North Sea Oil and Gas Operators Set for Consolidation

On the same day that Canadian independent oil and gas operator Talisman has reported that it has divested its North Sea offshore oil and gas assets to Middle East company TAQA, other major divestment projects also emerged in the news. Danish based transport and energy company AP Moller-Maersk In addition to Talisman, another Canadian operator […]

The Truth about Oil, Part 3

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s special report, the world will face “peak oil” by 2015. But many of the world’s best informed professionals think the end is much closer than that. Some, like Matthew Simmons, think that it has already passed as far back as 25 years ago. And their reasoning is disconcertingly […]

Cutbacks Impede Climate Studies

The government’s ability to understand and predict hurricanes, drought and climate changes of all kinds is in danger because of deep cuts facing many Earth satellite programs and major delays in launching some of its most important new instruments, a panel of experts has concluded. The two-year study by the National Academy of Sciences, released […]

Rival Reports Breakthrough in Oil Sands Technology

Rival Technologies Inc. announced that it has received and analyzed additional data from tests conducted last month. The Company said that it now owns an extremely valuable formula that represents a breakthrough for upgrading oil sands bitumen and heavy oil. The invention is a method of upgrading heavy crude oil (HCO), especially high-sulfur HCO, via […]

U.S. needs more incentives to use ethanol: industry

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The idea of U.S. energy independence is now a myth, but could become a reality if U.S. lawmakers find ways to expand demand for fuels blended from home-grown sources like corn and give automakers incentives to make cars that burn on them, a top U.S. ethanol industry trade official said on Tuesday. […]

Bush readies speech on climate change

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush’s annual speech to Congress next week is likely to call for a massive increase in U.S. ethanol usage and tweak climate change policy while stopping short of mandatory emissions caps, sources familiar with White House plans said on Tuesday. Bush’s annual State of the Union address is […]

A Depression in Natural Gas Prices May Prove Bullish For China

If you In a telephone interview with AccuWeather

More power; more heat; more problems

Power leakage means new chips waste more energy, analyst says New computer servers are more powerful than their predecessors, but waste more energy, making it difficult to operate systems efficiently and without overheating chips that are becoming increasingly susceptible to hot temperatures, a Forrester Research analyst said Thursday. Leakage — the amount of power flowing […]

Venezuela confirms force majeure

CARACAS, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Heavy crude upgrader Cerro Negro, a joint venture between Exxon Mobil, BP and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, on Tuesday confirmed it has declared force majeure as a result of OPEC production cuts ordered by Venezuelan authorities. Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez on Monday said the project in the Orinoco […]

Can market handle ethanol boom?

The industry pushes sales of E85 amid fears the corn supply can’t support production targets The rush to build ethanol plants is raising concerns about whether drivers will buy all that biofuel. At the current construction pace, within the next few years the production capacity will close in on the limit of how much ethanol […]

Ethanol demands squeeze hunting grounds

As the price of corn jumps, farmers may be tempted to plow up pheasant habitats. Gene Flynn and 11 of his hunting buddies enjoyed a great final weekend of pheasant season near Colo earlier this month. “In the first field we went in, we got 18 birds,” said Flynn, a farmer. “I’ve never seen so […]

Oil prices to remain around USD 50 per barrel till mid 2007 — report

A specialized oil report expected that oil prices would remain at the vicinity of USD 50 per barrel until mid 2007 due to adequate oil supplies and new oil strategies of many countries. A report issued by the IHS, a leading global provider of critical technical information, said that despite an expected 3.2 percent annual […]

World Bank ok with blood for oil

In 2004, oil began to flow through the World Bank-financed Chad-Cameroon pipeline. The $3.7 billion project is the second largest private investment project in sub-Saharan Africa It has been a year since the horror of the bloodshed in Sudan’s Darfur region–with over 200,000 dead in three years–began leaking across the border into Chad. It has […]

Why Termite Guts Could Bring Better Biofuels

Scientists are sequencing the genomes of entire microbial communities in the hope of uncovering new genes and organisms that can create fuel, mine metals, or clean up superfund sites. Known as metagenomics, the field relies on studying bits of DNA from a variety of organisms that live in the same place. Thanks to ever-improving sequencing […]

Banks are urged not to finance coal power

A new front in the fight to slow down global warming follows trails of money, not wisps of polluting chemicals, straight to the doorsteps of banks. A coalition of environmental groups is demanding that banks reject loan requests for projects that emit high rates of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming. The groups say […]

