Saudi Arabia gets nod for WTO membership

Saudi Arabia, the top global oil exporter, won the green light to join the World Trade Organization(WTO) after 12 years of tough negotiations, the WTO said here on Friday.     During a session at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters, a working party, including all major members of the WTO, approved the final package of Saudi entry terms […]

Honing power of Honda’s fuel-cell FCX

The hatchbacks use California’s Hydrogen Highway refuelling stations, a state-wide infrastructure expected to be finished by 2010. Honda says the FCX hatchback was the first fuel-cell vehicle to be listed in the EPA’s fuel economy guide. It carries a fuel economy rating of around 3.7 litres/100km, or around 60mpg, and a range of 300km. It […]

No Quick Fix for Gulf Oil Output

Repairing all the damaged rigs, platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita will take up to a year and crude oil output will not return to normal “for many months,” U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said Thursday. In written testimony for a Senate Energy committee hearing, […]

BP’s Thunder Horse Cursed by Bad Design

Has BP fallen victim to an American Indian curse? The oil giant’s Thunder Horse platform — whose name had to be changed from Crazy Horse after offending descendants of a legendary chieftain — is still causing trouble. Chief executive Lord Browne admitted that poor design — not bad weather — left the 550m rig precariously […]

Peak Freaks

Poster’s Comments: A critique of Peak Oil Catastrophists and Optimists who have banded together. If Peak Oil theory is now mainstream, discussed on the front page of USA Today and in Chevron and BP ad campaigns, then Petrocollapse is a secular, left-wing, non-fiction version of Tim LaHaye’s Christian Apocalyptic “Left Behind” series…. If the Petrocollapse […]

Profits Likely Won’t Mean New Refineries

Don’t expect the oil industry to boost fuel production merely to deflect criticism from Congress about soaring prices and profits. Energy executives and analysts insist that in spite of the supply crunch that has kept oil above $50 a barrel for much of the year, demand and prices are still prone to ups and downs, […]

The $25 trillion land grab

NEW YORK (Business 2.0) – There has been an impressive amount of construction in the United States over the last three centuries: All told, we’ve built more than 300 billion square feet of homes, offices, factories and other structures. But according to new studies from the Brookings Institution and Virginia Tech urban planning professor Robert […]

Report: Saudi Arabia’s Oil Production Tapped Out

According to the New York Times: “doubts about Saudi Arabia’s assurances of how much it can expand capacity – and for how long – have been raised in a secret intelligence report and in a separate analysis by a leading government oil adviser”….. Our own view on peak oil remains unchanged. The easy oil has […]

Trading of EU ‘emission credits’ soaring

LONDON (Reuters) – Volumes in the European Union’s new carbon dioxide emission trading scheme have soared with over 200 million tonnes of credits expected to change hands this year, a report from consultants Prospex said on Friday. Trade is expected to increase further next year as more companies, especially in southern and eastern Europe, enter […]

Bush team resists tax hit on oil profits

The Bush administration, facing mounting pressure from the U.S. Congress to address record energy costs, has ruled out a tax on soaring oil company profits. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said yesterday that he opposes any proposal for a windfall profits tax. He was responding to a question at a Senate hearing about a Deutsche Bank […]

Brrracing for winter

The cost of heating a home will average $1,044 this season, up 33% from last winter USA Today

Getting burned by diesel prices

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Maybe you grinned a little more last summer knowing your car was diesel-powered after seeing other drivers scowling over rising gas prices. Now, the tables have turned: Diesel prices are near record highs while regular unleaded prices continue to creep lower. …”It’s possible between Christmas Day and President’s Day, we’ll see […]

House Panel Favors Expanded Drilling

The vote increases the prospects of arctic refuge oil exploration. A provision to allow searches off U.S. coasts faces greater opposition. WASHINGTON The measure will be packaged into an omnibus spending-cut bill before going to the House floor. In the Senate, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee has approved Arctic drilling. The Budget Committee voted […]

Coal challenging gas as power-plant fuel

PARIS (Reuters) – Dirty, yet abundant and easily shipped, coal is starting to challenge natural gas as the fuel of choice for new power plants. This is because coal prices are relatively cheaper and not so volatile, industry executives and experts say.Utilities around the world have increasingly turned to gas to meet a doubling of […]

Ministry may pump funds to oil firms – Japan

The industry ministry plans to get back into the oil business to help petroleum companies compete in a world of surging demand and soaring prices. In a potentially sweeping policy change, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is considering strengthening government backing to oil field development and refinery upgrades. Asahi Shimbun

NZ offers seven new areas for energy exploration

New Zealand is offering seven new areas for oil and gas exploration, most near the country’s main offshore fields, and may offer more by the end of the year, the government said yesterday. The new blocks bring the number now on offer to 19, a record for any one time, as the country steps up […]

Partnerships will help solve energy conflicts

In recent years, as the world economy has grown, demand for energy has risen. With oil prices constantly ascending, China’s energy security has encountered severe challenges. China should adopt proactive measures to tackle the problem and ensure the sustainable growth of its economy. First, the country should outline an energy strategy that is long-term, comprehensive, […]

CEPAL calls for regional energy market in central America

The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Commission (CEPAL) called for the creation of aregional energy market in central America to promote competition, local media reported on Thursday. Central America is in urgent need of competition in energy product distribution, said Fernando Cuevas, head of CEPAL’s energyand natural resources department, in presentation of a CEPAL’s report […]

Korea eyes offshore oil rigs for high returns

Korean oil refiners are increasing their overseas exploration activity to take advantage of rising profitability amid skyrocketing oil prices. The Federation of Korean Industries, the mouthpiece of the nation’s big companies, said last month that Korean companies are currently carrying out 56 projects across the world. The Korea Herald

GM hires Russian nuclear scientists

A new research and design center is planned for Moscow which will focus on the development of batteries, fuel cells, hybrid and electronic controls. “The government encourages US companies to do business there and to fully utilize the scientific talents there,” GM spokeswoman Angele Shaw told AFP. “They have a vast talent pool.” PhysOrg

Diplomatic furore at Iran remarks

Iran’s relations with its erstwhile partners in Europe seem to be hurtling downhill like a snowball out of control. So a more conservative president who revived the Islamic revolutionary rhetoric of 20 years ago by echoing the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s call for “Israel to be wiped off the map” was probably bound to cause consternation, […]

Following the sun to a new world of energy

Thirty years after the first burst of political enthusiasm for solar energy, the technology for deriving power directly from sunshine seems to have reached the threshold for enabling large-scale adoption. Several factors have come together to suggest that this amounts to more than the false dawns seen by advocates of solar power in the past. […]

Sustainable Energy Forum has released a new paper

Just to let you know that the Sustainable Energy Forum (SEF) has released a new paper entitled “New Zealand’s Response to Peak Oil: Land Transport” (PDF, 11 pages, 81KB). You can download it from: It follows on from SEF’s earlier paper “Peak Oil: An Urgent Issue for New Zealand” (PDF, 4pp) which can be downloaded […]

Questioning Saudi Oil Promises

The NY Times has a nice article about the faith that the US government has in Saudi Arabia’s oil production. In April Bush reviewed plans by the Saudis to increase production capacity from 11 million bbl/day to 12.5 million bbl/day in 2009 and eventually to 15 million bbl/day. Doubts about Saudi Arabia’s assurances of how […]

Lithium Ion Powered Car Has Range of 230 Miles

Electova, Mississauga Ontario, Canada, producer of lithium ion batteries and mobile products using their batteries, has introduced a zero pollution electric vehicle that sets new standards in range. The car was launched in Norway by Miljobil Grenland AS at the “China, Environment and Energy Conference”. Miljobil has a memorandum of understanding and initial purchase order […]

Siberian Energy Group Enters Joint Venture With Baltic Petroleum

Siberian Energy Group (OTC BB: SIBN) is delighted to announce a major corporate achievement in having successfully established the Joint Venture it announced May 26 with UK-based Baltic Petroleum Limited (“BPL”). The Joint Venture proposes to explore and develop its four petroleum license blocks in the Kurgan region of Siberia covering over 635,000 acres, and […]

Hydrogen researchers step on the gas

Mazda Motor shows its concept cars equipped with a rotary engine which can switch its fuel supplies hydrogen and gasoline at a press preview of the 39th Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari, October 19, 2005. 10/19/2005. General Motors recently set one of the most aggressive targets: To build a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle by 2010 […]

Alternate energy not in cards at ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil, which stunned Americans on Thursday by reporting nearly $10 billion in profit for the third quarter, says it has no plans to invest any of those earnings in developing alternative or renewable energy USAToday

Secretary Norton offers energy overview

According to the Minerals Management Service, about 75 percent of the oil and gas production in the Gulf is expected to be online by Dec. 31. On diversification of energy supplies: “We need diversification of energy, both the types of energy and the locations of supply and processing facilities. We need more refineries in different […]

Senate to hold hearings on oil prices

Oil executives to face lawmakers probing record high prices, soaring profits and possible gouging. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist Thursday ordered a Senate hearing with testimony from major oil company executives on why energy prices are high. “If there are those who abuse the free enterprise system to advantage themselves and their […]

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