Test your Energy IQ

The oil industry, faced with a barrage of criticism amid record oil and gasoline prices, recently said Americans See how you fare on some of the questions, and get a little more background behind the industry

AUSTRALIA: Walk-out sparks debate on electricity market

ACADEMIC Tim Brennan, in his 2001 paper analysing “rolling blackouts, bankrupted utilities, state bail-outs and allegations of anti-competitive conduct” in the wake of the Californian energy crisis, made this observation: “Deregulating an industry, like flying an airplane, makes headlines only when there has been a crash.” Deregulation and the questions surrounding the structure of the […]

Rich world’s consumerism may cause African famines, experts warn

Food production in developing countries will halve in the next 20 years unless wealthy nations lower their rate of consumption, the Stockholm Environment Institute warned at a weekend conference. The livelihoods of more than three billion people in the world are being undermined by the wealth of the privileged few, the institute’s executive director, Johan […]

Growth and degrowth – revolutionary approaches to saving the planet

“It is a disquieting reality that even though there has been increased economic growth for many years now in the Western world, a serious proportion of the population is worse off, few are actually benefiting while a tiny number are seriously better off.” This statement was made in 1997 by Green economist Richard Douthwaite and […]

Russia’s North-Pole Land Grab

Who should own the North Pole? There are international agreements on Antarctica and the Arctic, which says that no country may claim land in the polar areas. Now that is about to change. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has announced that the Russian Federation will claim and take control of over 460,000 square miles of Arctic […]

Growth is bumping against profound physical limits

It used to be that with one stone, you could hit two birds, named More and Better, roosting on the same branch. Not so now, because Every action of a modern life burns fossil fuel, rues McKibben.

Oil Boom, Politics Shape Africa’s Future

Europe’s great powers once scrambled for dominance across vast, underdeveloped African lands rich in raw resources, including the scarlet palm oil used to grease the first cogs of the industrial revolution. A century later, a new group of nations are competing for a different valuable, viscous material, with Sub-Saharan Africa closing in on the Persian […]

The Clusterfuck Nation Chronicle

As someone who spends a fair amount of time in airports, I marvel at the way my fellow citizens present themselves in public. I see middle-aged women who appear to have left home in their pajamas. But it’s the costume and demeanor of American young men especially that raises interesting questions about who we have […]

Consumers paying higher food prices as corn prices soar

Corn prices are as high as an elephant’s eye – and shoppers are paying for it in higher prices for many items at the supermarket. “We are going to see grocery store prices show one of the most rapid increases in the last 15 years or so,” said Patrick Jackman, an economist at the U.S. […]

Governor extends hours for commercial truckers hauling fuel (North Dakota)

Officials say a low supply of gasoline caused by refinery slowdowns is threatening to create regional shortages especially in the eastern part of the state. Hoeven’s spokesman, Don Canton, says the executive order waives the 15-hour limit on the truck drivers’ work shifts. He says some drivers must wait as long as 12 hours at […]

Could the mullahs fall?

Last week’s riots over gasoline rationing in Iran are the latest sign of the Islamist regime’s political weakness and vulnerability to economic pressure. Despite the fact that Iran is one of the world’s largest crude-oil exporters, gasoline is rationed thanks to a lack of refinery space and massive subsidies for consumers stimulate demand and create […]

SeaDragon Wins $958 Million Deal From Pemex for Drilling Rig

SeaDragon Offshore Ltd., an oil-services company, won a $958 million contract from Petroleos Mexicanos to build a vessel capable of drilling for oil and natural gas in as much as 10,000 feet (3 kilometers) of water. The vessel, known as a semi-submersible rig, is expected to be in the Gulf of Mexico by January 2010 […]

Oil imports decline for 13th month (Japan)

Crude oil imports fell 11 percent in May from a year earlier, declining for a 13th month. Crude oil imports fell to 17.5 million kiloliters last month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a report Friday. Japan, the world’s largest consumer of oil after the U.S. and China, imports more than 99 […]

A Crude Awakening – Oil Crash (The Film)

OilCrash, produced and directed by award-winning European journalists and filmmakers Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack, tells the story of how our civilizationZPEnergy

Kurdish Oil Riches Lure Wildcatters Unswayed by Deaths in Iraq

A few miles outside the village of Tawke in northeastern Iraq, black smoke billows over the green hills as a 100-foot fire rages unchecked. Najman Yousef, a former Kurdish guerrilla, inspects the scene. This blaze, unlike the attacks roiling the rest of Iraq, is a positive sign: It’s burning the excess oil gushing from one […]

