Bush hopes OPEC will raise production

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt – Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah told President Bush he was worried about the impact of high oil prices on the world economy, the White House said Wednesday. After their talks, Bush was hopeful that OPEC would authorize an increase in oil production. The White House did not say there was any commitment […]

Oil falls after crude inventories jump

NEW YORK – Energy futures fell Wednesday, at times dropping below $90 a barrel after the government said crude oil supplies jumped unexpectedly last week. In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said crude oil supplies rose by 4.3 million barrels last week, the first increase since the week ended Nov. […]

World oil demand to peak before supply – BP

LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) – World oil production may peak in in the coming years, but it will be because of a decline in demand for petroleum not a lack of supply, a BPeconomist said on Wednesday. “I believe there is a realistic possibility that world oil production will peak within the next generation as […]

Wood boilers fuel air quality debate

A surge in sales of outdoor wood boilers, cheaper alternatives to oil and gas home heating, has neighbors fuming over the smoke they produce and states and towns rushing to regulate them. At least seven states and dozens of towns in the Northeast and Midwest have passed or are considering measures to ban, restrict or […]

France takes on strategic role in key Gulf oil route

PARIS (AFP) – France’s first permanent military base since the end of the colonial era gives it a strategic role in the Strait of Hormuz bordering Iran, the main supply route for world oil. France and the United Arab Emirates signed an accord during a visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday, which calls for Paris […]

Consumer inflation up 0.3% in Dec., up 4.1% in ‘07

WASHINGTON (AP) …Energy costs rose 17.4% this past year while food costs rose 4.9%. Both were the biggest increases since 1990. Gasoline prices were up 29.6%, biggest increase since they soared 30.1% in 1999. The 2.4% rise in prices outside of food and energy was the smallest since a 2.2% rise in 2005. AP

Why a warmer Arctic needs new laws

The Arctic Ocean has until recently received about as much attention from politicians, economists and foreign policy experts as the back of the moon. But before long, thanks to global warming, the ocean may turn into a new economic frontier. About 20-30 per cent of the world’s likely but undiscovered oil reserves lie beneath it. […]

IMF Says Iraq’s Growth Will Surge in 2008 as Security Improves

Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) — The International Monetary Fund predicted economic growth in Iraq will accelerate this year to the fastest pace since 2004 as security improves and crude oil output climbs. Iraq’s economy will expand 7.1 percent this year, surging from a 1.3 percent pace in 2007, the fund forecast in a report released in […]

As Bush, King Talk Oil, Saudis Gain In US Market

…As the leader of the world’s largest oil consumer and the world’s largest oil exporter met at the king’s horse ranch, a startling trend emerged from U.S. government oil data: The Saudis already are playing the strongest role they have in supplying the U.S. crude oil market in nearly five years. In the first 11 […]

IEA blames falling stock levels for $100 oil

PARIS (AFP) – The International Energy Agency attributed recent record oil prices above 100 dollars per barrel to tensions in the market caused by falling stock levels in top consuming countries. “The most recent rise would appear the easiest to explain: OECD stocks have been falling since July 2007, reflecting a tightening physical market,” the […]

Recognizing the tarsands

…There is a certain strain of millenarian thought — encapsulated most famously in the currently faddish “peak oil” theory — that simply cannot accept the old human story of innovation acting on natural resource supplies to bring more and more of them into practical use while allowing us to consume them ever more efficiently. People […]

OPEC: no oil shortage; investors abandoning US dollar

OPEC is ready to increase its output if the fundamentals of supply and demand justify such a move, but does not believe there is a current shortage of oil in the market, the cartel’s secretary-general Abdallah el-Badri said on Wednesday. El Badri statement comes as a response to US president George W Bush currently visiting […]

Paying for Post-Peak Oil Mitigation

…Many proponents for public spending on Post-Peak Oil mitigation are attracted to gasoline and diesel taxes or more generic oil and/or carbon taxes. In an era of rapidly increasing oil (and all other energy) prices, passing such taxes will be politically difficult and take precious time. I would like to propose an alternative tax for […]

Argentina government OKs renewed fuel exports for all but Shell

BUENOS AIRES (MarketWatch) — The Argentine government will allow three of the nation’s four top fuel retailers to continue to export fuels after they rolled back pump prices to October levels, a government official told Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday. The government’s price control agency, the Interior Commerce Secretariat, gave the local units of Repsol YPF […]

The little car that could

…The Nano is inspiring because it symbolizes the rise of a middle class in a country that has been far too impoverished for far too long. Many of the people who will buy these cars grew up thinking they’d never have more than an ox cart. Now they will be able to get around on […]

