Reports of the oil industry’s imminent death are greatly exaggerated

Every year more barrels are added to the world’s reserves than are used up, says Peter Odell I am utterly perplexed by Jeremy Leggett’s attempt to foretell the impending demise of the oil industry (The great fuel folly, February 5). Unless, of course, he contemplates such a development as being highly favourable to his Solarcentury […]

Map shows toll on world’s oceans

Only about 4% of the world’s oceans remain undamaged by human activity, according to the first detailed global map of human impacts on the seas. A study in Science journal says climate change, fishing, pollution and other human factors have exacted a heavy toll on almost half of the marine waters. Only remote icy areas […]

The little steps that matter

Over the last few months, the uncomfortable phrase The poster child for denial just now is Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), a petroleum industry-funded think tank that has nonchalantly churned out predictions of soaring oil production and declining oil prices for years now, while production and prices in the real world have been headed the […]

Santos shuts Australia oil fields due to cyclone

SYDNEY, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Australian oil and gas producer Santos Ltd said on Thursday its Legendre and Stag oil fields off Western Australia have been shut in since Monday due to a cyclone. Legendre produced about 7,000 barrels of oil a day at the end of December, while Stag has a daily output rate […]

Shell sets out vision of energy future

LONDON (AFP) – Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell unveiled its vision of the world’s future energy sources Thursday, suggesting two scenarios where policy either remains with individual countries or is decentralised to allow a reduction in energy consumption and carbon emissions. In both cases, Shell envisaged gas and oil prices should reach a “plateau” at around […]

Direct Energy CEO says price caps hurt conservation

HOUSTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – U.S. consumers need exposure to the true cost of energy to prompt a change in behavior to use electricity more efficiently and to prod companies to invest in technology to meet climate change, said Derek King, chairman of Centrica’s Direct Energy retail business in North America. King told attendees at […]

Electricity prices to rise, energy execs say

HOUSTON Experts at the conference said power prices will likely rise because it

American’s won’t give up SUVs, Shell Oil president predicts

WASHINGTON — The president of Shell Oil Co. said today that Americans were unlikely to give up their SUVs, despite a new law requiring automakers to boost the fuel efficiency of the vehicles by 40 percent by 2020. “The vast majority of Americans love their big cars and I think the auto companies will follow […]

IEA concerned about the Venezuelan decision on supplies

The spokesman of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that he was worried about the Venezuelan decision to stop selling oil to the US company Exxon Mobil, and noted that the agency was closely following the situation, reported the news agency, Reuters. “We are concerned about the physical side of the event and we are […]

Information stolen from Petrobras

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Important information has been stolen from Brazil’s state-run oil firm, the company said Thursday, and one news site reported it was related to two recent major gas and oil finds. Petroleo Brasileiro SA gave no details about the missing data except to characterize it as “confidential information” stolen from “equipment and […]

Help wanted: Oil jobs

HOUSTON (CNNMoney.com) — The oil industry is on the edge of a huge labor crisis. 80% of its skilled workforce is expected to age out in the next ten years without eager, younger workers available to replace them. “There’s a perception the industry is old, dirty,” said Pete Stark, vice president of industry relations for […]

France wants global oil tax

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked the head of the International Monetary Fund to consider a tax on oil companies’ profits to help countries without energy reserves, the finance minister said Wednesday. Christine Lagarde told LCI television that Sarkozy had asked the new IMF chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Frenchman, to consider a tax that would […]

Oil patch profits predicted to rise 18% this year

OTTAWA The report forecasts 2009 profits will tumble 29 per cent, before beginning a steady recovery and returning to the $23-billion level in 2012. The independent research group said Canada’s oil extraction sector, a key economic pillar, posted a record $19.4-billion in profits last year on revenues of $123-billion. Globe and Mail

Smoke and Mirrors

…Anyone laboring under the impression that China is well on its way to a carbon-neutral future, reality can be sobering. Despite progress on the alternative-energy front, demand for power is expanding at such an extraordinary rate that it can only be satisfied by the combustion of vast additional quantities of coal, oil and natural gas. […]

Top oil firms spend more but get less crude

LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s three largest fully publicly traded oil firms are investing billions of dollars more, but there is little sign yet the extra spending is leading to higher production. Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc posted falling 2007 output, even though they upped capital spending to over $60 […]

Eco-audit brings warning for city

An audit of London has warned the city is putting increasing and unsustainable strain on the environment. The Environment Agency has said lifestyles that waste less resources need to be adopted. According to its State of the Environment report, each Londoner needs land the size of five and half football pitches to support their way […]

