Energy Shortages Highlighted in Korean Nuclear Talks

North Korea’s need for energy is desperate The talks this week may provide a further test of Pyongyang’s willingness to deal pragmatically with the other five countries in order to secure energy help, as well as the political and security benefits it would be owed if it denuclearizes under a February agreement. Full six-party negotiations […]

Upstream Economics and the Future Oil Supply

A multitude of factors, both geological and economic, point toward a peak in the world’s oil supply by 2015. Today’s sermon focuses on sharply rising upstream finding and development (F&D) capital costs that jeopardize ongoing and future oil projects. It does not appear, as most economists believe, that higher oil prices and Adam Smith’s invisible […]

Sri Lanka: The rise in vehicle numbers

We reported yesterday that 150,000 more vehicles have flooded our roads in the in the first half of this year. According to the Department of Motor Traffic this amounts to a 14,000 increase compared to the corresponding period in 2006. …While the Government may take pride in this distinction attached to the country it would […]

Automakers highlight low-CO2 vehicles

Automakers are putting a new emphasis on cars and trucks that excel at cutting carbon-dioxide emissions to reduce global warming. In the past, CO2 was treated as just a component of the noxious vapors spewing from tailpipes. Now, it’s being singled out. “Thanks to (former vice president) Al Gore, people are becoming aware of this […]

Sde Boker makes solar energy viable

The afternoon Negev sun shone brightly on the solar panels at the National Center for Solar Energy near Sde Boker. The center’s director, physicist Prof. David Feiman, squinted into the light. “After 30 years of research on solar energy, my life’s work of experiments in how to produce electricity from the sun, I can say […]

Pour Choice

Restaurants make money on it; consumers drink it up; but the environment has a tough time with bottled waters If you could rack up frequent-flyer miles on ships, trains and trucks, a little square plastic bottle of Fiji water would be eligible for some big-time rewards. Fiji hails from the island of Viti Levu in […]

Chavez’s petro-diplomacy tour

BUENOS AIRES — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez heralded new economic and energy ties to Argentina on Tuesday as part of a renewed petro-diplomacy initiative highlighting his bid for regional leadership. Opening a four-nation South American swing, Chavez signaled his oil-rich nation’s willingness to purchase up to $1 billion in Argentine bonds and help fund a […]

Ethiopia rebels warn oil companies to stay away

NAIROBI, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s Ogaden rebels warned oil companies interested in the volatile but energy-rich region on Wednesday not to be lulled into a “false sense of security” by the government, saying their forces were well armed. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which carried out a deadly attack on a Chinese-run oilfield […]

Higher fines would improve U.S. mine safety: expert

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tougher fines for safety violations might force U.S. coal mine operators to do more to prevent accidents, a mining industry expert said on Tuesday. “Higher fines would make a difference,” said Walter Licht, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in labor and mining history. “Two things […]

Expert warns of ethanol pollution

Decisions on growing corn and other feedstocks for the fuel additive are critical, environmental leaders hear. Iowa policymakers face tough decisions in the coming decades as the ethanol boom threatens to increase chemical and soil pollution in streams and emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, an Iowa State University authority told a state […]

Commission consults on sustainable industrial policy

The European Commission has launched a consultation on sustainable consumption and production and sustainable industrial policy. Contributions to the consultation will be used by the Commission to prepare Action Plans on these topics. In a background document to the consultation, the Commission notes that current patterns of consumption and production are leading to the rapid […]

Nigeria: When Oil Finishes

ISSUES about oil are always heated. The gusty debates are more so in Nigeria where the politicians have their teeth dug deep into revenue from oil. They are ready to put their lives on line to defend sharing of oil revenue, in a manner they consider favourable. This attitude is the fulcrum of the disputations […]

Escape From Suburbia: Beyond the American Dream

A review of the new Peak Oil documentary and a Q & A with its director Canadian Director Gregory Greene has delivered again, this time raising the bar with his much anticipated film “Escape From Suburbia,” a sequel to his 2004 award-wining documentary “The End of Suburbia.” This follow-up focuses on the citizen and community […]

A river ran through it

The Murray is the lifeblood of Australia’s farming country, a legendary river that thundered 1,500 miles from the Snowy Mountains to the Indian Ocean. Now, it’s choking to death in the worst drought for a thousand years, sparking water rationing and suicides on devastated farms. But is the ‘big dry’ a national emergency, or a […]

The Oil Drum: Energy Transitions Past and Future

A guest post from Cutler Cleveland. “In the coming decades, world oil production will peak and then begin to decline, followed by natural gas and eventually coal production. There is considerable debate about when these peaks will occur because such information would greatly aid energy companies, policy makers, and the general public. But at another […]

Oil forecasting off-target

It’s a slippery slope for experts trying to predict the price of oil. Their record makes weather forecasting look easy. Since 1985, federal government forecasts on oil prices have missed the mark, on average, from 6 percent to 116 percent. “I’ve done 120 short-term energy outlooks and I’ve probably gotten two of them right,” said […]

Analysis: Time to withdraw Iraq oil law?

