Shell sees potential in U.S. Arctic

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc is looking for oil and gas in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off the coast of Alaska, but the finds will have to be significant to justify the huge cost of development, a senior Shell executive said Friday. Shell surprised many in the oil industry when it bid […]

A new record for black gold

Oil is back on the boil: US crude futures closed above the $100 a barrel mark for the first time this week. But can black gold remain at these levels in the face of an economic slowdown? A series of supply problems have rattled the tight market, including a pipeline leak in Nigeria, where violence […]

Oil Prices: It’s Not About the Oil

Crude oil prices are again breaking records, but not because of real issues with supply and demand …What’s driving oil prices? Economics 101 says price is determined by the balance of supply and demand. But when it comes to the oil market, fears and expectations have been trumping economic rules and carrying the day. “These […]

US official: Europe needs alternatives to overpriced Russian gas

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – Europe needs alternatives to overpriced Russian natural gas that enriches ‘’shady middlemen,” a U.S. official said Friday, putting forward the idea of Iraq and Azerbaijan as new suppliers. Matthew Bryza, a deputy assistant secretary of state, took a swipe at Russia’s state-owned OAO Gazprom, saying the United States wasn’t fond of […]

‘You made a mistake about us,’ Pdvsa CEO warns Exxon Mobil

Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Petroleum and CEO of state-run oil conglomerate Pdvsa Rafael Ramirez Friday referred to the legal dispute between Pdvsa and US oil major Exxon Mobil in connection with the nationalization last year of oil upgrader Cerro Negro, and said the Venezuelan government would not recoil in the defense of the country’s […]

Saudi Arabia urges rich countries not to use oil as weapon

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister and president of the Arab Summit Thursday urged wealthy countries not to use the rising oil prices as a weapon to obtain an advantage over poorer countries. “Oil is an important and strategic resource for the world economy. It must not be used as a weapon,” Prince Saud al-Faisal told the […]

BP aims for billions more barrels from Alaska

Oil giant to take at least 2 billion barrels more crude from Prudhoe Bay ANCHORAGE – Operator BP expects to wring at least 2 billion barrels more crude from Alaska

Bedfellows: The Prices of Gold and Oil

I I consider this chart to be the best picture available for gold prices over the last quarter century. This is a point-and-figure chart, and consist of columns of Xs and Os that represent filtered price movements over time. Language Instinct

Judge says

Consumers claim at temperature rises, $1 of gas has less energy KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A potential class-action lawsuit claiming U.S. oil companies have knowingly overcharged customers when gas station fuel temperatures rise passed its first hurdle Thursday. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil rejected a motion from the oil companies to dismiss the lawsuit, saying […]

Dire new warning on climate

RECENT work by scientists suggests climate change is advancing more rapidly and more dangerously than previously thought, according to Canberra’s top adviser on the issue. In a dire warning to the Rudd Government, Ross Garnaut has declared that existing targets for cuts in greenhouse emissions may be too modest and too late to halt environmentally […]

Bankers Fouling Their Own Nests On Energy Issues

SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) — Only when the last tree has died, the last river poisoned and the last fish caught will we realize that we cannot eat money. ~ Cree observer I wrote my first column about an impending peaking of world oil production in July 2005. The potential scenarios presented by increasingly scarce […]

Shell Asks SEC to Allow Inclusion of Canadian Sands in Reserves

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company by market value, urged U.S. regulators to ease rules on how petroleum reserves are counted to allow the inclusion of Canada’s oil sands. “The current exclusion of reserves not reported for crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids that may be recovered from tar […]

Thousands of Turkish troops cross into Iraq

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) The ground operation started after Turkish warplanes and artillery bombed suspected rebel targets on Thursday, the military said on its website. The ground incursion was backed by the Air Force, the statement said. Turkey has conducted air raids against the PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq since December, with the help of U.S. […]

Solar panels a ‘loser,’ professor says

Installing solar panels on homes is an economic “loser” with the costs far outweighing the financial benefit, a respected University of California-Berkeley business professor said Wednesday. The technology, using photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, is not economically competitive with fossil fuels and costs more than other renewable fuels, said Severin Borenstein, who also directs the […]

UK: Brakes come on over biofuel commitment

The Government may retreat from its commitment to make all drivers use an increasing proportion of biofuel in their fuel tanks. Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, announced a study into the impact that the production of biofuels has on the environment. The Department for Transport (DfT) said that it would not support a European plan […]

The Gazpromization of EU energy security

The term “energy security” in Europe has been hijacked to empower suppliers and weaken importers, implying a drastic reduction in competition, rising political vulnerability, and the erosion of the rule of law. The fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s likely successor, Dmitry Medvedev, is chairman of Gazprom leaves little doubt about the Kremlin’s determination to […]