Gazprom in dispute with Polish gas pipeline operator

The Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is partly suspending cooperation with the operator of the Polish segment of a major pipeline after its request for lower transit fees was rebuffed, Poland’s state-owned gas monopoly said Tuesday. The Polish company, Polskie Gornictwo Naftowe & Gazownictwo, or PGNiG, did not specify what, if any, effect the dispute […]

UK: Millions switch to cheaper gas

Millions of households abandoned their old suppliers in search of cheaper energy last year, leaving former monopoly British Gas with less than half of the gas market, energy regulator Ofgem said. British Gas saw its gas market share fall to 48 percent in October 2006, while five former regional power companies also now supply less […]

Commission tough on national CO2 emission plans

Showing his determination to make EU plans to fight global warming succeed, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, on 16 January 2007, ordered Belgium and Holland to cap industry emissions of carbon dioxide to levels at respectively 7.6% and 5.1% below what their governments had asked for. The Commissioner said that he wants to send a “strong […]

Gazprom seeks PR makeover

Gazprom is in talks with public relations companies over a multi-million dollar campaign aimed at improving the image of the Russian state-controlled gas monopoly in Europe and the US, after it was badly dented by “gas wars” with former Soviet republics.The three-year contract would be aimed at reinforcing the group’s image as a commercial entity, […]

Power Failures in Melbourne… Bush Fires or Energy Crisis?

Is it time to enter the dark world of the conspiracy theorist? Was yesterday in Melbourne a sign of the future? Have we witnessed the first signs of the Energy Crisis? Was it really the fault of bushfires, or was it perfect cover for the power suppliers to ‘turn the lights off’ for a few […]

Saudi Oil Minister Says No Need for Cuts

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said there was no need for further production cuts by OPEC despite declining crude prices, adding that the global market “was moving in the right direction.” Ali Naimi’s comments Tuesday came amid speculation that the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could call an emergency meeting to discuss further cuts in […]

RE-ROUTING EUROPE’S OIL: Russia May Ship Oil Around Belarus

A bitter New Year’s spat between Russia and Belarus over the transit of oil saw deliveries to Europe cut for days. Now Moscow is threatening to bypass Belarus completely, in its latest move to show its neighbors who is energy boss. Moscow has begun “intensive consultations with Transneft,” its state-controlled oil monopoly, about sending oil […]

Energy Time

Al Hubbard, the economic adviser who’s coordinating the administration’s energy strategy, recently promised that President Bush would produce “headlines above the fold that will knock your socks off in terms of our commitment to energy independence.” Every president since Richard Nixon has talked this way, while every year the country slides further into dependency. Mr. […]

Oil firms face Latin American woe

Foreign oil firms have come under increasing pressure in Latin America as Honduras and Venezuela try to exert greater control over the industry. US oil companies have said they will stay in Honduras, despite the state saying it will temporarily seize control of oil storage containers. The Honduran move, made on Friday, will affect firms […]

Warming trend visible in the trees

Rising temperatures are allowing Southern trees to thrive farther north and stressing trees used to colder weather, according to new national guidelines issued by planting experts. The National Arbor Day Foundation last month updated the Agriculture Department’s “hardiness zones” map, which was last issued in 1990. The group acted after noticing that some tree species […]

Nigerians groan as fuel scarcity bites harder

…In Port Harcourt, for instance, petrol was sold at N65 per litre in filling stations within the city, but outside the city, it was N130 per litre and N150 in Yenagoa. Meanwhile, fuel hawkers continue to make brisk business from the misfortune of hapless motorists, with 10 litres of fuel selling for N2,000 along the […]

Kunstler: The Cheap Oil Mirage

…As a baseline, it helps to understand that the four largest super-giant oil fields of the world are now in decline. They have been responsible for producing 14 percent of the world’s oil supply. They are now old and tired (thirty years is old in the oil world) and they are in depletion. These are […]

Water leak at Japan nuclear plant

Four employees at a nuclear plant in Japan were splashed by radioactive water during a routine inspection. The workers’ health and the area had been unaffected by the incident, the plant’s operators, Kansai Electric Power Co, were quoted as saying. The water, with traces of radiation, leaked at the Takahama No 1 reactor in Fukui, […]

Wrong Turn Amigo

…But those ambitious plans to nationalize the oil-rich Orinoco projects could ultimately end up impeding investment and hindering production, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, IEA chief economist Fatih Birol told reporters, “It may well be the case that Venezuela may have difficulties getting enough investment to increase […]

Tests Show ‘Artificial Sun’ Is Reliable

Successful testing of an The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak fusion reactor has received positive results in tests conducted at China’s Institute of Plasma Physics recently. “The new tests show the reactor is very reliable, and we can repeat the experiments,” an institute official Wu Songtao told Xinhua. Scenta

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