India: PM asks scientists to develop alternative sources of energy

Noting that the return from huge investments in developing energy sources was “far from adequate”, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asked scientists and engineers to find alternative sources of energy supply and energy conservation technologies. Addressing the Indian Science Congress in Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu), he also underpinned the need for the Second Green Revolution […]

The Fat Lady Hasn

The $20 drop has given consumers a false sense that the parabolic rise in oil prices is over. This couldn’t be further from the truth. While it’s likely we’ll continue to see some weakness in the sector over the next few months, the long-term fundamentals are still in place that could propel oil prices over […]

Europe Wary of Implications of Sakhalin Loan

A potential about-face by the former Communist bloc’s biggest single investor over a massive Russian energy project comes amid rising Western concern about increasing state control of that nation’s energy sector. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is likely to abandon a loan to Sakhalin II, the huge energy project in the far east […]

Peak oil and healthcare

America A brief explanation of the geology of peak oil is needed. In the spring of 1956 petroleum geologist M. King Hubbert presented his peak oil hypothesis to a convention of his peers. He told them that production of light (low viscosity), sweet (low in sulfur compounds) crude oil in the lower 48 states, at […]

Heating costs forecast to drop

Home heating bills this month will drop 10 percent below January 2006, despite expectations that customers will use more natural gas to combat a colder winter this year, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Tuesday. The San Francisco-based utility said its customers can expect to save $12.37 on average. It credited long-term purchasing contracts that […]

OPEC Output Cut Seen as Key to Oil Prices in 2007

For oil traders returning to trading pits on Wednesday, the new year begins with something that hasn’t preoccupied them in years: OPEC production cuts. After years of maintaining an open-taps policy, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has started restraining production to keep oil prices high in the face of a faltering global economy […]

An interview with ”Subdivided” filmmaker Dean Terry

PN: If the current state of things collapses, new urbanism gains favor and destinations aren’t spread out all over the map, do you see a great contracting taking place? Will people retreat to the urban areas? DT: I don’t know. There’s different ideas about that. I’m not really an expert on how that would happen. […]

The peak oil story during 2006

The Year in Review 1. Production in 2006 One of the first year-end estimates of petroleum production last year (Oil & Gas Journal, December 18, 2006) indicates that worldwide crude and condensate production rose a mere 0.18%, from 72.26 million b/d to 72.39 million b/d. Petroleum production is reported monthly or annually by various sources: […]

Most widely read at PO.com 2006

Here are the best read stories from Peakoil.com newsboards throughout 2006. Stories have been arranged according to month, to counterbalance the advantage older stories might have over newer ones. Unfortunately, it should be noted that stories may not always be available at their original sources anymore.Nevertheless, the list makes for an interesting, let’s say, undulating […]

South Korea’s trade surplus shrinks sharply in 2006

South Korea posted a 28 percent drop in its trade surplus last year despite record-high exports, the government said Monday. Exports rose 14.6 percent year-on-year to 325.9 billion dollars in 2006, while imports soared 18.4 percent to 309.3 billion dollars, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said. Imports were fueled by high energy and […]

Australia: Minister explores Tuckey’s tidal power push

Federal Science Minister Julie Bishop will ask her department to give her an appraisal of the potential of tidal power as an alternative source of energy. This comes after representations from federal Liberal backbencher Wilson Tuckey, who has said tidal power is the “best kept renewable energy-generation secret in Australia”, and could deliver power to […]

Nigeria: OPS Raises Alarm On Fuel Prices

The Organised Private Sector (OPS) yesterday raised alarm over current high cost of petroleum products resulting from acute scarcity warning that the trend if unchecked would spell doom for the industrial sector and private businesses. President, National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, Dr Ike Abugu who disclosed this in an interview with Daily […]

France OKs Biofuel

Biofuels have been approved for commercial sale in France as of 1 January 2007, says the French Finance Ministry. The plan calls for new pumps to be installed at between 500 and 600 points of sale before the end of the year. According to Le Monde, “green fuel” containing up to 85 percent ethanol and […]

Crude Oil and Natural Gas reserves – third world war over underwater reserves?