Indonesia: The power crisis

The State Electricity Company (PLN) imposed rotating power blackouts in Jakarta and surrounding suburbs starting Wednesday because power supplies across its Java-Bali interconnected system suffered a deficit of 1,000 megawatt. The reason? Four PLN generation plants have been forced to operate far below their installed capacity after unusually high sea waves interrupted coal and diesel […]

Growing world aircraft fleet and increasing pollution

As competition among airlines around the world intensifies, more and more people find it convenient to travel by air for business and leisure. But the rapid growth of commercial aviation is having a significant impact on global warming and the Asia-Pacific region, the world’s fastest expanding market for air travel, is starting to feel the […]

Oil at $100 May Look ‘Cheap’ Within Five Years, Alfa Bank Says

(Bloomberg) — Crude oil prices of $100 may look “cheap” within five years if OPEC production fails to keep pace with global demand growth, according to Alfa Bank. “We may hit peak oil in the course of the next three, four or five years, in which case $100 oil will look somewhat quaint,” Alfa Bank’s […]

Mexico left eyes new street protest over oil sector

MEXICO CITY, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Mexican leftists, who paralyzed the capital with election protests in 2006, will go back to the streets this weekend to fight any attempt to let private capital into the oil sector. But a top senator said on Thursday the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution is willing to hold […]

Analysis: Oil part of Iraq-Iran war talks

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) — A senior Iraqi delegation in Iran isn’t directly focused on recent allegations of misconduct in the Iraqi oil sector — including an Iranian takeover of some fields — but rather settling cross-border rows leftover from war two decades ago. Although oil disputes were expected to be a portion of the […]

Liquid Gold

Ethanol is supposed to be good for the environment. But producing green fuel can cost a lot of water. Mike Adamson remembers when water wasn’t such a problem. As a kid growing up on his family’s cattle feedlot along the Colorado-Kansas border, “you could dig a post hole and see water runnin’ in the bottom,” […]

Brazil: Whodunnit?

WHEN Petrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, announced recently that it had found vast new oil and gas fields in the deep waters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, pulses were quickened around the world. If all is as declared, these are the discoveries of the century. But the excitement may have exceeded normal bounds. […]

Maryland’s climate plan would be nation’s boldest

ANNAPOLIS, Md. The bill before lawmakers would require Maryland to slash emissions of carbon-based greenhouse gases 25% by 2020 and 90% by 2050. If adopted, the carbon reductions would be the nation’s steepest. Gov. Martin O’Malley backed the proposal Tuesday, saying Maryland is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise because of its more than 3,000 miles […]

Wheat prices could defy a recession

The price of wheat traded in Chicago has risen 13 percent this year and more than doubled since June, now standing at just less than $10.50 per bushel. Declining water tables and unpredictable weather in major production areas have hit crops, and much arable land has been diverted to producing biofuels. Meanwhile, consumers in emerging […]

Saudi financial plans rely on high oil prices

Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with a costly decision to pay more to public servants and cut government fees At the same time, it will endure a drop in revenue from a 50 per cent cut in import tariffs and fees for passports, driving licences, transfers of vehicle ownership and renewal of residence permits for […]

Venezuela’s PDVSA prepares legal defense

State-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA is preparing to challenge a court injunction obtained by Exxon Mobil Corp. that froze $12 billion in PDVSA assets next week in London, a top Venezuelan oil official said. Deputy Oil Minister Bernard Mommer said Wednesday that a hearing in which PDVSA plans to contest Exxon’s claims will […]

Uranium One Cuts Production Forecast 32%; CEO Resigns

(Bloomberg) — Uranium One Inc., the developer of South Africa’s largest deposit of the nuclear fuel, cut its 2008 output forecast by a third and said Chief Executive Officer Neal Froneman quit. The shares lost almost a quarter of their value. A slower-than-expected rate of underground development at the Dominion mine in South Africa was […]

A greener way to power cars

Cardiff University researchers are exploring how waste heat from car exhausts could provide a new greener power supply for vehicles. Professor Mike Rowe Professor Mike Rowe, OBE School of Engineering, said:

Greenland’s rising air temperatures drive ice loss at surface and beyond

A new NASA study confirms that the surface temperature of Greenland’s massive ice sheet has been rising, stoked by warming air temperatures, and fueling loss of the island’s ice at the surface and throughout the mass beneath. …”The relationship between surface temperature and mass loss lends further credence to earlier work showing rapid response of […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy