U.N.: Deserts could drive out 50 million

U.N. report urges nations to ‘reverse the decline of drylands’ BANGKOK, Thailand – Desertification represents one of the “greatest environmental challenges of our times” and, coupled with global warming, could set off mass migrations of people fleeing degraded homelands, a United Nations report warned Thursday. The report called on governments in arid regions to revise […]

Cereal grain production needs to double in the next 50 years

The United Nations and the international wheat breeding community would like wheat yield to reach 4 tons per hectares or about 60 bushels an acre by 2020. “China, Mexico, and Europe are the only countries above that 60 bushel per acre level right now,” Rollie Sears, senior development manager at AgriPro-Coker, said. Sears and Hans-Joachim […]

Artic Ice Anomaly Going Off the Chart

Over 2 million square kilometers of ice missing. (based on 1979-2000 mean for this date.) Largest deficit on record.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.365.jpg

The Cryosphere Today

Oil jumps above $70 a barrel

NEW YORK – Oil prices jumped above $70 a barrel Thursday over concerns about gasoline and heating oil supplies, giving additional lift to the prices of precious metals. …Oil prices topped $70 a barrel for the first time since Sept. 1 as traders continued to react to an unexpected draw on inventories of gasoline and […]

Test determines fuel yield of corn

Plants will be able to know how much ethanol they’ll get per load. Ethanol producers will be able to tell how much alcohol they can get from each farmer’s load of corn using technology developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International and a maker of grain analyzers. FOSS North America makes an infrared device already used in […]

IEA: without Iraqi oil, we’ll be in deep trouble by 2015

Fatih Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency is reported in French newspaper Le Monde saying unless Iraq oil output rises exponentially we have a very big problem, he discusses non-OPEC peak, warns of demand growth from China and urges radical and extremely tough policies to curb oil demand growth and data transparency from […]

Oil prices may spiral even higher

Warning! In spite of the jump in the price of gas and heating oil over the past few years, prices may go much higher. Demand is increasing, while new supplies are limited and becoming more expensive to produce. After the energy crisis of the With regard to limitations of supply, new production of oil in […]

Oil Workers in 6 Brazilian States Approve Strike in July

Oil workers in six states for state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras, have voted to go on strike in July, Brazil’s main Oil Workers’ Federation said Wednesday. Petrobras workers may go on a five-day strike beginning July 5 to pressure the company to present a proposal for a new plan on how […]

Transformer at German nuke plant catches fire

HAMBURG, Germany – Fire broke out Thursday in a transformer at a nuclear plant near Hamburg, the fire department said. The fire in the transformer at the Kruemmel nuclear plant did not present a danger to the reactor itself, the department said, adding that the blaze was under control. Police told N24 news that the […]

The Oil Drum: This Week in Petroleum

This weeks TWIP report, API and DOE crude and crude product reports came out this morning. After being down in the premarket, gasoline traded up 2.5 cents, crude was up over $1 (WTI) and heating oil (distillate) was up 4 cents. TWIP, graphs and analysis below the fold. The Oil Drum

Stuck at crossroads . . . without fuel

IRELAND will be one of the most exposed European economies to future carbon fuel shortages with a staggering 70pc of Irish electricity generation set to be derived from natural gas supplies. The warning came as the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) previewed their landmark carbon fuel conference next September. ASPO […]

No Short Supply of Freaking Doom!

…”One such untenable arrangement rests on the notion that it is possible to perpetually borrow more and more money from abroad, to pay for more and more energy imports, while the price of these imports continues to double every few years.” And why not? He reveals the problem so elegantly, almost Newtonian, when he explains, […]

Rejecting the Real Snake Oil

Last Friday I spent three or four minutes on CNBC’s Morning Call explaining what the concept of “peak oil” is to their viewers and arguing a bit with Raymond Learsy about the cause of our growing troubles with oil. Mr. Learsy, not content with that sound bite, wrote “Peak Oil is Snake Oil!” for this […]

Congress wants U.S. coal industry destroyed: exec

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A senior coal company executive on Wednesday lambasted U.S. lawmakers for proposing caps on emissions blamed for global warming, saying the Democrats were out to destroy America’s coal industry. Robert Murray, chairman, president and chief executive of Murray Energy Corp., also blasted the federal government’s mine safety agency for “outrageous” new […]

Iran’s oil restrictions ‘a warning for Australia’

…Dr Roger Bezdek is an American petroleum economist currently in Australia to have talks with state and federal government officials. He is an expert on what is called “peak oil”, the idea that we are already at or may even have passed the peak moment of exploration, and it will get scarcer and more expensive […]

