Uganda: The Politics of Oil And Energy

One argues that the more prosperous a nation the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy. A second hypothesis argues that autocracies that depend heavily on the exploitation of energy and mineral resources are less likely to make the transition to democracy. And a third hypothesis argues that without the sustained creation and mobilisation […]

West’s ravenous oil appetite may lead to tough sacrifices

One of the backdrops to the Changing Fortunes Round Table in Calgary was a landmark report by the U.S. National Petroleum Council entitled Hard Truths About Global Energy. The study projects global energy demand will grow by at least 50 per cent by 2030. Essentially all that growth will come from the developing world. Given […]

Power, not oil, Mr Greenspan

The Iraq war was fought for oil. Who says so? This time the charge is not levelled by the usual Bush/Blair haters but by Alan Greenspan, the lauded and cautious former chairman of the US Federal Reserve. Once famous for his gnomic economic statements, this time Greenspan is loud and clear. The former high priest […]

Mexican Explosions and Their After Effects

Nobody was injured in the Veracruz explosions, but the Mexican economy certainly was and that hurts Mexicans. The disruption of gas and oil supplies affected thousands of businesses, with many forced to close or at least reduce — their operations. Just days ago losses were estimated at US$200 million and they must be higher now. […]

An Unlikely Paul Revere

Oh, what a difference 20 months can make. When Lee Raymond retired in early 2006 after leading ExxonMobil (XOM ) to record profits, he was the quintessential Texas oilman. If the notion of developing alternative fuels and putting pressure on Detroit to build more fuel-efficient cars ever crossed his mind, it didn’t cross his lips. […]

Coal and nuclear options

WESTERN countries face a politically and economically difficult future as governments are faced with finding alternatives to oil, according to a former US Secretary of Energy. Nuclear energy and restarting coal mining are some of the realities that political parties will have to consider selling to voters, said Dr James Schlesinger. He is in Cork […]

Very Bloody Oil

Many people have been saying that the invasion (and occupation) of Iraq is about oil. I believe that there is more than oil involved, but certainly oil was a driving motivator. Now we can add Alan Greenspan to the list of those who reinforce that claim. Greenspan writes in his new book The Age of […]

Pemex to Resume Natural Gas Service a Week After Mexico Blasts

(Bloomberg) — Petroleos Mexicanos, the state oil monopoly, will “gradually” resume natural gas service tomorrow, a week after guerrilla attacks on pipelines cut fuel supply to thousands of businesses across central Mexico. Pemex, as the Mexico City-based company is known, said technicians had begun filling the 48-inch duct known as Cactus- San Fernando with natural […]

The Oil Drum: Talking Energy in Corragh (that’s Cork)

I will leave each of you to write your own caption to the photo I thought most memorable from the ASPO reception. You should know, however, that the “victim” is Dr Campbell who was welcoming us to the reception, and yes the hawk was alive…More after the jump to The Oil Drum.

Opec’s Decision is a Compromise amid Unclear Economic Conditions

During their regular bi-annual meeting in Vienna on 11 September, OPEC ministers adopted a Saudi proposal to increase the production by member states, beginning on 1 November, by 500,000 million barrels a day (with Saudi Arabia’s share rising to 8.9 million barrels a day, Iran’s to 3.8 million, and Kuwait and Venezuela’s to 2.5 million […]

Is California the world’s last best hope against climate change?

When it comes to energy, California has often been seen as the Promised Land. Beginning with oil and hydropower in the mid-19th century, and then later with renewable energy and efficiency in the 1970s and ’80s, California has always leaped into the challenges of our energy conundrum with blindfolded gusto – and blazed trails in […]

Utilities Pare Down Lists of Coal-Fired Plants

Since the beginning of 2006, at least two dozen coal-fired plants have been canceled and another three put on hold. For the past several years, growing numbers of coal-fired power plants proposed nationwide have been seen as a sign of strengthening demand for coal. But those numbers are not as high as they seem. In […]

EU to propose splitting energy groups to boost competition

(BRUSSELS) – Eager to fire up competition in the energy industry, the European Commission will unveil on Wednesday a sweeping shake-up, which already has many members up in arms over plans to split big power and gas companies. The European Union’s executive arm has long lamented the lack of competition in the energy sector, and […]

Zimbabwe: Minister Says Walk to Save Fuel

THE Minister of Energy and Power Development Mike Nyambuya said motorists should get used to being pedestrians to save the scarce drops of fuel available in the country. Speaking at the official opening of the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) service station in Matshobana on Wednesday, Nyambuya said motorists should adjust to being pedestrians […]

Corn harvest looks big, thanks to ethanol demand

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Waiting to unload corn at a grain elevator this week, Kyle Winkelmann took a few minutes to marvel at how rain had fallen on his central Illinois fields at just right times this season. Before he could finish talking, though, Winkelmann was headed back to his fields near Tallula, a dozen miles […]

