Peak Oil Solutions: Is Simpler Better?

Is complexity bad for us? Is simpler better? Joseph Tainter first posited in his book, “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” that complex societies most frequently attempt to solve their problems by increasing their complexity. This usually requires the input of additional energy from people or fuel sources or both. This strategy may be a good […]

Peak Oil and the Fate of Humanity

“Peak Oil and the Fate of Humanity” is a PowerPoint book that deals with the future when oil production will no longer keep up with demand. The author explains the importance of oil in our industrial society, what substitutes are possible and what difficulties they imply. He then gives an example of a past society […]

Jim Kunstler on Caspian Pipeline

Another problem: Kazakhstan is right next door to China. China needs foreign oil as desperately as the US does. Nothing prevents China from commandeering Kazakhstan’s oil, by means ranging from legal contracts to Chinese soldiers on-the-ground. That logically raises the question as to whether America would entertain a land war with China over landlocked Kazakhstan, […]

Is World’s Gas Gauge on Empty?

First of a three-part series Those complaining of exorbitant prices at gas pumps might never get relief, according to a new book hitting the shelves this month by James Howard Kunstler. Worse yet, those pumps may soon become grim relics of humanityThe Daily Times

Grass-Burning Power Station on the Way

Britain’s first major electricity plant to be fuelled by grass will begin construction later this year. The The Guardian

Solar, Wind Energy Fail Exxon Profit Test

It’s the economics, stupid. Or so says Exxon. The economics of solar and wind energy is why the world’s largest publicly traded energy company is not making any bets on the environmentally friendly power sources now, and does not plan to any time soon. Despite the growing popularity of renewable energy sources — top competitors […]

OPEC Should Adhere to Oil Output Quotas – Iran Official

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should adhere to its output quotas to prevent a surge in unneeded heavy crude oil hitting the market, reducing producers’ income, a top oil official said Monday. Iran’s OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, told the Iranian Students’ News Agency that more OPEC supply will merely fill oil inventories with […]

Investment in Russia’s Oil Sector Doubles Over Past 5 Years

Capital investment in Russia’s oil sector has doubled over the past five years, reaching 1.3 trillion rubles ($46.3 billion), a Russian Industry and Energy Ministry official said Monday. “The favorable situation on the world petroleum market and the petroleum sector’s earning capacity have been conducive to attracting investment,” Vladimir Sayenko, the head of the ministry’s […]

Pre-Buying Heating Oil Won’t Cut Down on Price Shock

With crude oil prices showing no signs of relenting, heating oil companies have set pre-buy prices at all-time highs. And customers who are considering gambling on a market downturn need only look at last year, when oil prices climbed skyward for the entire summer. An increase of 50 cents per gallon means a typical homeowner […]

High Prices No Windfall for Station Owners

Jerry Huot hears a lot these days from customers at his nine Conoco Phillips stations who can’t believe his profits haven’t soared along with gas prices. “We hear every day about how we’re gouging the public and robbing the public,” Huot said. Except it’s not true, he said. Conoco Phillips made $3 billion in the […]

Shell Spills Less But Bribery Rises Again

Royal Dutch/Shell, Europe’s second-largest oil company, has reported fewer oil spills and worker deaths, no change in greenhouse gas emissions and a rise in bribes in an assessment of its corporate responsibility. The company, which operates in 140 countries, spilled 6 600 tons of liquids in 2004, down from 6 700 tons in 2003. US […]

Chevron, BP Face Rising Costs

Major oil companies including Chevron Corp., BP Plc and Royal Dutch/Shell Group are spending more than ever for workers and equipment as surging energy consumption increases demand for geologists, drilling rigs and pipe. Finding and pumping a barrel of oil Inside Bay Area

The View of America from Afar

On our visits to Ireland and Italy, with a brief stop in England, Nina and I had no desire of engaging in any political discussions. This was to be a holiday. We should have known better. There is no way to avoid politics if the visitor is seen as a representative of the most powerful […]

World Airlines’ 2005 Loss May Widen as Oil Cost Gains

Total global airline losses will widen 25 percent this year to a record $6 billion, worse than expected, as fuel and wage bills surge, the industry-funded International Air Transport Association said. Airlines’ fuel bills will rise 31 percent to a total $83 billion this year, based on an average crude-oil price of $47 a barrel, […]

Saudi Arabia, Russia discuss boosting oil output capacity

Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s two biggest oil producers, discussed increasing their output capacity to meet surging world demand, the official SPA news agency reported.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi and the director of the Russian Federal Energy Agency Sergei Oganesian discussed cooperation between the two producers to stabilise oil markets, SPA said.

