturbed by the reality of its vulnerability to terrorist attacks.http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=3&u=/ap/20050123/ap_on_sc/lng_safety Critics Doubt Liquefied Natural Gas Safety 1 hour, 5 minutes ago Science – AP By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON – When an explosion flattened a liquefied natural gas plant in Algeria, killing 30 workers, […]
Analysts see problems for North American gas market
North American natural gas production has temporarily stabilized, increasing by increments of less than 1% in 2004-05 before undergoing “a similar degree of decline thereafter that could be largely permanent,” said Edward Kelly, vice-president of North American gas and power at Edinburgh-based Wood Mackenzie Ltd.
Disruptions Make Canada’s Oil Sands Pitch Tougher
Canada is striving to sell major consuming countries on the potential of its vast oil sands to help meet energy demand, but a recent string of output disruptions makes the job tougher, analysts said on Friday.
Oil Demand In China Up More in 2005
SHANGHAI (AFP) – Oil consumption in China will continue rising in 2005 as the energy-hungry giant seeks to power its fast-paced economy but at a slower pace than previous years, industry executives said.
Brazil to export mass produced biodiesel
President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva said that Brazil had become one of the first countries to mass-produce biodiesel fuel made with vegetable oil and will soon export the product. “Today we can smile and say that Brazil was one of the first to produce an alternative, less-polluting fuel that is generating more employment with […]
US OKs Expanded Alaska Drilling
The US has signed off on more drilling in Alaska’s North Slope. This area, not the same as the ANWR, is estimated to hold 2 billion barrels of oil and 3.5 TCF of natural gas.
Oil prices affecting stock market
Oil prices weigh heavily on stocks
MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ, AP Business Writer
Friday, January 21, 2005
A surge in oil prices sent the major stock indexes to their lowest levels of the year Friday as investors overlooked a strong earnings report and a bullish outlook from General Electric Co. All three indexes fell for the third straight week.
OPEC raises world oil demand growth forecast for 2005 by 1.6 mln bpd
OPEC raises world oil demand growth forecast for 2005 by 1.6 mln bpd
VIENNA (AFX) – OPEC has raised its world oil demand growth forecast by 1.6 mln barrels per day for 2005, equivalent to a 2 pct rise from last year, and taking yearly global demand to 83.6 mln bpd.
http://www.sharewatch.com/story.php?storynumber=69523
Offshore Nova Scotia Exploration Abandoned
Offshore exploration in Nova Scotia is being largely abandoned on the heels of five consecutive years of failure to find a single commercially viable well, according to Petroleum News.
Bio-plastics made from orange peel and CO2
Scientists have discovered a way to make plastics from orange peel, using the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as a catalyst.
The team hopes CO2 could one day be collected for making more plastics instead of being pumped into the atmosphere.
This is great news, since it becomes clear that more and more petro-based plastics can be replaced by biopolymers.
If peak oil ever arrives, then the plastics industry won’t have to fear too much, since there are more and more renewable substitutes being discovered at a high tempo.
BBC article
Comments, August 2004
Anticipation that natural gas may one day replace oil as the world’s primary energy source continues to grow. Global gas consumption will more than double over the next 3 decades, surpassing coal as the number two energy source and possibly overtaking oil’s share in many industrialized countries, predicts a new joint study by the James A. Baker III Inst. for Public Policy at Rice U. and the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford U. The study, titled The Geopolitics of Natural Gas, examines the geopolitical implications of this transition in the world’s fuel supply.
The Elephant of All Elephants
Discovered in 1948, Ghawar is the world’s biggest oil field, stretching 174 miles in length and 16 miles across to encompass 1.3 million acres.
Current estimates, according to the numerous published articles and reports on Ghawar, tag cumulative oil production from this geological giant at 55 billion barrels, and the field just keeps going gangbusters. Average production for the last 10 years has held essentially steady at five million barrels per day.
Oil markets getting tighter
Opec production cut, effective from January 1, and continued production problems at several places are starting to have impact on the global crude markets and tightening oil markets.
US crude inventories have reportedly dropped by three million barrels in the week to January 7, to almost 289 million barrels. The US data also showed a 500,000 barrels decline in US heating oil stocks to 49.6 million barrels. This was despite the fact that overall distillates supplies increased by 1.9 million barrels to 123 million.
India plans big oil investment in Russia
India is planning large investments in Russia’s energy sector as a part of its strategy to secure foreign petroleum assets to meet the oil demand of its rapidly growing economy, the country’s foreign minister said.
India’s Oil and Natural Gas already has a 20 per cent stake in Russia’s Sakhalin-1 project and has said in the past that it was eyeing a stake in Sakhalin-3 and was keen to get a slice of the oil assets of Yukos.
Breakthrough in climate research
New research suggests that climate warming may be occurring even faster than previously recognised
A long standing puzzle that has haunted climate researchers looking at the fate of carbon stored in the world’s soils, has now been resolved. The research suggests that climate warming may be occurring even faster than previously recognised.
Bodman Vows to Seek to Expand Alaska Oil Drilling
Sam Bodman, the nominee to be US energy secretary, said Wednesday he would be “an energetic advocate” for opening an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil and natural gas drilling.
Bodman, 66, is a chemical engineer and virtual unknown to much of the energy industry. He is expected to easily win Senate confirmation, leaving his current post as deputy treasury secretary.
Squeezing it too tight for plastic replacements?
US scientists have discovered a way to make plastics from orange peel, using the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
Cornell University researchers created a novel polymer using CO2, an oil present in orange peel and a catalyst that speeds the reaction along.
The team hopes CO2 could one day be collected for making plastics instead of being pumped into the atmosphere.
Details of the research in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
BBC
Population Boom, Inflation Shrink OPEC Oil Windfall – EIA
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Inflation and a population boom are whittling down OPEC’s three-year oil bonanza, underscoring a policy shift to chase higher prices, the U.S. Department of Energy says. Inflation and per-capita adjusted, the petrodollar-dependent Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries earned only a third what it took in during the late 1970s oil shock heyday, […]
Earth dries up as temperatures rise
THE fraction of the Earth’s land area suffering drought has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Rising temperatures caused by climate change are probably to blame.
Yukos Defaults on Long-Term Contracts to Supply Oil
Yukos oil-trading unit Petroval, based in Geneva, told customers that deliveries may be missed, said John Lush, Petroval chief executive, in a telephone interview, declining to comment further. Yukos customers include PKN Orlen SA of Poland, Mol Rt. of Hungary and AB Mazeikiu Nafta of Lithuania.
Arctic rivers discharge more freshwater into ocean, reflecting changes to hydrol
Far northern rivers are discharging increasing amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, due to intensified precipitation caused by global warming, say researchers at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in the United Kingdom.
Water exchange between the ocean, atmosphere, and land is called the global hydrological cycle. As Earth’s climate warms, the rate of this exchange is expected to increase. As part of this process, high-latitude precipitation and, consequently, river runoffs are also expected to increase. This could change the distribution of water on Earth’s surface, with important social and economic consequences.
China, Canada sign energy agreements
y Jiang Zhuqing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-01-21 02:55
China and Canada agreed yesterday to take on the energy sector — oil and gas, nuclear energy, energy efficiency and cleaner energy — as “priority areas” of long-term mutual co-operation.
“China and Canada have decided to work together to promote co-operation in the oil and gas sector, including Canada’s oil sands, as well as in the uranium resources sector,” a statement issued yesterday during the visit of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin to China said.
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