During the enxt several years, a massive rush towards uunderocean reserves will take place. Japan, South Korea and China are already at odds over the underwater reserves. India is planning very rapid expansion of its Navy to tap deep water oil and gas reserves. China will compete with the Americans in deep water oil and […]

Oil sector continues to miss opportunities, stress expert

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) made a mistake when it missed several good investment opportunities and disposed of its productive centers in 2006, says oil expert Hajjaj Bukhadour. One of the most important shortcomings faced by the oil sector in 2006 was the decline in the level of maintenance of oil installations in spite of the […]

The New Energy Debates

One of the most pressing issues facing us all, including the new Democratic-controlled Congress, is what to do about energy policy and climate change. With sweeping changes in the leadership of key congressional committees and heightened public concerns about the consequences of disruptive climate shifts, the time appears ripe for significant changes in U.S. policy. […]

Iraq Government Focusing on Rebuilding Oil Industry

But an influential study of Iraq by leading U.S. experts [the Iraq Study Group] called an oil law guaranteeing equitable revenue distribution of revenues crucial to national reconciliation. And experts say clarifying the legal status of foreign oil companies will make it easier for Iraq to attract the foreign expertise and technology needed to rebuild […]

“Peak Oil” Despair Versus Energy Innovation

The Seattle Times today profiles the group Seattle Peak Oil, which debatably sees a bleak future caused by dwindling world oil supplies. “We’re probably going to end up with some sort of die-off in the world, of people,” said Rocky Willson, a Seattle Peak Oil Awareness member with an unsettling outlook. “You can look at […]

Forecast For the Year Ahead – James Kunstler

The bottom line for oil in 2007: expect the bidding on the futures markets to regain intensity between the US, China, Europe, and Japan. A contracting US economy could take some demand out of the picture, but the sad truth is that we burn up most of the oil we use in cars, and American […]

Enlarged Membership to Boost OPEC’s Clout on Oil Market

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started enlargement for the first time in over 30 years by admitting Angola at the beginning of 2007, and was poised to tighten the cartel’s grip on the world oil market. The International Energy Agency said that absorbing Angola, Sudan and Ecuador could impede investment by foreign oil […]

The Top Stories of 2006

From the passage of SB1 in California to a solar cell breaking the 40 percent efficiency barrier to a record year for wind power in the U.S., Canada and UK, renewable energy made tremendous strides over the past 12 months. So, to welcome in the New Year, we’re recapping some of the highlights of 2006. […]

Alternative Energy – 2006 in Review

It’s that time of year, when we look backwards over the past orbit of the sun, rise above the mundane of the day-to-day, and take stock of long-term trends. I’ll take my turn: in the world of clean energy, here’s what I’ll remember about 2006, Letterman-style (though, alas, not as wittily): seekingalpha

West Tries a New Tack to Block Iran

The plan is to use the language of the resolution to help persuade foreign governments and financial institutions to cut ties with Iranian businesses, individuals in its nuclear and missile programs and, by extension, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Stuart Levey, under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. nytimes

2007 Could Be The Year of Biomethane, Says Fleets & Fuels

Biomethane, chemically the same as natural gas yet available from essentially any kind of organic waste, is emerging as a viable renewable alternative to fossil fuels. Biomethane’s fundamental production efficiencies make it competitive with such better known liquids as biodiesel and ethanol, even though vehicles need special fuel tanks to handle it. chemicalonline

Chicken fat could be key to biofuel boom

Today, only a tiny fraction of U.S. biodiesel is made from chicken fat, but that seems likely to change. The rising cost of soybean oil – which accounts for roughly 90 percent of all biodiesel fuel stock – is pushing the industry to exploit cheap and plentiful animal fats. The nation’s biggest meat corporations have […]

LNG Facility Security: Lessons Learned From the Security Breach in Lynn, MA

A recent breach in security at an LNG facility shows the need for preparedness and vigilance. The operator discovered a breach of security at its LNG facility during routine maintenance on a gate at the side of the storage tank. Although there was no damage to the tank, intruders had broken through the gate to […]

U.S. Interior Officials’ Ties to Oil Probed

Federal investigators are looking at whether Interior Department officials played favorites or took money from companies vying for big oil and gas contracts. The probe is the latest in a series of investigations into Interior’s handling of $10 billion a year in royalties paid by companies on the $60 billion in oil and gas they […]

Norway to buy emission quotas for state employees’ flights

OSLO (AFP) – Norway has pledged to buy CO2 emission quotas run up by state employees’ official overseas flights in a bid to fight global warming, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has announced. “We want to set an example,” Stoltenberg said in his traditional New Year’s Day speech broadcast by Norwegian public service television channel […]

The Oil Drum: Gazprom, Russian plans and that niggling worry…

Reading the piece about the continuing cost increases for natural gas in Ukraine, following the agreement last year with Russia on sustained deliveries, I was struck with the contrast to an earlier item on anticipated costs for natural gas in the UK. In the Ukraine costs are going to be going up another 40%, while […]

Russian Oil Output Rises 2.2 Percent, Lowest Growth Since 1999

Russia, the world’s second-largest oil supplier, raised output 2.2 percent in 2006, the smallest annual increase since 1999, after companies cut investment because the state is increasing controls on the industry. Average daily oil output was at 480.5 million tons, or 9.6 million barrels a day, up from 470.2 million tons in 2005, according to […]

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