Saudi Arabia freezes as weather records shattered

ABU-DHABI, January 16 (RIA Novosti) – Unusually cold weather has smashed decades-old records in Saudi Arabia, with meteorologists forecasting a further cooling, the al-Watan newspaper said on Wednesday. The cold snap has mainly hit northern parts of the country, where temperatures reached a record low of -6 degree Centigrade (21.2 degree Fahrenheit), freezing water in […]

World must address tight oil supply: Chavez

TEGUCIGALPA, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned on Tuesday that the world’s biggest oil consumers face shrinking supplies and that Venezuela hoped to work with Brazil and Mexico to bolster the region’s reserves. Chavez, on an official visit to Honduras a day after attending the inauguration of Alvaro Colom as Guatemala’s new […]

EU energy chief warns about ‘peak oil’

Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has drawn attention to the ‘overlooked’ issue of dwindling oil reserves coupled with rapidly growing and unprecedented global demand. His comments were made in the run-up to the publication of a widely-anticipated package of Commission legislative proposals on energy and climate change. Speaking to the Swiss Energy Congress on 14 January, […]

EU’s stand on palm-biofuel to hit Asian plants

The European Union’s talk of toughening environment criteria for biofuels, including a clampdown on palm biodiesel, is another blow for Southeast Asia’s struggling biodiesel business. The biofuel industry in Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producers, has seen margins plunge on record palm oil prices. Any move by Europe to halt palm biodiesel […]

Thailand: Biodiesel squeezes palm supply

Palm oil prices have jumped sharply in recent months, leading authorities to consider a ban on exports. Palm oil is a raw material for cooking oil, the food industry and as an alternative fuel. A Commerce Ministry panel that monitors palm oil prices yesterday recommended that the government import 30,000 tonnes of crude olein, the […]

German biodiesel output collapses

Germany’s biodiesel industry is only producing at about 10 percent of capacity largely because a biofuels tax increase on Jan 1 hugely cut sales, the head of the German renewable fuels industry association BBK said on Tuesday. This was down from output at 20 percent capacity in November 2007 and many companies were facing closure, […]

Are we heading for Peak Coal?

Peak oil, yes; but ‘peak coal’? India’s Tata Power recently acquired 30% stakes in Indonesia’s two largest coal mines, securing 20 million tons of coal to fuel its 750 kilowatt project on India’s west coast. This is a shrewd and opportune move. There’s a sustained and tightening squeeze on global supplies of the ‘thermal’ coal […]

University of Texas researchers to study oil, gas production boosts

The University of Texas is launching the Advanced Energy Consortium, a multimillion-dollar research consortium aimed at increasing oil and gas production. The consortium’s research will focus on developing micro and nanotechnology applications to boost oil and gas production.AEC is part of UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology at the Jackson School of Geosciences and will be […]

IEA cuts 2008 oil demand growth forecast

World oil demand growth this year will be lower than previously forecast and could fall further if an economic slowdown in top consumer the United States accelerates, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday. The adviser to 27 industrialised countries in its monthly Oil Market Report cut its world oil demand growth forecast to 1.98 […]

EU to set member states stricter renewable energy targets for 2020 – report

The European Commission is poised to clash with member states over strict national targets it plans to set for boosting the proportion of energy they generate from renewable sources, Handelsblatt reported, citing unnamed EU diplomats. By 2020, Commissioner Andris Piebalgs wants Sweden to lift its ratio of energy coming from renewable sources to 50 pct, […]

China coal shortage to continue

China, the world’s largest coal consuming nation, used more coal than it produced in 2007 and will stay short through at least 2010, a coal industry official said on Tuesday. China’s demand for coal is expected to rise to 2.76 billion tonnes in 2008, from 2.62 billion tonnes in 2007, said Wu Chenghou, executive director […]

Naimi tightlipped on Bush oil appeal

Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, said on Tuesday that US president George W. Bush had “every right” to call for increased oil production to damp the effect of $100-a-barrel prices on the US economy. But Mr Naimi would not be drawn on whether his country or the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would […]

Oil and the polar bear

Although Congress and the courts have largely frustrated the Bush administration’s efforts to open up Alaska to oil and gas drilling, Vice President Dick Cheney and his industry friends remain determined to lock up as many oil and gas leases as they can before the door hits them on the way out. They are certainly […]

Brazil’s Lula offers Cuba oil know-how and credit

HAVANA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva offered Cuba lots of credit and commitment to help explore for oil in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday. But it was not immediately clear whether the former labor leader achieved his personally-cherished goal of meeting ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro during a 24-hour visit. […]

Toyota flexes its muscle

…In the face of competition from General Motors, Watanabe repeated his promise to be selling one million hybrid vehicles annually by 2010, and to make hybrids available to Toyota’s entire product lineup by 2020. “We have not changed our strategy at all,” he said. “Hybrid technology is versatile and can be applied to all those […]

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