UK: Dependence on foreign oil to rise ‘eightfold’ by 2030

The UK could dramatically reduce its dependence on imported oil with a series of transport policies based on available technology, according to a new report. A study commissioned by Greenpeace said that, left unchecked, the UK’s consumption of oil – which will have to be imported increasingly from the Middle East – would see an […]

Engineered Microbes Boost Ethanol

Researchers at MIT have created a new strain of yeast that tolerates high levels of ethanol and ferments sugars more efficiently, making more ethanol and doing it faster. The advance could lead to smaller, cheaper ethanol manufacturing plants, as well as reduce the notoriously high amounts of energy needed to make ethanol.The result, described in […]

The Oil Drum: Update on US adaptation to higher oil prices

After my update on the global supply situation the other day, I also wanted to catch up with another of my favorite topics: how US drivers are responding to the flattening of global oil supply (something I last looked at here). We now have VMT (vehicle miles traveled) data through August, and that allows us […]

Boeing Spectrolab Terrestrial Solar Cell Surpasses 40 Percent Efficiency

Boeing says its solarcell manufacturing subsidiary Spectrolab, has achieved a new world record in terrestrial concentrator solar cell efficiency. Using concentrated sunlight, Spectrolab demonstrated the ability of a photovoltaic cell to convert 40.7 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., verified the […]

An Experimental Wood Chip Furnace

We are heating our Vermont home with wood chips this winter. The chips were cut from brush growing on our 67 acre property — a mix of black birch, red maple, and cherry saplings, hemlock boughs and assorted other species, burned green, straight from the chipper, with an average moisture content of 43-47% (wet basis). […]

The Oil Drum: Chinese demand growth continues (for oil and everything else…)

As we look at the world market for fuels, one of the major growth areas in demand continues to be China. And, given their considerable potential impact on which product goes where and from what resource, in the future, it is interesting to put a few news items together and see where the wind is […]

The origins of peak oil doomerism

…The point of this article is not to argue for or against a Peak Oil collapse I now believe that Peak Oil catastrophism is largely a manifestation of our primary cultural myth: that all things end with suffering, death, and then resurrection. Belief in apocalypse is programmed into western civilization. Given our heritage,

The post-abundance era

By Michael T Klare Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union, foreign-policy analysts have struggled to find a term to characterize the epoch we now inhabit. Although “the post-Cold War era” has been the reigning expression, this label now sounds dated and no longer does justice to the particular characteristics of the current period. […]

ExxonMobil Exec: US Gas Demand Will Be 90 Bcf/d by 2030

Daily demand for natural gas in the U.S. will jump almost 40% by the year 2030, and half of that demand is expected to be met by imports of liquefied natural gas from abroad, an ExxonMobil Corp executive said Tuesday. Daily U.S. gas demand is expected to surge to 90 billion cubic feet per day, […]

My Back to the Land Fantasy

…At our family dinners, the imminent demise of society has long been a favoured topic. But lately, our Armageddon fantasies, which used to seem so distant, are composed of one part Little House on the Prairie to two parts Mad Max. Conversation tends to focus on, during some unspecified disaster, what we will need to […]

IEA’s Mandil: OPEC should wait to decide new cuts

HOUSTON (Reuters) – OPEC should not cut oil production further when the group meets on Dec. 14 but should wait until winter demand data becomes available at the end of January, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. The OPEC meeting comes as the United States, the world’s top energy consumer, prepares […]

Oil Industry Poll Sees Little Help – No Faith in Washington

U.S. oil and gas industry leaders aren’t hopeful that Washington lawmakers will make their lives any easier in coming years, according to a survey released Tuesday. The survey, by consulting firm Deloitte & Touche, showed that almost 80 percent of the respondents believe U.S. energy policy is not heading in the right direction, In addition, […]

Peak Oil Theory Analyzed by CERA

“Peak Oil” the widely discussed theory that world oil production will soon reach a peak and go into sharp decline, is the subject of a new analysis by Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA). CERA finds that the remaining global oil resource base is actually 3.74 trillion barrels — three times as large as the 1.2 […]

EIA: Oil cost won’t rise to $70/bbl anytime soon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A prolonged period of colder-than-normal winter temperatures may put a dent in heating oil supplies and drive up U.S. oil prices, but crude costs won’t hit $70 a barrel in the near future, the federal Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. “However, absent oil supply disruptions, any increase in price will likely […]

