The Profitability of Urgency

So the Democrats finally took Congress, and Wall Street is enjoying a quick spike in select renewable energy stocks. Once again, investors are reacting in an irrational manner. While the voting public is no longer completely unaware of the energy and security crisis that is upon us, most still haven’t a clue as to just […]

Australia: Biofuel booming, but needs more support

Biofuel production in Australia is booming but the fuel will require further government support to become a viable alternative to conventional fuels in the future, according to a study. The 200-page report says Australia should easily reach the federal government’s production target of 350 million litres of ethanol and biodiesel by 2010, but faces rising […]

Britain ‘failing’ on biofuel targets

The House of Lords European Union committee has been looking at efforts to increase the use of renewable fuels in road transport across the EU. It found that Britain is “miles behind” its target for 2010, whereas France, Germany and Sweden are on course to meet theirs. But it said Britain was not alone in […]

UK: Warning over energy demand

The gap between demand for energy and the supply of power is widening far quicker than anticipated and will have a “significant impact” on industry and consumers, a new report has warned. Energy intensive industries could be forced to shut down their operations at peak times, costing industry billions of pounds, it has been claimed.Guardian

Peak Oil: Even If The Optimists Are Right, Time Is Getting Tight

Peak oil proponents and skeptics agree that world production will eventually crest. Also, both sides of this debate accept that the decline curve will be gradual rather than sudden (with a little luck). Their common ground, although limited and easily obscured by emotional intensity, is slowly growing.CERA and ASPO agree on a great deal. For […]

SK: Oil Barons Reject Use of ‘Greener Fuel’

The Korean oil industry is saying “No’’ to raising the eco-friendly content of biodiesel blends to 5 percent, or BD5, from the current BD0.5 approved by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE). Their move comes after the Cheju provincial government earlier this month asked the nation’s energy companies _ SK Corporation, GS Caltex, […]

Can Asia count on reliable Russian oil exports?

The energy outlook for Asia and the Pacific will unfold a bit further when Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov arrives in Beijing later this month on a scheduled visit. He will do so amid signs that Moscow is seeking to enhance its power in Asia by offering to meet an increasingly large portion of the […]

Oil price continues to pose inflation threat, warns ECB’s Trichet

The global economy was set for dynamic growth next year but central bankers must remain vigilant as oil prices still threatened to fuel inflation, Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), said yesterday. In comments likely to increase speculation about another interest rate hike in the euro zone next month, Trichet said […]

China oil demand seen up to 500 mln tons by 2020

China’s oil demand is expected to reach 450 mln to 500 mln tons a year by 2020 with its dependency on imports for its total needs increasing to over 60 pct, the official Securities Time reported, citing an official with the State Energy Leading Group. Last year China imported 136 mln tons of oil with […]

PDVSA: IEA publishing erroneous Venezuela oil production figures

Venezuela’s state oil company said the International Energy Agency is publishing erroneous Venezuelan oil production figures and is declining invitations to visit and verify supply from the South American country. Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, said in a statement late Sunday that it wanted to “alert public opinion about figures from secondary sources, like […]

Silicon shortage hits solar power hopes

The fragile economics of solar power could be thrown into jeopardy by a severe global shortage of the basic material used to convert the sun’s rays into electricity. Industry experts warn that a worldwide shortage of poly-crystalline silicon will not ease in 2008, as some expect, but could continue for at least another five years. […]

Soros warns Germany on Russian energy

Billionaire investor George Soros has warned Germany that the country is in denial over its dependency on Russia for energy, the Financial Times reported. “(The Germans) don’t want to acknowledge the danger that it presents,” Soros told the FT’s sister newspaper, Les Echos. Germany is the world’s biggest customer for Russian gas exports.Nine MSN

Chinese president urges closer cooperation in energy among APEC members

Chinese President Hu Jintao called in Hanoi Sunday for closer cooperation among the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members in energy, security, environmental protection and health, and urged efforts to seek a peaceful solution to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.“China is willing to work with other APEC members to contribute to the international energy […]

Desperately poor African nation mulls oil-rich future

SANTO ANTONIO, Sao Tome and Principe: For more than 30 years Eugenio Piter has scraped a livelihood fishing from his dugout canoe in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea. Now, his tiny island nation is about to unlock the wealth from an estimated 11 billion barrels of oil from the seabed beneath those same Atlantic waters. […]

Energy-hungry EU Seeks New Oil And Gas Suppliers

European Union officials Monday vowed to forge stronger links with suppliers of vitally-needed oil and gas resources in a bid to ease the bloc’s current dependence on energy-rich, but increasingly assertive, Russia. Seeking to blunt what wary EU policymakers view as Russia’s use of its energy resources as a “political tool,” European Commission President Jose […]

Africa: What Alternatives to Oil?

