Scientists: Lake Superior warming rapidly

DULUTH, Minnesota (AP) — Lake Superior has been warming even faster than the climate around it since the late 1970s because of reduced ice cover, according to a study by professors at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Summer surface temperatures on the famously cold lake have increased about 4.5 degrees since 1979, compared with about […]

Peak Oil Passnotes: Iran for All Seasons

The release of the fifteen British soldiers being held in Iran does not appear to be an isolated incident. Strangely both governments, while criticising each other, are both prepared to take that line in public. They would both like us to think it was an incident over a disputed line of control, at sea. But […]

The missing link in Mexico’s declining oil production

In a miraculous feat of journalistic legerdemain this morning, a lengthy, detailed front-page article in the Wall Street Journal reports on declining production at Mexico’s giant Cantarell oil field, without once ever mentioning the words “peak oil.” Reporter David Luhnow manages to achieve this while at the same time providing a textbook illustration of precisely […]

Rigs On The Run

The shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, once a hotbed for natural gas exploration, are starting to look a little empty. In recent months, dozens of jack-up drilling rigs, which sit atop retractable legs that stand on the seafloor, have shipped out of the area. Left behind is the lowest number of the rigs […]

Study: Climate change could bring new U.S. Dust Bowl

WASHINGTON (AP) — Changing climate will mean increasing drought in the southwestern United States, where water already is in short supply, according to a new study. “The bottom line message for the average person and also for the states and federal government is that they’d better start planning for a Southwest region in which the […]

The politics and reality of the peak oil scare

Peak Oil Theory has been around since the 1970s. Some think we have already reached ‘peak oil’, others think it will happen with the next twenty-five years. The theory argues that when we reach ‘peak oil’ the rate at which we extract oil from the earth (measured in millions of barrels per day) will reach […]

Gasoline use up 2.8% since early time change

WASHINGTON Some observers say the surge is linked to the earlier start for daylight-saving time, which began March 11 instead of the customary first Sunday in April. “Daylight-saving simply pushes us out of our houses,” says Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time. Downing, a critic of daylight-saving time, […]

Experts: Energy security fears overblown

U.S. fears over energy security are overblown and global oil supplies are not endangered, a report released Thursday says. “Each of (the) fears about oil supplies is exaggerated, and none should be a focus of U.S. foreign or military policy,” write professors Eugene Gholz and Daryl G. Press in the policy analysis from the libertarian […]

Hydrogen holds key to green Britain

New breakthroughs in energy technology could give Britain a totally fuelcellsworks

Costs Threaten Total-Petronas Iran LNG Project

Rocketing costs on a planned $10 billion liquefied natural gas project in southern Iran are a serious threat to it going ahead, the chief executive of project partner Total SA (TOT) said Thursday, echoing a chorus of concern from energy producers over the viability of their expansion plans. rigzone

Solar ‘competitive with coal’ by 2010

The cost of the cheapest solar power could be on par with that of electricity from coal plants by 2010, according to Photon Consulting. The Boston, Massachusetts-based firm predicts that solar electricity will cost $0.18/kWh in Germany, $0.13 in California and $0.12/kWh in Spain by 2010 environmental-finance

And Iraq’s big oil contracts go to …

Despite claims by some critics that the Bush administration invaded Iraq to take control of its oil, the first contracts with major oil firms from Iraq’s new government are likely to go not to U.S. companies, but rather to companies from China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia. CNN

Total, Shell Chief Executives Say `Easy Oil’ Is Gone

The days of so-called “easy oil” are over, making it harder to meet demand without complicated and expensive projects, the heads of two of Europe’s largest oil companies said today. The International Energy Agency, an adviser to energy importing nations, estimates oil supply will have to rise 39 percent to 116 million barrels of oil […]

In a first, Security Council to discuss climate change threat

The UN Security Council will discuss potential threats to international security from climate change for the first time later this month. Britain’s UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, the current council president, said on Wednesday the meeting will highlight “what a sensitive, difficult issue” climate change is and the importance of addressing its potential security ramifications […]

Solar power breakthrough at Massey

New solar cells developed by Massey University don’t need direct sunlight to operate and use a patented range of dyes that can be impregnated in roofs, window glass and eventually even clothing to produce power. stuff sciencedaily

Cheap, Efficient Solar Power: What

While the experts disagreed in some areas, they agreed on the order of investment: focus first on getting power from the new inorganic materials that show promise but are far from viable for large scale production. Then focus on purely organic cells with organic semiconductors; these hold the promise of low costs but still haven […]

High fuel blends said crucial for ethanol

Boosting the level of ethanol used in fuel blends is crucial to continuing the alternative energy industry’s rapid growth, a panel of experts said. About half of the gasoline sold across the United States is blended with 10 percent ethanol, but that percentage needs to increase for ethanol to go from being merely an additive […]

Biofuels and the left – who’s right: Lula, Prodi, Castro or Chavez?

Brazil’s left-wing president Lula da Silva visits with Bush and signs a biofuel cooperation agreement, saying it will help in the fight against global poverty, increase energy security and help mitigate climate change. Fidel Castro lashes out and accuses Bush of promoting global hunger instead. Brazil replies respectfully that Castro ‘doesn’t really understand a thing […]

Mexico Tries To Save Big, Fading Oil Field

AKAL C OIL PLATFORM, Gulf of Mexico — In March 1971, a Mexican fisherman named Rudesindo Cantarell took a few geologists from state-run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos to this spot, where he had seen oil slicks. Mr. Cantarell didn’t know it, but he had stumbled across one of the largest offshore oil fields ever found. […]

Total, Qatar warn oil contractors on high costs

PARIS, April 5 (Reuters) – French oil major Total and Qatar’s energy minister on Thursday both warned service contractors they risked damaging the energy industry unless they moderated their fees. Total Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie told an industry conference the level of price increases for hiring drilling rigs and building gas production facilities was […]

Gasoline futures touch a seven-month high

…”Just as the market was trying to digest exactly what this love-fest meant for the energy complex, the Department of Energy blindsided us with a wildly bullish 5-million-barrel drop in gasoline supply,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Alaron Trading. “For gas consumers, the DOE report can best be described as disturbing at the […]

Richard Heinberg: The Future of Agriculture

Richard Heinberg is more than a spokesman for the vision that sees beyond the age of oil. His home is the lecture platform, the classroom, the deep-think tank. He is a son of northern Missouri (now CAFO hog country) from an industrial farm supply family ACRES U.S.A. According to the biblical book of Joel, old […]

Uganda: Diesel Shortage Bites Hard

Industries start to feel the pinch of the fuel shortages as parts of Kampala will experience nightly power cuts and profiteers are charging up to 2,250 for a litre of petrol. Bugolobi, Industrial Area, Nakawa, Naguru and Kololo will experience power cuts every night due to the current diesel shortage, the electricity company Umeme has […]

Zimbabwe: Efficient Use of Electricity Crucial

THE significant increase in power tariffs this week will help ensure all electricity users, particularly households, use electricity efficiently. The Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission approved a 350 percent electricity tariff increase, which will see domestic consumers paying a monthly charge of at least $24 100 with effect from this month. However, this massive increase in […]

United States concerned with smuggling in Mexican trucks

COATZACOALCOS, Mexico _ When a group claiming to be part of al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia called in February for jihadists to strike Mexican oil installations in a bid to cripple the U.S. economy, Mexico announced that its navy had gone on alert and had stepped up surveillance of offshore oil platforms and port facilities. A […]

Iran

No, I don’t mean its arrest of fifteen British low-rank military people who were taking a boat ride in long-disputed waters dividing Iraq and Iran. That was just a bit of old- fashioned tail-twisting of the British lion, which has been close to toothless ever since 1945. I mean this: Iran is planning to stop […]

Explosion strikes oil pipeline in Iraq

BAGHDAD – A bomb struck an oil pipeline Thursday, cutting off supplies and causing a huge fire in southern Iraq near the border with Kuwait, an official said. The pipeline carries oil from surrounding fields to storage tanks in Basra for export to the Gulf region, according to the official with the South Oil Co. […]

Untapped: The Scramble for Africa’s Oil

Although Africa has long been known to be rich in oil, extracting it hadn’t seemed worth the effort and risk until recently. But with the price of Middle Eastern crude skyrocketing, and advancing technology making reserves easier to tap, the region has become the scene of a competition between major powers that recalls the 19th-century […]

Iran takes the wind out of US sails

If the administration of US President George W Bush is paying attention, the drama over the 15 British sailors and marines, whose release by Iran after 12 days of detention was announced in Tehran on Wednesday, was designed to convey two key messages, according to experts in Washington. First, the initial capture of the Britons […]

Enbridge eyes Gulf route

Enbridge Inc. is accelerating plans to satisfy a growing thirst for Canadian crude among refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast and would rather buy existing assets in the United States than build a $4-billion direct pipeline link between Alberta and Texas. “The U.S. Gulf seems to be the [market] that has caught the imagination of […]

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