The wrong extremes on biofuel

Just when you thought George W. Bush and Fidel Castro were dead – one politically, the other literally – they’re back at it. Their new fight is about biofuel, the conversion of living things into liquid energy. One president says it’s an assault on nature and humanity. The other says it’s an agricultural revolution that […]

Japan: Preferential tax eyed for biofuel

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry said Saturday it plans to introduce a new preferential tax system in fiscal 2008 aimed at promoting a wider use of biofuel, which could help curtail greenhouse gas emissions.Under the envisaged plan, biofuel that has been mixed with gasoline will be exempt from the gasoline tax–currently 53.8 yen per […]

T&T: Don’t panic

Trinidad and Tobago now has only 12 years of natural gas left to supply the multi-million dollar gas-based projects in the country.Energy Minister Dr Lenny Saith said yesterday the findings of the audit conducted by the Houston-based firm Ryder Scott for the last two years was not a doomsday prediction.Saith said yesterday the Ryder Scott […]

Use renewable energy: Malaysia PM

Use the forces of nature to harness alternative and renewable energy for villagers, said the Prime Minister. Noting that sunlight, wind and water were plentiful in remote areas, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said it only made sense to use them to generate electricity for rural communities. Launching the country’s first High Impact Rural Development […]

Finding alternative sources of energy is a priority: Jamaica PM

With Jamaica’s oil bill set to pass the US$-billion mark this year, the need to find and utilise alternative sources of energy must become a priority, said the prime minister of Jamaica, Portia Simpson Miller. Speaking last Thursday at the official opening of JB Ethanol, Jamaica Broilers’ ethanol dehydration plant at Port Esquivel, St Catherine, […]

Dubai’s economy to cushion UAE’s diminishing oil reserves

Dubai’s impressive diversification programme, including the expanding tourism and commercial infrastructure, and Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon wealth are fuelling growth and helping the UAE prepare for the future restrain in oil prices and the “gradual depletion of domestic hydrocarbon reserves”. The London-based Business Monitor International (BMI), a leading print and online publisher of specialist business information […]

Occupied Iraq imposes ‘Saddam style’ ban on oil union

Iraq’s energy ministry is using a Saddam-era decree to crack down on trade unions and stifle dissent against foreign exploitation of the country’s vast oil reserves, the Basra-based oil workers’ union claims. Hassan Juma’a, the union’s leader, has been at the forefront of a public campaign against the signing of a controversial new oil law […]

THE UNFOLDING CRISIS

Doug Casey, chairman of Casey Research is a renowned investor, best-selling author and editor of the monthly newsletter International Speculator, now in its 27th year of providing independent-minded investors with unbiased recommendations on investments with the potential to double or better within a 12-month horizon. He has made it his life’s work to study financial […]

Venezuela’s Chavez says oil headed for $100 barrel

CARACAS (Reuters) – World oil prices are headed for $100 per barrel, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez predicted on Saturday, and said he will cut supplies to the United States if the U.S. government “attacks” the South American nation again. “I’ve always said that oil prices are headed straight to $100 per barrel,” he said during […]

Danes set for North Pole mission

Danish researchers plan to set sail for the North Pole on Sunday to collect geological data, on a mission similar to Russia’s one last week. The month-long Danish expedition will study the Lomonosov Ridge. Russia believes the underwater feature is linked to its territory. Denmark will investigate the ridge to see if it is geologically […]

Kirchner warns oil companies about investments

Argentina is willing to invest heavily in the exploration and production of natural gas in Bolivia if the multinational companies, such as (Brazil

FAO: Climate Change Likely to Increase Risk of Hunger

Head of Food & Agriculture Organization says industrialized countries could gain in production potential, developing countries may lose Climate change is likely to undermine food production in the developing world, while industrialized countries could gain in production potential, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said today in a speech at the M.S. Swaminathan Foundation Conference in Chennai, […]

Venezuela Extends Energy Security to PETROCARIBE

Caracas, Aug 11 (Prensa Latina) A highlight of the Third Summit of the PETROCARIBE Agreement, currently in session in Caracas, is the Venezuelan proposal to extend the influence of the Energy Security Treaty to country members of the mechanism. During a recent tour including Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador and Bolivia, President Hugo Chavez arranged these nations […]

The Anti-Empire Report – Read this or George W. Bush will be president the rest

Separation of oil and state On several occasions I’ve been presented with the argument that contrary to widespread opinion in the anti-war movement and on the left, oil was not really a factor in the the United States invasion and occupation of Iraq. The argument’s key, perhaps sole, point is that the oil companies did […]

China exports more oil products

BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — China exported 8.98 million tons of oil products in the first seven months of 2007, a growth of 26.2 percent on last year, customs sources said on Saturday. Meanwhile, the country bought from abroad 21.74 million tons of oil products, down 1.0 percent. Increasing exports with less imports aggravated short […]