Saudi says to give extra protection to oil fields

Saudi Arabia will set up special security units to protect oil and industrial facilities against militant attacks, the Interior Minister said in remarks published on Monday. Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz also told members of the unelected Shura Council that the kingdom was holding more than 3,000 suspects, many linked to a campaign by Al Qaeda […]

EU Warns Citizens: Adapt to Climate Change Now

European Union nations must adapt to climate change by using water more efficiently, adjusting crops and farming methods, and caring for elderly people vulnerable to heat, the EU executive said on Friday. In addition to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to halt global warming, Europeans should change the way they live and work to mitigate the […]

Shell chief calls for powerful EU energy supremo

Europe needs an energy minister to co-ordinate a common policy on the supply of gas from Russia, according to Jeroen Van der Veer, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell. The Shell chief has called for better co-ordination between foreign policy and energy security and has argued that Europe was being weakened by member states […]

Energy security

“You mention in one of your articles that Peak Oil could occur as early as 2015. It may have already happened. There is increasing evidence that supply is declining off the various Peaks, depending on what liquids one is looking at. A continued rapid decline in Saudi (it has declined 11 per cent from its […]

Uganda is not ready to handle oil

For better or for worse, the oil find and its eventual exploitation will bring earth-shaking changes for Uganda. By leveraging the oil revenues, we could see dramatic improvements in our roads, railways, electricity and telecommunications, easing the flow of goods and services and lowering the costs of doing business. Improvements in our education and health […]

The Energy Balance of Snake Oil

It’s no secret that money is flooding into the alternative energy sector, but not all of this money comes from sophisticated, investors. Unsophisticated investment is a lighting rod for the scam artists. Because there is both an urgent need to deal with the the problems posed by global warming, energy security, and resource depletion, and […]

WHO warns of global health crisis

The World Health Organization on Monday warned that global policy makers must act quickly to address the critical problem of global warming, or face serious health and economic consequences. Shigeru Omi, WHO’s regional director for the Western Pacific region, said the current crisis was masked by the fact that global warming issues did not present […]

China’s oil-tanker construction falls behind rising oil imports

The rate of construction of oil tankers for Chinese shipping lines is falling behind the rate of increase in oil imports, which may pose a threat to the country’s energy security, a China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co (COSCO) official said. The manager of the COSCO group shipping research department, Kong Fanhua, told a forum here […]

McDonald’s puts oil to green use

McDonald’s is to convert all its UK delivery vehicles to run on biodiesel, using the firm’s supply of cooking oil. The fast-food chain has pledged to convert all its 155 vehicles by next year, starting with 45 lorries based at its distribution centre in Hampshire.By using the fuel – made by combining cooking oil and […]

Plans to ramp Kuwait’s oil production on track, despite minister’s resignation

Plans to ramp up oil production in Kuwait remain on track despite the resignation of the country’s oil minister, a top official said Sunday.Kuwait’s plans include Project Kuwait, the long-awaited oil field development that would open five fields near Kuwait’s border with Iraq to foreign oil companies like Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Exxon Mobil […]

Hydrogen bi-fuel breakthrough

A British company has a made a breakthrough in converting a conventional petrol car to run on pure hydrogen. The bi-fuel Ford Focus, with minimal modifications, has successfully completed initial trials in a programme conducted on behalf of ITM Power by the University of Hertfordshire. During the testing programme the vehicle was able to travel […]

China to consume 350m tons of oil in 2007

China’s total consumption of oil is expected to reach 350 million tons this year. Due to the soaring oil price on the international markets, the cost of the high consumption of oil is growing, said an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) last Saturday. Jiang Xinmin, a specialist with NDRC’s Energy Research […]

Chavez Prefers Russian Oil and Lenin

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took several parting shots at the United States as he wrapped up a visit to Moscow on Friday, suggesting that he preferred Russian oil companies to U.S. ones and that life was more than Superman.Chavez told Russian business leaders on Friday that he expected development of a “road map” that would […]

Escaping Putin’s Energy Squeeze

As Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin meet in Kennebunkport, Maine, this weekend, Russia’s leader has many reasons to smile. His country is increasing its strategic dominance over Europe’s energy supplies while U.S.-led efforts to promote energy diversity for Europe are faltering and the European Union’s energy policies are in disarray. On June 23 […]

US consumers pay highest energy bills in decades

Energy is now sucking money out of Americans’ bank accounts at a record level csmonitor

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy