Australia drought could push up grain prices

A worsening drought has forced Australia, the world

South American gas giant in turmoil

 Bolivia’s turmoil is leading neighboring countries to reexamine their energy dependence on this landlocked Andean nation. With an estimated 53 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Bolivia holds the continent’s second-largest gas reserves after Venezuela. Moreover, Bolivia’s location among the surging economies of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile means the country is well positioned to be […]

Yukos crisis may affect shipping

Embattled Russian oil producer Yukos may have trouble paying to ship its oil to export markets as a result of the ongoing battle with the Moscow tax authorities. Seizure of assets, including cash on bank accounts, may start today in fulfilment of the first court-ordered payment of $3.4 billion in tax arrears for the year […]

Over a Barrel: What Happens When the Cheap Oil Runs Out

Even those of us who look down our noses at gas-guzzling SUVs have to face up to the fact that our lives are made easier by cheap oil–and it is still pretty cheap. If you think $2.50-a-gallon gasoline is expensive, just try to imagine $6 a gallon. Europeans have long lived with fuel prices that […]

Bolivia leader warns of civil war

Bolivia will slide into civil war unless immediate elections are held, President Carlos Mesa has warned, a day after he offered to resign from office. The main city La Paz has seen violent clashes between security forces and protesters calling for economic reform and more rights for indigenous people

Revealed: how oil giant influenced Bush

President’s George Bush’s decision not to sign the United States up to the Kyoto global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from ExxonMobil, the world’s most powerful oil company, and other industries, according to US State Department papers seen by the Guardian. The documents, which emerged as Tony Blair visited the White House […]

Gas Drilling Success

Record gas drilling is boosting reserves additions and allowing more than full reserve replacement in the US Lower 48 and Canada, says Ziff Energy Group in a report released June 1. The report summarizes Ziff’s analysis of 2004 gas reserves replacement by the drillbit and does not include acquisitions or divestments. The analysis indicates that […]

Government, Industry Ask: Can We Ship Enough Coal to Meet Demand?

The average American is expected to use as much as 3 percent more electricity each year over the next two decades; coal could help fill the gap. But it may not be a matter of mining more coal – both production and consumption rose last year – but moving more coal. At the National Coal […]

Official Played Down Emissions’ Links to Global Warming

A White House official who once led the oil industry’s fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents. In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and 2003, the official, Philip A. […]

China to See Average 3% Annual Increase in Oil Consumption Till 2020

China is expected to see an average three pct annual increase in its crude oil consumption until 2020, the Economic Daily reported, citing Chen Geng, head of PetroChina Co Ltd, the country’s largest oil producer. Chen said the widening gap in crude oil supply is becoming a major factor curbing the country’s economic growth and […]

Revealed: How Oil Giant Influenced Bush

President’s George Bush’s decision not to sign the United States up to the Kyoto global warming treaty was partly a result of pressure from ExxonMobil, the world’s most powerful oil company, and other industries, according to US State Department papers seen by the Guardian. The documents, which emerged as Tony Blair visited the White House […]

Oil Falls on OPEC Comments

The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said on Tuesday he would propose a 500,000 barrel per day hike in the cartelDAWN

G.M. to cut 25,000 jobs

General Motors Corp. plans to eliminate 25,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States by 2008 and close plants as part of a strategy to revive North American business at the world’s largest automaker, its chairman said on Tuesday. Speaking to shareholders at GM’s 97th annual shareholder meeting in Delaware, Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner […]

US, Strategic Petroleum Reserve is almost full

WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States’ emergency fuel tank — the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — is almost full for the first time since its creation about 30 years ago. The milestone is significant because it gives the country a larger energy-security blanket than ever to call upon in the event of a future supply disruption. […]

US Christian drills for oil in Israel

John Brown believes God promised Israel a wealth of oil, so he’s drilling for it north of Tel Aviv.

Brown bases his quest on a Bible verse – Genesis 49:25 – where Jacob tells his son Joseph that God will give him “blessings of the deep that lie beneath.”

Jerusalem Post

WashPost: U.S. oil fields are drying up

PRUDHOE BAY, Alaska – Oil keeps flowing through a maze of aging wells, pumps and pipelines that poke through the snow on this desolate North Slope tundra.

But this vast field is ailing: Output has fallen by nearly 75 percent from its peak in 1987 and is expected to continue dropping.The Prudhoe Bay field sprawling over an area the size of Howard County still pumps more oil than any other site in the United States. But its shrinking production reflects a trend throughout the country: After years of pumping, fields in the U.S. are drawing less oil from the ground. The implications for U.S. energy policy are profound. At a time when President Bush and members of Congress are talking about the need to be less dependent on foreign oil, the country is becoming even more dependent. As U.S. production declines, demand has been increasing.

MSNBC

Tankers Carry Oil…and a Story…

Prediction in the industries associated with oil is a risky business. Consider the case of the world tanker fleet. If the world supply is to continue to grow to match demand, then the amount that must be shipped around the world will likely grow at least in proportion and likely more, since as domestic supplies run out more must be imported to more countries.

More after the jump at The Oil Drum.

Showdown Time for Roh and Bush

It is no exaggeration to say that this weekend’s Korea-U.S. summit in Washington will be the most momentous of the 41 Korea has had with its ally. At stake during the fourth meeting between presidents Roh Moo-hyun and George W. Bush will be the direction of the Seoul-Washington relationship, the North Korean dispute and thus, […]

GM to cut 25,000 jobs in U.S. by 2008

General Motors Corp. plans to eliminate 25,000 jobs in the United States by 2008 and to close plants as part of a strategy to revive its struggling North American operations.

Kirkuk Emerges As Faultline For Civil Conflict In Iraq

As Iraqi officials prepare to draft the country’s new constitution, fierce debate is expected over the status of Kirkuk, the center of northern Iraq’s oil industry. Formerly known for its ethnic harmony, Saddam Hussein’s policy of forced population shifts, called Arabization, has torn the fabric of the province. Now the Kurds want it back.

Russia is now ripe for freedom revolution, warns Solzhenitsyn

THE former dissident author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has emerged from three years in obscurity with a warning that Russia could face a Ukrainian-style revolution. The 86-year-old Nobel laureate, who spent ten years in the Soviet gulag, said in his first television interview since 2002 that Russia was not backsliding on democracy because it had never been […]

Manila says exercises with US not aimed at China

The head of the Philippine armed forces said on Tuesday that planned exercises and training with the United States in the next five years were not designed to send any signal to China. The Philippines, a former US colony and long-term ally, signed a mutual defence plan with the United States on Tuesday that sets […]

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline: Oil or Politics

The ceremony of commissioning the Azerbaijani section of the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline again drew the attention of analysts to the project. Moscow did not support the idea of the pipeline but did not interfere with it either, though it had said that it would not provide oil to it. Sergei Grigoryev, vice-president of Transneft, […]

China’s spike in energy consumption temporary, can be solved – central banker

China’s central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said he believes China’s recent spike in energy demand is temporary and can be resolved. Zhou told a banking meeting that previously for every one percentage point increase in gross domestic product, energy consumption rose by 0.5 percentage point. But now, for every one percentage point growth in GDP, […]

Oil refining rates touch peak on demand (China)

China’s coastal oil refineries would return to record-high processing rates this month to meet peak power demand in summer and to cover for low supplies in the south due to maintenance works, analysts said.     But even higher domestic production might not be enough to satisfy the increased demand and China might be forced to import diesel, […]

Era of Cheap Oil Is Over; Scramble Is On to Avert a Crisis

John D. Rockefeller’s refineries launched the Oil Age.A superhighway in China may end it.Cheap, plentiful crude powered cars, molded plastics, birthed the suburbs and greased the path to a prosperous American century.Much of today’s world slides along that same path to industrialization. A 52,000-mile superhighway system is under construction in China. Millions of prospering Chinese […]

Start Making Sense: How To Talk To America

The following is Part II in a series of transcripts taken from a standing-room-only book panel in San Francisco for AlterNet’s new book, Start Making Sense: Turning the Lessons of Election 2004 into Winning Progressive Politics. We are living in the good old days. The century defining crises have yet to hit. The energy crunch, […]

Alternative Fuels Push to Benefit Alaska

A new federal initiative to manufacture alternate fuels from coal could benefit projects in Alaska.Theodore Barna, assistant deputy undersecretary of defense, said the Department of Defense is launching an effort to get U.S. industry to tackle alternative fuels projects to make ultra-clean, high-performance jet fuel and diesel for the military.

Drought Casts Suicide Shadow over Rural Australia

The rate of rural suicide in Australia is amongst the highest in the world as farmers battle the stress of years of drought, failed crops, mounting debt and slowly decaying towns. “Every day I look outside and I say to myself: ‘I get so sick to death of blue sky’,” wrote farmer Mick in a […]

Dry spell is ‘worst in 30 years’

England and Wales have had their driest November to March period in 30 years, Met Office figures reveal. The dry spell spanned two complete seasons across most of the UK with five consecutive months of below-average rainfall, a spokesman said.

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