Gunmen kidnap 3 at Nigerian oil plant

LAGOS, Nigeria – Gunmen attacked a southern Nigerian oil installation belonging to a subsidiary of Italy’s Eni SpA early Thursday, taking three Italians hostage and killing another person, Italian and Nigerian officials said. Bayelsa state Police Commissioner Hafiz Ringim said “two or three” foreign hostages were taken in the attack on the Agip oil export […]

Japan to transport natural gas as natural gas hydrate

With the aim of lowering the cost of transporting natural gas from small and midsize gas fields in Southeast Asia, the government has set a policy to start commercially transporting natural gas in solid form by 2008, government sources said Wednesday. As transporting natural gas in solid form is much cheaper than moving liquefied natural […]

Global warming to have major impact on ocean food web

PARIS (AFP) – A new study of the oceans suggests that phytoplankton — the vital first link in the food chain of the seas — will be hugely affected by global warming. Fisheries in the tropics and mid-latitudes could be badly hit by the loss of these micro-organisms as a result of warmer waters, the […]

Venezuela Taxes Total, Statoil

CARACAS, Venezuela Sincor is jointly controlled by Total SA, Statoil ASA and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA. President Hugo Chavez’s government accuses foreign oil companies of underpaying taxes for years. AP

Energy crisis seen for tech

The nation’s biggest technology companies sat down with federal regulators Wednesday to assess the industry’s thirst for power amid fears that volatile and expensive energy could hinder the growing sector. “I think we may be at the beginning of a potential energy crisis for the IT sector,” Victor Varney, a vice president for Silicon Graphics, […]

Search for crops that can survive global warming

An unprecedented effort to protect the world’s food supplies from the ravages of climate change will be launched today by an international consortium of scientists. The move marks a growing recognition that serious changes in weather patterns are inevitable over the coming decades, and that society must begin to adapt. Some Robert Zeigler, director general […]

New oil production technology is tested

A technology developed with U.S. Department of Energy funding has revived oil production in two abandoned oilfields on Osage Indian tribal land in Oklahoma. Officials say the technology can potentially add billions of barrels of additional domestic oil production in declining fields. monstersandcritics

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Saudi Op-Ed

Could a major cutback in Saudi oil production bring down America? Maybe not, but it sure could do a lot of harm. The most blatant action would be cut their oil production in half. Taking 4-5 million barrels a day off the world oil market would get everybody’s attention very quickly. Oil prices would certainly […]

Rosneft to invest $20 billion to take on oil giants

Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile , Research), Russia’s No. 2 oil company, plans to invest $20 billion over five years to transform itself into a rival to the oil industry’s leaders, its chief executive said, according to the Financial Times. reuters

Iraq’s Draft Hydrocarbon Law Recommends PSAs

Iraq’s first postwar draft hydrocarbon law recommends the government sign production sharing agreements and other service and buyback contracts to upgrade the country’s war-ravaged oil industry. rigzone

Warming climate threatens ocean life, NASA study finds

Rising planetary temperatures are linked to declines in the main food source for ocean-dwelling animals, threatening fisheries and potentially heralding ecological change, according to a NASA study to be published Thursday. CBC

Saudi Aramco’s gas exploration activities moving aggressively

Saudi Aramco’s onshore exploration activities are in high gear to support the existing gas plants and add new reserves, according to Abdulla A Al Naim, Saudi Aramco’s vice-president of exploration. “Since the 1994 gas exploration programme began, Saudi Aramco has added over 72 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves from the Khuff, Unayzah and Jauf […]

Outlook 2007 : Expected Trends

Next year, global energy demand growth will very likely remain greater than the potential growth of global petroleum products. Therefore, policy makers in the world equilibri.net

Lawmaker pushes alternative ethanol program

Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson, who is expected to become chairman of the House Agriculture Committee in January, suggested a five-year pilot program to encourage farmers to grow 5 million acres a year of switchgrass and other crops for making so-called cellulosic ethanol. CNN

EPA Challenges Top Corporations To Double Use Of Green Power

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is asking Fortune 500 companies to step up to the plate and double their current level of green power purchasing. Green power is environmentally friendly electricity obtained from renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and low-impact hydro. The goal of the green power challenge is to exceed […]

Commodity Strategists: Biofuel May Cause Oil Slump

Crude oil prices in New York may tumble to $40 a barrel next year as demand for biofuel made from crops spurs investors to switch from energy to agricultural commodities, said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Japan’s Mitsui Bussan Futures Ltd. bloomberg

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