How much new U.S. oil? Not much

With alternative energy sources decades from supplying U.S. needs, motorists fretting over the cost of their next fill-up are left to wonder if America will ever wean itself from foreign oil.

The long-awaited energy bill was supposed to do much to push up domestic oil and gas production, but as President Bush signs the legislation Monday in New Mexico, it would appear that a dramatic boost in new U.S. fossil-fuel supplies is unlikely.

http://tinyurl.com/95zrn

Saudi power shifts could shake world

The death of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia this week was a reminder that it won’t be long until a real transition in power takes place in the oil-rich monarchy.

Fahd had been ruler in name only since he suffered a stroke in 1995. Crown Prince Abdullah has been the effective ruler of Saudi Arabia since then. Little changed when he took the title of king.

http://tinyurl.com/as6as

Arctic drilling supporters plot new tactic

Conspicuous by its absence in the sweeping energy bill that President Bush has championed and will sign Monday is his top energy priority: opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling.

But the fight over the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will flare anew in Congress next month with drilling advocates saying they have their best chance in more than two decades of making it happen.

Tapping what is believed to be at least 10 billion barrels of oil within the refuge’s 1.5 million-acre coastal plain has been the centerpiece of Bush’s energy agenda dating back to his first presidential campaign in 2000. Bush has repeatedly said the oil is important to the nation’s national and economic security….

AP/CNN

U.S. interests, worries rise in oil-rich W. Africa

Security a top concern in region that could eclipse Mideast as oil producer

SAO TOME, Sao Tome and Principe – Far from home, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter plows its white bow through the seas of West Africa

ULFA blasts oil pipelines in Assam, India

Stepping up violence in Assam in the run-up to the Independence Day, ULFA militants today exploded a bomb at Boko, near here, killing four persons, besides blasting oil pipelines in three districts. A bomb hidden inside a bag on a bicycle exploded in the busy Boko bus stand in Kamrup district, injuring seven persons, four […]

Bush skating on the thin ice of Alaskan oil

THE late French president Charles de Gaulle once made the acute observation that China was “a big country inhabited by many Chinese”. Some time later, former US president George Bush Sr offered the following about oil pipelines in Alaska: “The caribou love it. They rub against it and they have their babies. There are more […]

Gas For $3 A Gallon? Place Your Bets Now

Gasoline prices keep rising, but you still might get a chance to pocket some cash now that an online bookmaker is laying odds on how high gas will go. PinnacleSports.com set its first line Friday on the cost of a gallon of self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline in the United States. Now, anyone 18 and older […]

Honda, GM and BMW: Fueling, not Fuel Cells

Clarifying the report several days ago in the Yomiuri Shimbun (earlier post) that Honda, GM and BMW were working on liquid hydrogen fueling technology and fuel cells, BMW and Honda have both come out saying that the partnership is solely focused on fueling technology. The collaboration between the three automakers, according to BMW, has as […]

U.S. Missions Say to Close in Saudi Over Threat

U.S. diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia will be closed on Monday and Tuesday because of a threat against U.S. buildings, the U.S. embassy said on Sunday. It said the embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in the Red Sea city of Jeddah would be closed on Aug. 8 and 9 “in response to a threat […]

‘Russia should reduce oil tax pressure’

Russia should reduce tax pressure on its oil sector by cutting fuel oil export duties to revive oil production and support economic growth, Economy Minister German Gref said on Thursday. Gref told a cabinet meeting the government should in the autumn consider cutting sky-high export duties and overhaul the mineral extraction tax to create incentives […]

EU offering to back Iran as major oil route -France

The European Union has offered to back Iran as a major supply route for oil between Central Asia and Europe as part of proposals to encourage Tehran to freeze its nuclear work, France’s foreign minister said on Sunday. Iran said on Friday the EU’s package — which it rejected as unacceptable — included an offer […]

How Those Big Bucks End Up in Big Oil’s Pockets

When oil prices spiked — and oil profits soared — 26 years ago, virtually every newspaper intern in America (including me) was dispatched to gasoline stations to collect quotes from irate motorists. Big Oil was viewed as public enemy number one: Congress convened hearings to skewer oil industry execs, regulatory agencies investigated pricing, and some […]

China vulnerable to soaring oil price

China’s economy turns out to be vulnerable in dealing with challenges posed by soaring international oil price fluctuating around 60 US dollars per barrel. According to Zhang Guobao, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, the best ways to cope are by improving energy efficiency and developing alternative energy resources. China consumed much […]

A reality check on oil

It’s time Malaysians received a reality check on oil. Despite yet another hike in the price of petrol and diesel by 10 and 20 sen respectively on Aug 1, consumers in this country still undervalue a resource that is depleting, takes years to flow from the oilfields to the petrol pump, and requires millions of […]