World crude oil prices jumped from less than US$40 a barrel in 2004 to nearly $70 in September 2006. With expectations of increasing global demand, especially from China, experts predict that prices will remain relatively high for the next few years. That is good news for the 13 African countries which are net oil exporters, […]

Can we still avoid dangerous human-made climate change?

Dr James Hansen, physicist, adjunct professor: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, director: NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Science and their lead climate scientist spoke to a packed lecture theatre at Bristol University on Friday (17Nov06). Outside the scientific community Hansen is probably best known for accusing the Bush administration of trying to silence him […]

Inuit sue US government over BP land usage

Fresh from settling a lawsuit over last year’s fatal explosion at its Texas City oil refinery, BP looks set to become embroiled in a legal battle in Alaska over royalties paid on oil production in Prudhoe Bay. The family of Andrew Oenga, an Inupiat who lived on the North Slope in Alaska until his death […]

Iran aims to double Oil and Natural gas production

Iran’s daily crude production capacity will rise to seven million barrels per day and its natural gas production to 1.565 billion cubic meters by 2014, said Deputy Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari here on Monday. Addressing the 11th international oil and gas conference dubbed ‘Recent Developments in the World’s Oil and Gas: Challenges and Opportunities’, Nozari […]

Tilting at windmills

The clean-energy business is turning into the next big investment boom, in which risks are lightly brushed aside UNTIL recently, recalls Charlie Gay, a 30-year veteran of the solar-power business, venture capitalists were far too busy catering to captains of the information-technology industry to waste time on Investors are falling over themselves to finance start-ups […]

Walker’s World: Fuel cells from France

Formerly a science producer for British TV, Abson reckoned the best way use fuel cells was to use farm waste to produce the hydrogen that could then power small fuel cell generators that could turn out endless clean electricity and produce only water and fertilizer along the way. “My neighbor’s farm, with its animal waste […]

Change the fuel for a happier reaction

Is this the only option for non-fossil fuel based nuclear power? Is it possible to enjoy the benefits of nuclear power without the potentially toxic waste and diversion of nuclear programs to produce material for weapons of mass destruction? The answer, potentially, is yes. Thorium reactors produce lower volumes of shorter-lived waste products than conventional […]

Motorists face new costs for highways

Frustration over traffic gridlock and inadequate gasoline-tax funds are prompting state and local governments to try alternative ways to finance road building. Oregon is charging some motorists a road-user fee based on miles traveled instead of the state gas tax. Georgia is considering replacing its state gas tax with a 1% statewide sales tax dedicated […]

The Oil Drum: Nov 2006: Production Forecasts and EIA Oil Production Numbers

An update on the last production numbers from the EIA along with different oil production forecasts. Graphs and charts a plenty.Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.

Global Warming on Trial

Recently, however, governmental entities have started bringing suits against industry under a different theory, called “public nuisance.” Under the law of public nuisance, it is sometimes enough to show that industry has contributed to conditions that endanger the safety or health of a large number of people. A plaintiff need not show actual harm to […]

The Community Solution/Richard Heinberg Energy Use Survey

The Community Solution (Pat Murphy and Megan Quinn) along with Richard Heinberg need your help! The Community Solution, producers of The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, and Richard Heinberg, author of The Party’s Over and PowerDown, are performing a market study based on energy conservation. We are researching a new service that […]

Does The Oil Drum threaten CERA’s market share?

Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) fired another missile at the peak oil movement last week by releasing a report attacking the notion of an imminent peak in world oil supplies and projecting an “undulating plateau” in oil production starting sometime after 2030. To rework a now shopworn phrase coined by the group’s president, Daniel Yergin, […]

Energy Descent Scenarios: Integrating Climate Change & Peak Oil

The following brief article was part of a joint presentation on peak oil and permaculture by Richard Heinberg and myself as part of our 2006 Australian speaking tour. This particular presentation was to advisors, planners and policy makers directly and indirectly involved in the review of the South Australian government The Strategic Plan is typical […]

A peril that dwelt among the Navajos

During the Cold War, uranium mines left contaminated waste scattered around the Indians. Homes built with the material silently pulsed with radiation. People developed cancer. And the U.S. did little …Fifty years ago, cancer rates on the reservation were so low that a medical journal published an article titled “Cancer immunity in the Navajo.” Back […]

OPEC should wait before studying output cut

TEHRAN (AFP) – Acting OPEC secretary general Mohammed Barkindo has said that the cartel will have to wait several weeks before examining a new production cut to support oil prices. “The market is wrong about the OPEC commitment, we should wait at least for one month to assess the impact of the OPEC decision,” he […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy