National oil companies could one day merge: Petronas chief

The growing partnership between newly empowered national oil companies could one day lead to mergers, says the chief executive of Petronas, the Malaysian state oil firm that blazed a trail overseas 15 years ago. Armed with cash windfalls from a four-year oil price boom, backed by governments anxious to secure resources and able to get […]

Britain tells nationals to leave Nigerian oil delta

Britain on Friday advised all its nationals to leave three states at the heart of Nigeria’s southern Niger Delta, Africa’s top oil-producing region, where violence against foreigners has become commonplace. The advice came as the Supreme Court refused bail for a former militia leader whose detention has fuelled the unrest, raising pressure on newly inaugurated […]

BA raises flight surcharge

British Airways has increased its fuel surcharge on longhaul flights by

Man-made microbe ‘to create endless biofuel’

A scientist is poised to create the world’s first man-made species, a synthetic microbe that could lead to an endless supply of biofuel. He said: “These monopoly claims signal the start of a high-stakes commercial race to synthesise and privatise synthetic life forms. Will Venter’s company become the ‘Microbesoft’ of synthetic biology?” A colleague, Pat […]

‘I’m glad I sold the plane’

He gave up a rock’n’roll lifestyle to become an eco-friendly farmer – so just how green is Alex James’ home? To find out, he uses a scheme that’s open to everyone. My wife and I bought a knackered, rambling farm on our honeymoon four years ago – we swapped a balcony in Covent Garden for […]

Boosting profits for the green movement, but they aren’t saving the planet

The environmental movement has often been compared to a religion – the kind of religion that sets great store by self-denial, purity, and a personal route to salvation. Increasingly, however, it is hard to think of a religion that spends this much time shopping. Go to almost any green website – campaigning, as well as […]

Scotland: Greens win control of powerful transport committee

The Green Party yesterday won leadership of the powerful transport committee after a reshuffle of the Scottish Parliament’s structure. The convenerships of the 15 committees were announced with five being led by the SNP, five by Labour, two by the Tories, two by the Liberal Democrats and one by the Green Party. Scotsman

There is a quiet revolution afoot and Government is not rising to the challenge

I wonder whether we are seeing the beginning of the end of cars, at least in cities. People have had enough of cars and planes and are starting to have a good time again without them. There has been no overt prompting from political leaders. Instead, of their own accord, some people are deciding to […]

Utilities, Miners Bitterly Divided on Uranium Price Rise

…Dr. Haksoo Kim, Acting Director of Fuel Supply for Exelon Corp, decided to explode a few of the myths circulating around the uranium industry. On Page 12 of his presentation, he announced Dr. Kim opened our eyes. He told his audience that fuel is four to five times the

Is America Headed for a Food Shortage?

A new study suggests that ethanol production could drive up corn prices, leaving U.S. grains and meat in short supply Ethanol is a renewable, homegrown fuel that can help lower U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But as more and more ethanol is made from corn, less and less corn is available for food production, and […]

From Russia With Love

Whether it The geographic connection between high-ranking Russian government officials and Gazprom executives is not a coincidence. A very high proportion of those in the halls of power happen to be from St. Petersburg, a port city on the Baltic Sea — the city called Leningrad prior to 1991. Whiskey and Gunpowder

Proposal sets later biofuel use deadline

But the plan would require more E85-capable vehicles, as well as ethanol pumps. Washington, D.C. The bill would mandate usage of 35 billion gallons of alternative motor fuels by 2025, not by the 2017 deadline proposed by Bush. The measure also is less ambitious than a bill from the Senate that would require usage of […]

Prices at pump stinging retailers

Wal-Mart and its customers are hurting as high gas prices hit the world’s largest retailer harder than almost any other retailer. Wal-Mart’s meager 1.1% gain in same-store sales in May, reported Thursday, shows the lingering effects of gas prices, even as they creep downward. May sales at some midtier retailers, including Macy’s (M) and J.C. […]

Lisa Margonelli: Time to shift gears, step on gas myths

Whew, gas prices are high. Higher than they’ve ever been. During the week of May 21, the Lundberg Survey, a biweekly gas price tracking service, put the average cost of a gallon of unleaded at $3.18. Adjusted for inflation, that topped the 1981 price spike that had held the record for 26 years. Prices have […]

Pipeline Strike Reaching Crisis Point

Maliki Orders Arrests, Sends out Troops; Fuel Crunch Hits Neighboring Areas The Iraqi military has surrounded striking oil workers in southern Iraq, labor organizers report, as the workers Prime Minister Maliki has ordered the arrest of union leaders, UPI reports, citing the British-based Naftana, an activist organization that supports the union

A drought for the ages

DENVER California and Nevada just recorded their driest June-to-May period since 1924, and a lack of rain in the West could make this an especially risky summer for wildfires. Coast to coast, the drought’s effects are as varied as the landscapes: USA Today

Garrison Keillor: Making a case for simple life in a small town

…You look at the Amish and you see the past, but you might also be looking at the future. Our great-grandchildren, faced with facts their ancestors were able to ignore, might have to do without the internal-combustion engine and figure out how to live the subsistence life. Maybe someone will invent a car that runs […]

Ship aground as wild weather lashes Australia

SYDNEY (AFP) – Wild weather brought chaos to Australia’s east coast Friday, driving a huge freighter aground in tumultuous seas, sweeping cars into flooded rivers, disrupting flights and cutting power lines. …The Filipino and Korean crew on board the 30,000-tonne coal carrier Pasha Bulker, which ran aground off Newcastle harbour north of Sydney, were winched […]

Investors in ‘fuel-from-algae’ scheme left high and dry

De Beers Fuel, which had promised South Africa biodiesel produced from algae, to date seems not to have made good on any of its pledges. Most investors in the company, who invested up to R6-million each in biodiesel plant, in what was trumpeted to be the world As far as Engineering News can establish, not […]

Pakistan: Citizens and traders protest power outages

KARACHI: Protests against power outages continued on Thursday as citizens and traders took to the streets in various parts of the city. After an eight-hour long power outage, Tariq Road shopkeepers closed their shops at 3 p.m. and marched towards the Dubai Shopping Center where they staged a sit-in and blocked access to Tariq Road […]

Branson unveils ‘green’ train

Travelling by rail may be a green form of transport but it could be even greener, as the maiden journey of Europe’s first biodiesel train set out to demonstrate yesterday. The Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson launched the service, which runs on a partly blended biofuel, to haul a trial group of passengers, including the […]

Biofuels no threat to Opec, says IEA

Biofuels will provide only a small proportion of the world’s demand for fuel in the next decade, the developed countries’ energy watchdog has said in an attempt to reassure Opec that the need for oil will continue to grow. Claude Mandil, the head of the International Energy Agency, told the Financial Times that, even in […]

Rwandan President Unveils Biggest Solar Energy Plant on Continent

As Rwanda marks 25 years of cooperation with the Federal State of Rhineland Palatinate of Germany, President Paul Kagame yesterday inaugurated Africa’s biggest solar energy plant. The infrastructure, which is installed at Jali hill in Gasabo District, was funded by the German state through a company called Stadtwerke Mainz and Rhineland Palatinate citizens to the […]

Greenest energy is energy saved

Renewable energy, carbon capture and biofuels are among the main solutions put forward to mitigate climate change. They are valid methods and must be pursued but the truth is that most of the technologies are either not ripe, still too expensive or have unwanted side effects. There is a quicker, cheaper and more effective way […]

Pumping Palm Oil

IOI’s Lee Shin Cheng is a master at squeezing every drop from his vast plantations. The craze for biofuels is driving up prices, but caution is the watchword at this Malaysian company. It’s very good to be the world’s largest palm oil producer–especially when a giant economy such as Europe’s decides it must combat global […]

US oil company abandons Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said a US oil company has abandoned oil wells in Venezuela during his nationalization drive this year. The multibillion-dollar operations of Venezuela’s last privately run oil fields were taken over by the state oil company on May 1, Reuters reported Thursday.However, trumpeting the nationalization of the sector, Chavez has given […]

Oil Pipeline Politics Steadily Intensifies

The craving to dominate these new emerging areas also could be deciphered all around. Indeed when Michael Collon said, “If you want to rule the world, you need to control oil, all the oil, anywhere,” he has a point. Central Asia is now the focus of renewed attention � for its energy riches. A very […]

Australian PM may beef up watchdog power over oil giants

Australian Prime Minister John Howard warned oil companies on Thursday that he would increase the consumer watchdog’s powers if retail petrol rises failed to reflect fluctuations in the world oil market. The move comes after the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) demanded oil giants lower prices to mirror recent falls in the Singapore benchmark […]

CNBC’s Yergin: What the U.S. Can Learn From Brazil About Ethanol

There was a lot of discussion about technology, markets, logistics, policies and regulation, and — of course — about cellulosic ethanol, the “second generation” ethanol. But the big underlying question was whether and when a global traded commodity market in ethanol would get going. If it does, Brazil will likely be the dominant supplier. In […]

Bingaman bill supports geothermal

The National Geothermal Initiative Act of 2007, proposed by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources chairman, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of seven other senators, seeks to advance the geothermal technologies by providing additional funding and tax incentives. It also sets an ambitious goal of 20 percent of […]

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