Inflationary spiral could spell an end to era of cheap food

The market is rebalancing as fields are turned over from fuel crops to biofuel Parisians are bemoaning the price of a baguette, Italians have organised a pasta boycott and the Mexican public have held street protests about the cost of tortillas. Rocketing food prices are infuriating consumers and pressurising politicians worldwide. But is this a […]

It’s Still Not a Fuel Celler’s Market

FRANKFURT, Germany – I am writing this column on a Toshiba laptop powered by a fuel cell produced by SFG Fuel Cell — a small Munich company specializing in direct methanol fuel cell technology. I’ll tell you more about that later. The laptop is at a media workstation set up by Opel to assist journalists […]

Minnesota Form Nation

Minnesota – The 300 MW High Country Energy wind farm will be located in Minnesota The project is also the largest community based energy development (C-BED) project in Minnesota. High Country Energy is expected to qualify for C-BED status, meaning it is owned by Minnesota residents and that 51 percent of the profits are returned […]

APEC fails on climate change, pushes nukes

Despite the media fanfare, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, held in Sydney on September 8 and 9, achieved next to nothing in combating global warming. The key outcome was the adoption of the Instead, the main goal of the declaration is to reduce

Myanmar to auction gems, jewellery in November

YANGON–Myanmar will auction off more precious gems and jewellery in November in the fifth such sale this year aimed at bringing foreign currency into the isolated nation, state media reported Sunday. …Military-ruled Myanmar is one of the world’s poorest nations and is subject to US and European economic sanctions because of human rights abuses and […]

Iran says Crescent should pay more for gas

TEHRAN, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Iran will find other customers for gas assigned to a deal being negotiated with Crescent Petroleum or use the fuel itself if the UAE firm does not agree to pay a higher price, Iran’s oil minister said on Sunday. Iran and Crescent, a shareholder in the United Arab Emirates energy […]

With Oil At Record Highs, Talk Of $200 A Barrel

24/7 Wall St. has run three or four pieces recently that suggested there are strong cases for $100 a barrel oil. With the $80 mark reached last week, some oil industry experts do not discount the possibility that crude make get close to $100 this year. Jeff Currie, head of commodity research at Goldman Sachs, […]

Brave New Boomers

The Graying of the Suburbs …Falls Church retiree Rita Turner recently decided she was too old to drive, so she sold her Ford Escort to a neighbor. She didn’t even watch as he drove it up the street and out of her life. But now, a few months later, not a day goes by that […]

The Oil Drum Europe: Lord Oxburgh Warns Oil Demand To Outstrip Supply

The former non-executive chairman of Shell UK will issue a stark warning about the world’s oil supply at a conference in Ireland later this week. Lord Oxburgh expects that global oil demand will outstrip supply within twenty years as production hits plateau, and that the oil price could hit $150 in the long term. He […]

Crime in the Barnett Shale

Officers receive crash course in oilfield thefts Devon Energy manages oil and gas wells from China to Azerbaijan to the Rocky Mountains. But nowhere in the world does oil and gas field theft occur more frequently than in the Barnett Shale area. “Oil field crime is one of the biggest things we have to deal […]

Australia says some water cuts permanent

SYDNEY (AFP) – Some water restrictions introduced in Australia’s most populous state because of a long-running drought will become permanent because of the threat of global warming, officials said Sunday. Banned forever will be the practice of hosing pathways and the daytime use of sprinklers to water lawns and gardens. The New South Wales government […]

Malthus and Mein Kampf come to Cork

For those who like their environmental gloom’n’doom spread with a thick dollop of Utopian totalitarianism and garnished with a slice of Galtonian pseudo-science, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas holds its sixth annual conference in Ireland this coming week. Present will be the usual motley of silk-suited Carbohypocrites – each avidly […]

Shifting oil sands

…What has always prevented the oil sand development has been the cost. To produce oil here you need to put almost as much energy into the sands as you get out in the form of crude, making it one of the most energy-intensive and environmentally damaging sources of fuel. That the oil sands are being […]

Official: Russian Fuel Ready for Iran

Enriched uranium fuel is ready to be shipped from Russia to Iran’s first nuclear power plant, state television on Sunday quoted Iran’s foreign minister as saying. The announcement comes after talks in Moscow between minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Russian nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko to address delays in completing the $1 billion joint Iranian-Russian Bushehr power […]

Renewable energy to be a priority for China

China plans to put even greater effort into developing its renewable energy industry and cut greenhouse gas emissions to maintain sustainable economic growth in the coming years. Investments worth more than two trillion yuan, or 10 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006, are needed to meet the renewable energy target by […]

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