‘This (cooperation) includes increasing oil production capacity to face the hiking world demand in the coming years,’ SPA added

Forbes

Gas guzzling no road block for RV lovers

Even though it can cost more than $200 to fill up an RV tank, sales are on the rise and RVers have no intention of canceling their summer trips, according to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association.
“RV’ers are very determined to keep on traveling,” said RVIA spokesman Ken Sommers. “Historically gas prices have had very little effect on (RV) traveling.”

Boston Herald

Struggling to keep a lid on oil crisis

John D. Rockefeller’s Cleveland refineries launched the Oil Age. A superhighway in China may end it. Almost 150 years ago, barges plied the Cuyahoga River ferrying black gold for oil lamps. There was no turning back. Cheap, plentiful crude would power cars, mold plastics, birth the suburbs and grease the path to a prosperous American […]

Iraq Minister Warns of Fuel, Power Hikes

The Iraqi government may decrease subsidies for fuel and electricity, despite a severe shortage of both in the country, the electricity minister said Sunday as he warned Iraqis to prepare for more blackouts this summer. Mihsen Shalash said the government was unable to generate power for everyone, and blamed the shortages on acts of sabotage […]

Peak Oil….Part 2

When we last left the subject of peak oil, ExxonMobil had conceded that the daily production rate of oil in non-OPEC countries will peak within a few years and then start an irreversible decline. I’m going to say more about that subject shortly, but before I do, I want to back up a bit and […]

Mobjectivist: 1956 Hubbert Presentation Story

The meeting got underway quite close to schedule and the first speaker was introduced. His name was M. King Hubbert, a native of Texas who had taught at a number of universities and for the last thirteen years had worked as a geologist with Shell Oil of Houston. Hubbert was fifty-two at the time; not […]

Crude Awakening

It’s the stuff of American romance: summer, a big car, a tankful of gas and the endless highway. But that fabled love is now a troubled relationship. We can still drive where we want, if the traffic isn’t too bad. And we can still drive something nice, if our credit holds out. But Americans can […]

France Rejects EU Treaty, Europe Faces Crisis

France overwhelmingly rejected the European Union’s constitution in a referendum on Sunday, pollsters’ projections showed, plunging the EU into crisis and dealing a possibly fatal blow to a pact designed to make it run smoothly. The heavy defeat dreaded by EU leaders could weaken France in the 25-member bloc, stall European integration and unsettle some […]

Motorists ‘being ripped off by soaring petrol prices’

Irish petrol prices are rising 12% faster than in the rest of Europe, it was claimed today. Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton said motorists were being Breaking News.ie

China not sole impetus to soaring oil price

Though a major oil demander, China should not be taken as the sole factor pushing up global oil prices, said an oil expert from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) in east China’s Shanghai Municipality on Saturday while attending a local forum. Last year’s explosive demands for oil worldwide helped bring global oil prices to […]

Oil consumption rises in April despite runaway prices

SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) — Despite rising import prices, oil consumption in South Korea rose 6.1 percent in April from a year ago, a government report showed on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, oil consumption in Asia’s third-largest economy amounted to 62.42 million barrels in April. The ministry attributed the jump mainly to a rise in consumption of gasoline, diesel and naphtha.

Yonhap News

Heating Oil will go up 30% next year

Frank Pastor has spent three years in a house that reaches about 52 degrees in the winter. His Cabot home is poorly insulated and a small propane heating unit can’t keep up with winter’s cold. This year, Pastor is expecting to set the thermostat about 10 degrees warmer. The state is helping the 62-year-old who […]

Energy Companies See Opportunity in Japan-China Gas Deposit

Tense relations between Japan and China risk being further inflamed by their competing claims to undersea natural gas and oil deposits. But Japanese energy executives say the two sides should try what companies battling for ownership of natural resources often do: share. “Standard oil-and-gas industry practice is to talk things over and determine the most […]

CEO Says Exxon Mobil Won’t Use Spending Spree to Boost Production

Despite high gasoline prices and a recent decline in production, Exxon Mobil Corp. doesn’t plan to speed up investment in new exploration or build new U.S. refineries, Chairman and Chief Executive Lee R. Raymond said Wednesday. Raymond said Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, would continue its cautious approach to investment because new […]

Peak Oil or Peak Price?

NEW YORK (ResourceInvestor.com) — The usually bullish New York Institutional Gold Conference took a splash of cold water on its opening day when Elliot Wave guru Robert Prechter said he is monitoring a repeating technical pattern that could prove a downer for commodities. Furthermore he warned that the US economy appears to be rolling over […]

Saudi Oil Minister Meets Russia’s Energy Agency Chief

Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi met Russian Federal Energy Agency Chief Sergei Oganesyan Sunday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. The officials discussed the global oil market and ways for the world’s two largest crude oil producers to cooperate in stabilizing the market by increasing production capacity to meet rising future oil demand.NASDAQ

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