Peak Oil, IHS Data and The Broken Clock

We have been writing for almost 3 years on this site about the privatization of energy data by IHS Energy and the negative impact the lack of accuracy that CERA’s historically optimistic claims are having on energy policy. The rebuttals and counteranalysis at TOD to CERAs assertions are too numerous to list. Today at the […]

Israel: Tapped out

What will life look like 10 years from now? Most people work on the assumption that it will resemble life today, more or less. Yaron Hochman, on the other hand, sees things differently. “In another 10 years, mankind will be busy with one main issue – finding ways of making do without oil, but continuing […]

Oil Shortage Looming

Study Sees Peak Oil in 10-15 Years Asia and the U.S. will become increasingly embroiled in the volatile politics of the Middle East as oil production peaks in the next 10-15 years, leaving the world with as much demand, but less and less supply. That is the assessment of the East-West Center, which labels the […]

Platinum price breaks through 2,000 dollars for first time

LONDON (AFP) South African energy group Eskom has said that its power supply would be kept at only 90 percent of full capacity until 2012. Large parts of South Africa have intermittently been plunged into darkness since late last year as Eskom imposes planned blackouts to conserve dwindling electricity supplies. The commercial capital Johannesburg has […]

Saudi Aramco to invest $90bn over five years

Saudi Aramco, the world He listed many factors for such concerns and the oil price volatility, including speculation, the sub-prime crisis, a surge in demand and geopolitical tensions.

Peak Oil Models Forecast China’s Oil Supply, Demand

Peak oil models show a widening gap between China’s oil demand and production. The generalized Weng model predicts a peak oil production in China of 196 million tonnes in 2026 and the Hubbert model indicates a peak oil demand in 2034 of 633 million tonnes. Production Because forecasts indicate a widening gap between production and […]

Oil Majors Face Increased Political Risk from State Intervention

Oil multinationals face increased political and economic risks as governments readdress the balance of power by taking more control over their domestic product, according to Aon’s Political and Economic Risk Map 2008. The report found that countries such as Venezuela and Uzbekistan pose a high risk for companies with potential problems such as confiscation, sovereign […]

Asian arms race gathers speed

Here is the real news that should hit the front pages of papers today: wars grip Iraq, Afghanistan and large swathes of Africa, but the heart of the global military-industrial complex lies in Northeast Asia. Any attempt to drive a stake through this potentially destabilizing monster must start with the militaries that face one another […]

Mankind Can’t Afford More Oil Drilling – Ex-BP Exec

Known oil, gas and coal reserves may already contain a quarter more carbon than mankind can emit and still avoid dangerous climate change, putting the value of new oil exploration in doubt, said a former oil major executive. The oil industry may be wasting $50 billion annually searching for new fields, said Jan-Peter Onstwedder, formerly […]

Total forecasts increase in oil production

Total, the French oil company, was the only major to increase production in 2007 and yesterday pledged that new developments would deliver a significant in-crease this year. Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive, said the group had increased production by 1.5 per cent to 2.39m barrels of oil equivalent a day last year.Although this is […]

US scientists puncture the ethanol biofuel bubble

Writing in “Use of US croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions for Land Use or Change,” Timothy Searchinger and many others state: “To produce more biofuels, farmers can directly plow up more forest or grassland, which releases to the atmosphere much of the carbon previously stored in plants and soils through decomposition or […]

UN Says Soaring Prices Leave Poor Hungry

Many of the world’s poorest people are unable to get enough food because of soaring prices partly caused by the use of food crops to produce biofuels, the head of the U.N. food agency said. “We’re seeing more people hungry and at greater numbers than before,” Josette Sheeran, executive director of the Rome-based World Food […]

Ukraine hails gas victory, Russia puzzles

Russia’s Gazprom on Wednesday said it would keep intermediaries for some gas supplies to Ukraine, only hours after Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko called the decision to axe them a “great victory.” The decision was part of an agreement reached on Tuesday after wearisome talks by the two countries’ presidents minutes before a Moscow-imposed deadline […]

Empty Holes and Black Swans, Part II – Simmons interview

BC: OK, depending on the country, there were a huge amount of paper increases in apparent reserves. What are your thoughts on Saudi Arabia and what’s going on in the Middle East? MS: Well, I can tell you an awful lot of anecdotes that I’ve heard. It’s been two years since “Twilight in the Desert” […]

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