South Australian Natural Gas Fields Running Out ‘Faster Than Expected’

This story was buried deep in the website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s web-page and took considerable finding. It’s one of the most important articles, as it shows just how precarious the Australian Natural Gas supplies really are. It ALSO shows (by the article’s location) just how uninformed our News Media servces are on Peak […]

Brent crude hits new record high

The price of the UK’s Brent crude oil hit a new record high of $53 a barrel during trading on Thursday. Analysts said the $1.78 afternoon surge was caused by a number of factors including strong speculative buying and comments by oil producers cartel OpecOil purchasers were said to be buying large quantities because they […]

Opec hints $80 barrel is on the way

“I cannot rule out the rise of a barrel of oil to $80 in the coming two years,” said Adnan Shihab–Eldin, the acting secretary–general of the oil cartel.

telegraph.co.uk

New York Oil Rises Above $55 on Signs Use Will Outpace Supply

Crude oil surged above $55 a barrel in New York, less than $1 short of a record, and reached a record in London on speculation that increasing consumption will outpace production this year. “Demand is still growing, particularly in China, and there is only a finite supply of oil out there,” said Tom Bentz, an […]

OPEC – $80 Oil Possible!

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) – Prices of crude oil could surge to as high as 80 dollars a barrel within the next two years but such a level would not last long, OPEC (news – web sites)’s acting secretary general was quoted as saying. “I can affirm that the price of a barrel of crude oil […]

Iraq must choose for oil fields-production or repair?

BASRA, Iraq The five spindly towers, each 100 meters tall, were silent, with no flames burning at their collapsed and blackened tips.
.
But Abdul Raof Ibraheem, production manager at this huge propane and butane plant, knew very well what could happen if, say, a military helicopter flew over.
IHT

Russia to Outstrip European States in Total GDP by 2030 — Goldman Sachs

Jim O’Neill, chief economist of the Goldman Sachs global investment corporation told Russia’s business daily Vedomosti that by 2050 Russia, Brazil, India and China will outdo the top six industrial states of the world (G7 without Canada) in terms of total GDP.

Mosnews
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Hello to the petro rubel

IEA Head Doesn’t See Clear Need For Extra OPEC Oil Now

Despite U.S. crude prices topping $52.00 a barrel Wednesday, the head of the International Energy Agency said he doesn’t see a clear need for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to pump more oil now. “I am not sure if OPEC should put more oil onto the market now,” Claude Mandil told Dow Jones Newswires. […]

ChevronTexaco eyes Unocal: report

…
A report that the No. 2 oil company is considering a bid to buy Unocal sent shares skyrocketing.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Shares in U.S. oil company Unocal Corp. jumped nearly 10 percent early Thursday after a newspaper reported that ChevronTexaco Corp., the second largest U.S. oil company, was considering a bid to buy it.

Money CNN
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Another ‘reserves’ ghost?

Countries reject global mercury treaty

A week-long meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, has failed to devise a global treaty to curb the production of mercury. Instead, governments agreed to monitor mercury trade more formally and to encourage voluntary actions to reduce its use.

The lack of a legally binding pact to regulate this harmful heavy metal has led environment groups to label the UN Environment Programme’s Governing Council meeting a “missed chance”.

news@nature.com

Greenpeace hails China’s energy law

China has passed its first ever renewable energy law, drawing praise from environmental campaigner Greenpeace which said it had the potential to become a world leader in sustainable development. China’s top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, approved the law Monday as the nation battles acute energy shortages and heavy pollution brought […]

[UK] Farmers get money for environmentally friendly work

A new Environmental Stewardship scheme that will see farmers paid extra money if they manage their land in an environmentally friendly manner has been launched today. The Government is heavily promoting the scheme, believing that it marks a “watershed” in farming in the UK. Ministers hope that the scheme will help reduce the decline in […]

Power = Power

Speaking of math, I did the oil figures a couple of weeks ago, and it’s worth repeating. Of the the 80 million barrels a day the world burns, we burn one quarter of that, or 20 million barrels a day. Every five days we burn a hundred million barrels. Every fifty days America burns one billion barrels of oil. Every year we burn seven billion barrels. The US has 28 billion barrels of oil left. If we burned every last drop of our own oil, and somehow lost access to foreign imports, our oil would last four more years.

The Cluster#uck Nation Chronicle

High oil prices spurring Asia to seek alternative energy sources

High global oil prices are spurring Asian governments into accelerating their search for alternative power sources and encouraging energy conservation, regional officials said here. Governments are increasingly diversifying their “fuel mix” to cut dependence on imported oil by developing other power sources such as natural gas, geo-thermal, hydro, liquefied natural gas and renewable fuels, they […]

OPEC Sec-Gen Can’t Rule Out $80 Oil Spike

Oil prices may temporarily spike to $80 a barrel during the next two years in there is a major supply disruption, OPEC’s Acting Secretary-General, Adnan Shihab-Eldin, was quoted as saying by a newspaper on Thursday. “I can stress that the probability that the price of a barrel of crude rises to $80 in the near […]

With March beginning, spring is nearly upon us. The question is, where was winte

With March beginning, spring is nearly upon us. The question is, where was winter? There was thunder and lightning up the Fryingpan Valley on New Year’s Eve, it rained in January in Aspen, and the winter has seemingly been filled with plenty of mild days. And at least one person was seen this weekend running […]

Nuclear future coming together?