It’s not too late to change world

The future TheStar

500,000 bpd Nigeria crude to remain shut-in through 2007

ABOUT 500,000 barrels per day of NigeriaVanguard

Chavez: Venezuela, Russia remain strategic partners

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he believes his current visit to Russia should strengthen strategic partnership between the two countries in the energy sector. “Russia and Venezuela remain strategic partners in the energy sector, and this visit should serve to strengthen this cooperation,” Chavez said at the opening ceremony of the Simon Bolivar Cultural Center […]

Cannon lashes out at Dems for oil shale delay

Rep. Chris Cannon charged Wednesday that the House had “put the brakes” on oil shale development in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming by passing a measure to prohibit more permits until an in-depth study was completed. The measure, added to the Interior Appropriations spending bill, says no permits can be issued for oil shale development on […]

Pemex Sets Oil Output Goal of 3.1 Mln Barrels a Day

Petroleos Mexicanos, the third- biggest oil supplier to the U.S., set a goal of producing an average of 3.1 million barrels of crude oil per day until 2012, even as output at its largest oil field declines. Pemex, as Mexico’s oil monopoly is known, won’t spare any expense to optimize the production of Cantarell, the […]

Germany to Aid Organic Solar Cell Developments

The German government and BASF, Bosch, Merck and Schott launched a project on Wednesday to fund further research and development of organic solar cells. The government and the companies together will provide about 360 million euros (US$484 million) in the coming years to step up research and develop of the alternative technology.Organic solar cells are […]

India’s Emissions May be Higher Due to Dams – Study

India’s greenhouse gas emissions could be 40 percent higher than official estimates if methane released from dams is taken into account, according to a new study. Methane — about 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in terms of the amount of heat it traps — is released from reservoirs, spillways and turbines of hydropower […]

How many bottles of Chianti does it take to fill up a BMW?

Let’s start with a basic dilemma inherent in globalization — the low prices for agricultural commodities created by overproduction. In this case, let’s call the commodity “wine.” Europe’s wine producers are in a jam. Consumption of wine is decreasing in the European Union, but imports of cheap, good-quality wine from the New World are rising. […]

Earth, wind, solar fire fuel India future

There has been significant corporate movement to tap the alternative/renewable-energy situation in India. Last week, a report released by the United Nations Environment Program said global investment in renewable energy, especially solar, wind and biofuel, rose from US$80 billion in 2005 to $100 billion last year, with an especially high rate of growth in developing […]

Qatari Doubts Concept of Gas Cartel

Qatar will seek cooperation with Russia in the natural gas industry, but the tiny energy-rich Gulf state sees “difficulties” in forming a gas cartel similar to OPEC, Qatar’s oil minister said Wednesday.Al-Attiyah said he expected “difficulties” in setting up an OPEC-style gas group, an attempt that alarmed Europe and the United States in April, when […]

US Energy Secretary: Co Litigation Over Venezuela Projs Likely

ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp.likely will sue after abandoning their Orinoco oil projects under pressure from Venezuela, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday. Bodman also reiterated concerns that Venezuelan crude-oil shipments to the U.S. will be limited following the U.S. companies’ pullout.The two companies refused to ink new agreements governing the projects, which produced […]

Practical responses to peak oil

For those who came in late, it is increasingly clear that global oil reserves are reaching the point where half has been used up, called “peak oil”. After this point supply will no longer meet demand, and prices will rise increasingly steeply until oil becomes inaccessible. We don’t really know how this will play out […]

LIFE AFTER OIL IS COMING … BUT WILL WE BE READY?

The year is 2040. Symbolic of Edmonton’s rust-belt economy, electric cars whiz by an abandoned, derelict Refinery Row, although there are plans to turn part of the old complex into a petroleum heritage site. In a nearby run-down cafe, Chad and John talk about the boom years of their youth. They recall the time before […]

Nigeria – Crude oil:Not a renewable resource

According to the views of experts, the Nigerian crude oil reserve is put at 35.3 billion barrels, and that if production continues at the current rate, it will not last more than four decades which is a matter of forty years before it gets dried up. Saudi Arabia, the country with the largest crude oil […]

Kremlin lays claim to huge chunk of oil-rich North Pole

It is already the world’s biggest country, spanning 11 time zones and stretching from Europe to the far east. But yesterday Russia signalled its intention to get even bigger by announcing an audacious plan to annex a vast 460,000 square mile chunk of the frozen and ice-encrusted Arctic. According to Russian scientists, there is new […]

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