South Korea offers to fix the North’s electricity

If Kim scraps his nuclear weapons program, Chung told him, South Korea will provide 2 million kilowatts of electricity each year, nearly doubling the North’s power supply. Making details of the plan public last week, Seoul insisted Kim had promised to look at the offer “seriously.”

A crippling energy shortage could be the regime’s Achilles heel. North Korea currently generates 2.3 million kilowatts annually, about half of what it needs to keep its trains and factories running and cities lit at night. As much as a third of that is believed to leak during transmission. Some power equipment is more than 60 years old. Theft of copper and aluminum transmission lines for sale as scrap in China is rampant, even though it’s a capital offense. Says Han Young Jin, who worked as an electrical engineer in Pyongyang before defecting to Seoul in 2002: “The grid is a mess.” Seoul estimates that building the extra generating capacity and lines needed would cost $1.7 billion, but the final price could be many times higher. Turning on the power could cause the North’s dilapidated grid to melt down, so South Korea might have to rebuild that as well, at a cost of billions more.


TIME Asia Magazine

Ontario warned of rolling blackouts

Ontario’s electricity provider cautioned residents on Monday to conserve power or face the possibility of blackouts. The stifling heat wave engulfing much of the province is pushing the system to the limit, which means that rolling blackouts are a distinct possibility

Deep coal mine to end production. (UK)

Production is to end at one of the UK’s few remaining deep coal mines with the loss of more than 400 jobs. Work is continuing on one seam at Harworth colliery on the Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire border but once that is finished the mine will be mothballed

Nuclear power crucial to fuel India’s booming economy: experts

The Bush administration’s decision to reopen civilian nuclear sales to India will go a long way towards solving the critical energy needs of one of Asia’s fastest growing economies, experts said. “The race in Asia is that of energy,” said Rahul Bedi of Jane’s Defence Weekly.

Arab world dreads spread of Iraq turmoil

My travels to Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq in recent weeks to look at the prospects for democratic change in the Middle East led me to one clear conclusion: The chance for more representative Arab governments rests on what happens in Iraq.President George W. Bush contends that Iraq will inspire democratic change in the […]

Unocal board recommends shareholders accept revised Chevron bid

Unocal’s board of directors Tuesday recommended that its shareholders accept a last-minute, $17 billion US merger bid from Chevron, rejecting a higher offer from China’s third-largest oil company. Chevron boosted its offer by $2 per share shortly before the Unocal board met Tuesday night, raising its bid to $63 per share or more than $17 […]

N.Y. Breaks Electric Consumption Records

New Yorkers coping with temperatures in the 90s and high humidity turned up their air conditioners Tuesday and broke records for electricity usage, the Consolidated Edison power company said. By 4 p.m. customers in New York City and Westchester County to the north had hit an all-time peak, consuming 12,361 megawatts, enough electricity to simultaneously […]

Oil Shook Up

The chief doomsayer, powerful Wall Street securities house Goldman Sachs, first voiced its gloom in April. But more and more people are prepared seriously to consider triple figures. Meanwhile, Goldman has become emboldened. Not content anymore merely to predict a brief NineMSN

Canadian crude oil output to jump 50% by 2015

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents 150 companies that explore for, develop and produce natural gas and crude oil, projected an increase in oil production from the current 2.6 million barrels per day to 3.9 million barrels a day by 2015.

Canada.com

Information and disinformation (on gas prices…)

Ianqui writes: I intended to examine “internet coverage” of the psychology behind why people aren’t so concerned with rising gas prices today. I didn’t get very far. I’m not sure if this is because the topic isn’t being covered in so much depth (but see the CS Monitor article that we discussed recently) or because I’m a poor googler (horrifying thought!) Still, I did come across a couple of interesting pieces on the web today, mostly from more than 6 months ago, which is interesting in and of itself…

More after the jump at The Oil Drum.

Beijing Braces for Power Crunch

Officials from the Beijing municipality said Tuesday almost 4,700 businesses will stagger weeklong shutdowns over the next month to ease an electricity crunch. The State Electricity Dispatch Center predicted China will suffer its worst energy shortfall in 20 years this summer. Many cities have restricted power use by large consumers and ordered factories to stop […]

Norway production slumps – China analysts argue – Oilcast #18

In this Oilcast Adam Porter takes a look at the latest falling figures from Norway, plus the effects of Hurricane Emily in Mexico. Also China and Brazil link up, so do Total and Syria and we take a longer look at some of the reasoning around the two camps of China analysts. Are you a China Bear or full of China Bull?

Listen here

www.oilcast.com

Ford 2nd-Qtr Profit Falls 19% on U.S. Sales Decline

July 19 (Bloomberg) — Ford Motor Co., the No. 2 U.S. automaker, said second-quarter profit fell 19 percent as its North American auto operations lost money on falling sales of cars and trucks.

Net income dropped to $946 million, or 47 cents a share, from $1.17 billion, or 57 cents a share, a year earlier, Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford said in a statement today. The company’s North American operations, its largest, had a pretax loss of $1.21 billion. Most of Ford’s profit in the quarter came from making auto loans.

Bloomberg

How Existing Energy Technologies Can Offset Peak Oil

With all of the recent discussion about Peak Oil, and some debate about where exactly the world lies on King HubbertResource Investor

Zimbabwe: More Fuel Deregulation as Shortages Bite

Standing for hours by the roadside waiting for a bus, or stranded in a queue outside a petrol station that snakes for several blocks, Zimbabweans are increasingly used to a fuel crisis that has defied the government’s efforts to resolve. The latest stab at the problem was an announcement last week further deregulating procurement and […]

Gas Dispute Deepens Political Tensions Between China and Japan

The growing dispute over the ownership of natural gas fields in the East China Sea reached a new level late last week, with the Chinese government lodging strong protests against the decision by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to permit the trial explorations of the area by Teikoku Oil, a private Japanese […]

Brussels launches sustainable energy campaign

European energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs launched on Monday (14 July) a campaign to raise EU citizens’ awareness of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources

The €3.7 million campaign aims at making “people understand how the choices they make influence EU energy policy”, the commissioner said.

The EU has already committed itself to increase the use of renewable energy to 12 percent of total usage by 2010 and reduce consumption by one-fifth by 2020.

The EU buys half of its oil and natural gas from abroad and the tendency is to rise to 90 percent by 2030, according to International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts.

EU Observer

The Great Iraq Oil Giveaway

By CHRIS FLOYD They were still scraping body parts out of the blasted carriages in the London Underground last week when the terrorists brazenly announced a harvest of blood fruits from their murderous campaign. The declaration — bone-chilling in its moral nullity, its brutal cynicism — was made in the fearsome name of Jihad. That […]

Could a Chinese Peak Derail the Global Economy?

Morgan StanleyResource Investor

Uranium Price Triples to Record Peak, Seen Higher

Prices of uranium, the fuel used in most of the world’s nuclear power plants, have tripled in the last five years to record levels due to years of under-investment in the supply chain, traders and analysts said. Soaring oil prices and international attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have thrown the spotlight back onto nuclear […]

China’s Shrunken Thirst For Oil

Even China’s enormous thirst for energy appears to have its limits. Evidence has mounted across Asia in recent days that oil prices have finally grown too rich for China, which accounted for more than 40% of total growth in world demand in 2004 and is expected to feed even more explosive demand this year. But […]

More thoughts on oil economics…

Heading Out writes: I would like to continue the dialogue that Econbrowser started, and which continues both there and in comments there and here. I am helped a little in this by an article in todays St Louis Post Dispatch, to which I will refer in a bit.

Rather however, this time, responding to specific comments Econbrowser has made, I would like to review the history of oil production to emphasize three points, which may clarify the issue. If I appear to oversimplify, please feel free to help us out in this debate, but I want to talk about the reasons for the Texas Railroad Commission and OPEC; that oil companies drill with your money not theirs; and that, once a well starts producing, owners will keep it going even if they lose money. (and along the way try and answer JimBobRay on the open thread).

When oil first came on the market there was not enough to go around, and prices were attractive enough to encourage many people to sink oilwells and get on the bandwagon…

More after the jump at The Oil Drum.

Oil Prices Said To Slow U.S. Economy A Bit

High oil prices could crimp — but not derail — economic growth this year, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan suggests. Greenspan, in a letter to lawmakers released Monday, said the rise in oil prices since the end of 2003 probably shaved economic growth by around three-fourths of a percentage point this year after having reduced […]

Bush Promises India Full Nuclear Energy Cooperation

President Bush, in a major shift of U.S. policy, promised India full cooperation on Monday in developing its civilian nuclear power program in return for New Delhi’s commitment to adhere to international regimes aimed at curbing arms proliferation. A joint statement issued after talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Bush administration would […]

Oil Lower as Hurricane Emily Concerns Ease, OPEC Cuts Demand Outlook

Oil prices were lower, giving up earlier gains as concerns eased about the ultimate likely impact of hurricane Emily and after OPEC cut its forecast of oil demand this year, dealers said. At 5.43 pm, September-dated Brent futures contracts were down 75 cents 56.87 usd a barrel. Meanwhile, US benchmark August-dated contracts were down 94 […]

Drought Tightens Its Deadly Grip in Europe

Drought in Europe tightened its deadly grip on Monday as a forest blaze that killed 11 firefighters raged in Spain, and with weekend temperatures soaring in France, authorities scrambled to protect the elderly. Spain and Portugal are suffering their worst droughts since records began in the 1940s, and in western France, water levels are at […]

US Biodiesel and Ag Groups Try to Block Palm Oil

The Des Moines Register reports that the American Soybean Association and the National Biodiesel Board are attempting to have the IRS explicitly exclude palm oil from the list of virgin oils to which the new biodiesel tax credit applies. The two groups are concerned about the potential for lower-cost palm oil, imported from Malaysia and […]

Rationing – Michael C. Ruppert

So I think it’s time we all put rationing (serious rationing) on our schedule of upcoming events. When? (Sigh). It could be as soon as this winter. I would say, of a certainty, no later than January or February 2007. Here’s the key quotation: — “A couple of weeks ago, the British press reported that […]

BP Claims Progress in Righting Oil Platform

Crews working for BP Plc made progress this weekend toward righting the $1 billion Thunder Horse oil and gas platform, which was found tilting 20 degrees on July 11, the company said on Sunday. As of Sunday, the world’s largest semi-submersible platform was listing five degrees, BP said.Reuters

Indonesia hit by petrol shortages

The oil crisis is hitting Indonesia – one the world’s biggest oil producers – as it struggles to end subsidised prices for petrol. Indonesia simply can’t afford cheap fuel anymore, but it will take a lot of courage for the politicians to say that publicly. BBC News|Business

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