Representatives of the United States, Japan and Europe will sign an agreement Monday that, in a best-case scenario, will lead to a future in which nuclear power is seen as a boon to the environment and less of a risk to world security. Known as the International Forum Framework Agreement, the pact being signed at […]

Coal: The new black gold

It used to be that being threatened with a lump of coal for a present was a bad thing. These days though, many investors wouldn’t mind getting lumps of coal…coal stocks, that is. Rising prices for oil and natural gas has fueled (pardon the pun) a similar spike in the price of coal and earnings […]

China’s pearl in Pakistan’s waters

When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Pakistan this month to inaugurate the Gwadar deepsea port, China will take a giant leap forward in gaining a strategic foothold in the Persian Gulf region. It will advance what a recent Pentagon report describes as Beijing’s “string of pearls” strategy that aims to project Chinese power overseas and […]

60 new nuclear power plants in fifteen years says IAEA

I’ve translated this myself from a belgian newspaper (original article is in Dutch) english is not my mother tongue, so bear with me 🙂

Worldwide, 60 new nuclear power plants will be constructed over the next 15 years, yielding a total of +500 power plants. The share of electricity, generated by nuclear power will rise because of this. So far, nuclear induced energy was on the downslope globally.

According to the IAEA, the prospects for nuclear energy are far more benevolent than 5 years ago. Currently 441 plants are in business, 27 are in construction phase. The most conservative estimate adds 60 plants by 2020, a total of 501 plants worldwide.
Global nuclear energy capacity would rise to 430 gigawatt (367 now) or an increase from 16% to a mere 17% in electricity production. A small increase in percentage, but a huge increase in the way we think about generating our energy demands.
After the Tsjernobyl incident in 1986, nuclear energy quickly gained a bad reputation, but global warming seems to bring a change in all of that. No need to say the Kyoto-protocol has had an influence on these predictions.
Strongest grow is expected in Asia. China plans on multiplying its capacity with factor 6, while India aims to tenfold its current nuclear capacity.
Globally, some 30 nations are able to produce their own nuclear energy.

De Morgen

OPEC’s decisions in Isfahan will be lasting

Decisions made in the upcoming OPEC meeting in Isfahan will be long-term and lasting compared to decisions made in previous meetings. Mehdi Karbasian, head of the OPEC meeting headquarters and managing director of Pars Special Economic Energy Zone noted that previous meetings, which were held on emergency basis, reached short-term decisions, but Isfahan meeting is […]

Production problems pushes oil price even higher. Above $53 now

US crude prices have soared to fresh four-month highs above $53 in the US as refinery problems propelled petrol prices to an all-time high.
US light sweet crude futures jumped to $53.09 a barrel in New York before closing at $53.03.

The gains tracked a surge in US gasoline futures to a record high of $1.4850 a gallon.

The jump followed a fire at Western Refining Company’s refinery in Texas, which shut down petrol production.

BBC News

Oil prices confound experts

By Adam Porter in Perpignan, France

Latest figures from the oil industry have confounded expert predictions of a price fall in the last two months. As prices have remained above $50 a barrel, Opec’s statements in particular have come under close scrutiny.

Al Jazeera

Literary Economics

The Daily Reckoning

Oil is a special case. It is probably the single most important ingredient to a modern economy. The world’s largest nations, India and China, are becoming modern nations. They are growing at 8, 9…even 10% per year. Add in a few other countries in the fast-growing Asian region and you have three billion people whose appetite for petroleum products increased every day.

The world’s oil production is not keeping pace. In fact, many experts think oil production is peaking out. It may have taken the earth 100 million years to make the stuff, but it only took three generations to use up nearly half of it. From here on, oil is going to be hard to get…and, well, expensive.

Howe Street

Crude Oil Rises as U.S. Refinery Operations Fall to 4-Month Low

Crude oil rose above $52 a barrel in New York after a government report showed that U.S. refineries operated at the lowest rate since October. Bloomberg.comCrude oil rose above $52 a barrel in New York after a government report showed that U.S. refineries operated at the lowest rate since October. Refineries used 89.3 percent of […]

Uranium Tailings Threaten Colorado River

Uranium mine tailings a mere 1,000 feet away from the Colorado River threaten downstream water supplies. A coalition of 21 western state members of Congress have written the Department of Energy to get the tailings moved. (Pictures here.)

Into the age of more expensive oil

As long as we need oil, Opec – or at least its members – will have an increasingly important role to play. And for the foreseeable future, we will remain dependent on oil for transport, by road, sea and air, as all use fuels made from crude oil. It may well be that we are […]

Growing U.S. Supplies No Brake for Rising Oil Price

U.S. crude oil and gasoline supplies have amassed a roughly 9 percent surplus over last year, with gasoline stocks at their highest levels since 1999, according to government data released Wednesday morning.

Reuters

The US Department of Energy addresses Peak Oil

For the foreseeable future, electricity-producing technologies, e.g., nuclear and solar energy, cannot substitute for liquid fuels in most transportation applications. Someday, electric cars may be practical, but decades will be required before they achieve significant market penetration and impact world oil consumption. And no one has yet defined viable options for powering heavy trucks or […]

Egypt to sell off stakes in oil firms

Egypt has said it plans to sell off shares in state oil firms as part of its privatisation programme and efforts to attract foreign investment and enhance performance. The process will begin by selling stakes in the Alexandria Mineral Oils Co. (AMOC) and the Sidi Krir Company for Petrochemicals, Investment Minister Mahmud Mohieddin was quoted […]

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