WASHINGTON – Iraq’s citizens suffer from the August heat, little electricity and fuel. Death is seemingly around every corner. So the time may not be right for an oil law, especially the one the Bush administration wants. UPI has found a recurring theme over recent months during coverage of the Iraq oil law: creating a […]

A little makes a lot?

In comparison with the amount of coal burned for a given electrical generation, the nuclear proponents argue that the amount of uranium required for the same output from a nuclear power station is tiny. This leads to misleading statements intended to reassure the consumer that nuclear power is “home grown” or “indigenous”. In comparison with […]

Commentary: Hypocritical Congress Ignores Energy Efficiency

(LWN) Although more and more people are becoming concerned about the potential consequences of climate change, oil depletion, and pollution, the U.S. Congress continues to pay no more than lipservice to these issues, on the rare occasions when it is not enjoying yet another vacation. While other countries’ governments are enforcing a change-over to far […]

The great Arctic Circle oil rush

Melting icecaps are giving way to oil-rich waters — that the U.S. can’t claim (Fortune Magazine) — It’s an irony that even Al Gore might appreciate. As global warming causes the polar icecaps to recede, potentially oil-rich seabeds are being uncovered beneath the Arctic Circle in the suddenly navigable — and drillable — territory. The […]

New Orleans: Risky business for insurance

…New Orleans, which sits an average of six feet below sea level, is slowly dropping into the Mississippi Delta sediment, a fact acknowledged by the Army Corps of Engineers and others who have reviewed land surveys. Says Robert Hartwig, chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute: “New Orleans is the most vulnerable city in America. […]

CHINA: Biofuels blamed for surge in food prices – 08/08/2007

In the past decade, much has been made of the potential for so-called biofuels to help mitigate global warming. These fuels are derived from plants like corn and wheat; the carbon dioxide produced by burning them, the theory goes, is taken up by the growing plants used to make more fuel. RadioAustralia

Putin calls for expanded Russian refining

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an expansion of the country’s oil refining industry. “National enterprises are substantially lagging behind foreign companies in terms of advanced oil refining and producing the main oil products,” he said Monday in a meeting with oil and gas companies. “When producing crude oil, Russia has to buy many petrochemical […]

Outlawing OPEC Won

AmericaThisDayOnline

Chavez offers LatAm energy pact

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has pledged to guarantee the energy needs of his allies in Latin America. Speaking in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, he announced the signing of what he called an “energy security treaty” with Argentina. BBC

A new oil crisis? Not so fast

US Congressman Jim Saxton, ranking Republican member of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released on last Thursday a study, “The Strait of Hormuz and the Threat of an Oil Shock”, that analyzed Persian Gulf oil shipments, scenarios of oil-supply disruptions, potential market reactions, and their effects on the price of oil and the impact on […]

U.S. economic worries may not spell oil, commod crash

Growing U.S. economic concerns may send some speculative money in oil and other commodities to the sidelines but strong fundamentals should keep prices from sliding too far. U.S. oil prices have tumbled around 8 percent since hitting a record last Wednesday as concerns about a mortgage crisis in the world’s top economy rattled credit and […]

World Oil Outlook: Rising Consumption & Production Restraints Keep Prices Firm

Continued production restraint by members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), rising consumption, and moderate increases in non-OPEC supply are keeping oil prices firm. The global oil balance for the remainder of 2007 has tightened since the last Outlook due to lower projections for world oil production and a larger projected Organization for Economic […]

Cyprus: We won’t be bullied over oil

Niicosia yesterday reiterated that it would not be intimidated into scrapping bids for oil drilling after Ankara stepped up its campaign to halt the process with a direct appeal to United Nations Secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon. Meanwhile more reports have been emerging that a Turkish oil explorer has been making forays into the eastern Mediterranean. According […]

For Russians, rewards and risks of soaring ruble

Not long ago, Russians held their currency in such low esteem that some plumbers in Moscow preferred to be paid in bottles of vodka rather than rubles. Now, lifted by a rising tide of high prices for oil, Russia’s most lucrative export, and a wave of foreign investment, the once humble ruble has made a […]

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