Hurricanes threaten growth in offshore oil

Oil companies in the United States are pinning the hopes of the nation’s energy future on big oil finds in offshore waters even as scientists predict the Atlantic will spawn more powerful hurricanes through the next two to three decades. The coincidence of new offshore oil projects and fiercer storms could lead to more volatile […]

Nuclear energy can’t solve global warming

During a public lecture in San Francisco last month, Jared Diamond, the mega-selling author of “Guns, Germs and Steel,” became the latest and most prominent environmental intellectual to endorse nuclear power as a necessary response to global warming. … But the truth is that nuclear power is a weakling in combatting global warming. Investing in […]

‘Corporations Are Partners Not Enemies of Environment’

Businesses, environmental groups and the government will have to find common ground by harmonizing their conflicting interests, said Lee Byung-wook, president of the Business Institute for Sustainable Development (BISD). “Advanced countries, especially European countries, approach environment regulations with a partnership concept, but it’s the last thing to expect from the Korean government,’’ Lee said in […]

Atomic Waste Mishandled, Records Show

The operator of a Florida nuclear plant appears to have shipped radioactive waste to ordinary landfills, municipal sewage treatment plants and some unknown locations in the 1970’s and early 80’s, according to internal documents and government records obtained in lawsuits. Florida Power and Light said that in 1982 it had mistakenly made a shipment to […]

Dreaming of energy independence

Debra Saunders: I have a dream: President Bush pushes through a grand compromise — he bucks Big Oil and Detroit by raising automobile fuel-efficiency standards, while enviros grind their teeth and support oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That dream was interrupted Thursday by U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who was in San […]

Why $60 doesn’t have the world over a barrel

For decades, the uneasy truce between the Middle East’s oil sheikhs and the west has been based on the assumption that rocketing oil prices are bad for everyone. Saudi Arabia has kept the black stuff flowing freely, for fear that a dramatic oil shock could tip the world into recession, hurting oil producers and consumers […]

Airlines add routes to where the oil is

Airlines, stung by high oil prices, are finding ways to make money off the energy industry — by jetting energy company employees to foreign destinations. Carriers such as Houston-based Continental Airlines, Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa have all honed offerings geared for energy-related companies in recent years. They tailor routes, food and even the […]

China: crude oil output increases 30m barrels

China’s crude oil production in the first half of this year grew more than 30 million barrels from the same period last year, hitting a record high since 2000, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Liu Fujiang, deputy director of the industrial transportation statistic department under the NBS, said the output of China’s […]

Nature’s water ”factories” under threat

Pollution, dam construction and climate change, are all combining to destroy watersheds and freshwater ecosystems at a rapid rate. But by putting a price on – and protecting these – “natural services”, cities and rural areas can purify drinking water, alleviate hunger, mitigate flood damages, and meet other societal goals at a fraction of the […]

Prices Fuel a Rebellion

For some people, it’s hitting the big five-oh that really hurts — that is, dropping $50 on a tank of gas. For others, it’s just that relentless upward creep in prices that gets their attention. Whatever the trigger, drivers pulling up to the pump in vehicles that ostensibly require high-grade gas are wondering if they […]

Iraq’s Kurds to Insist on Federalism

Iraq’s leaders will be attempting to break the deadlock on a new draft constitution at a national conference amid signs that Iraq’s Kurds are unwilling to compromise on their demands for autonomy. Iraqi Kurds have rejected suggestions the country should be proclaimed an Islamic state in the new constitution and refused to compromise on the […]

Gambling on gas? Betters put 30-1 odds on gas hitting $3

Largest online betting site will let gamblers wager on whether gas will reach $3 before year’s end.

The largest sports betting site on the Internet expanded Friday into the energy arena, offering gamblers a chance to bet on soaring U.S. retail gasoline prices.

“Record gasoline prices are affecting everyone, so why not let people bet on it?” said PinnacleSports.com spokesman Kyle Fratini. “We’ve been thinking about this for months.”

The online betting site, which normally focuses on mainstream sports like football, basketball and soccer, is giving gamblers a chance to bet on whether gasoline will reach $3.00 a gallon in New York or Los Angeles by the end of the year, with 30 to 1 odds.

Reuters

Halliburton and Iran

Scandal-plagued Halliburton, the oil services company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney was secretly working with one of IranCounter Punch

Thaw reflects reality: U.S. relies on Saudi oil

The high-level American turnout in Riyadh on Friday, with Vice President Dick Cheney leading a delegation that included the former president George H.W. Bush as well as the former secretary of state Colin Powell to meet the new king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah, was the latest in a series of steps that have thawed relations […]

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