Arctic military bases signal new Cold War

Canada fired a warning shot in a new Cold War over the vast resources of the far North by announcing last night that it will build two new military bases in the Arctic wilderness. A week after Russia laid claim to the North Pole in what is rapidly becoming a global scramble for the region

Canada to strengthen Arctic claim

Canada has said it will build two military facilities in the far north in a bid to assert its sovereignty over the contested Arctic region. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement during a tour of Canada’s northern territories. It comes as a Danish mission prepares to sail to the North Pole to map the […]

Oberstar’s gas tax may hit some political potholes

Iron Range Rep. Jim Oberstar, chair of the House Transportation Committee, wants a 5-cent-a-gallon increase to shore up the nation’s bridges. But his long-sought proposal will be a tough sell in Washington. WASHINGTON – It’s the cash, not the corrosion. Lawmakers returning to Washington next month aren’t likely to disagree that the nation’s aging roads […]

The Oil Drum: Peak Oil Media, 8-10-07

Interviews with David Strahan, Jim Jubak, Jeff Goodell, and Richard Heinberg’s latest. Much more after the jump to The Oil Drum.

German sun powers a revolution

A VAST former Soviet military training base under the often sullen grey skies of what was once communist East Germany is an unlikely new hub for the world’s solar energy industry. Part of the 28,000-hectare Lieberose training ground is to be transformed into what will be the world’s biggest solar plant. Once it opens in […]

IEA: Tighter Global Oil Market Awaits if OPEC Sits Tight

The International Energy Agency on Friday kept up its drumbeat for OPEC to lift oil output next month when it meets, warning that world oil demand is likely to outpace supply this winter and that this gap will only widen if the producer group decides not to raise crude production. The warning by the IEA, […]

Get ready for food-price spike

Donald Coxe has a useful tip for investors. The global portfolio strategist for BMO Financial Group calls it the “Rule of Page Sixteen”: Never invest on the basis of a story on Page One of the newspaper, but the one on Page 16 that is destined for page one. The Page One story of this […]

Nuclear renaissance will deliver challenges

…If the “nuclear renaissance” emerges as many energy experts predict, finding the raw materials, components and skills necessary to meet Ontario’s nuclear needs could prove tricky, and more expensive than authorities are banking on. On top of cost, completing such projects on schedule is shaping up to be a logistical nightmare. All Ontario coal plants […]

Cold snap prompts Chile to seek gas deal with old foe Bolivia

A South American cold snap is causing Chileans to pay up to four times more for heat and electricity, and could spur the government to speed reconciliation with its bitter Now, an increasingly disgruntled Chilean public is pressing the government to seek gas deals with other countries, including Bolivia. “I believe that we need to […]

Argentina Cuts Natural-Gas Shipments to Chile, Utilities Say

(Bloomberg) — Argentina cut shipments of natural gas to Chile, worsening an energy shortage, according to two Chilean utilities. Argentina suspended exports by three suppliers of the fuel, Chilean utilities Electroandina SA and Empresa Electrica del Norte Grande SA said in statements posted last night on the Chilean securities regulator’s Web site. The utilities supply […]

Is Capitalism Sustainable?

I realize most readers of this magazine are operators of small farms. But, some questions are simply too important to leave the economists and politicians. If our capitalistic economy is not sustainable, neither are our farms or ultimately our society or humanity. Some questions are so important that no one can afford to remain uninformed, […]

The cost of imported goods rose in July more than expected

A weak dollar, tight credit and higher oil prices are all affecting inflation as the cost of goods imported into the U.S. rise (AXcess News) New York – Higher crude oil prices were to blame for the rise in the price of goods imported into the United States in July, which suggests inflation may not […]

The Earth fights back

Never mind higher temperatures, climate change has a few nastier surprises in store. Bill McGuire says we can also expect more earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and tsunamis Unlike most apparently intractable problems, which have a tendency to go away when examined closely and analytically, the climate change predicament just seems to get bigger and scarier the […]

Cyprus plays EU card after oil threats by Turkey

(NICOSIA) – Cyprus said yesterday that tension-raising Turkish threats over oil exploration could mean obstacles being placed on Ankara’s path towards European Union membership. Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis told reporters that Turkey could not persist in trying to derail Cyprus’s oil search by demanding in a threatening manner that the internationally recognised government stop the […]

Iran, Iraq sign oil pipeline deal

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran and Iraq signed an agreement to build pipelines for the transfer of Iraqi crude oil and oil products, the state-run Iran news network Saturday quoted the oil ministry as announcing. The 32-inch (81-centimetre) pipeline will bring crude from the southern Iraqi port of Basra to the southwestern Iranian port of Abadan. […]

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