Australia: National bonanza sitting on shelf

Australia may be sitting on an oil and gas bonanza after winning legal ownership of a slice of undersea territory five times the size of France. In a landmark judgement by a United Nations commission, Australia expanded its borders by almost 35%, or 2.5 million square kilometres, including a seabed thought to harbour fossil fuels […]

UK: Biggest onshore wind farm plan rejected

Plans for Britain’s biggest land-based wind farm were turned down by the Scottish government yesterday, in a landmark decision with wide implications for the future development of renewable energy in the UK. The 181-turbine development on the Hebridean island of Lewis was vetoed by Scottish ministers because it was at odds with tough protection for […]

Peak Oil Price Trends

Very clearly, the financial and mass media finds it is not ‘politically correct’ to explain high oil prices as due to oil simply depleting and running out. It is still preferable to cite storms, technical problems, refinery accidents, pipeline blowouts, the weak US dollar, rebellion and wars in Nigeria, Chad and Sudan, the Iraq war, […]

Forget carbon: you should be checking your water footprint

Ethical shopping just got harder – but the latest attempt to help conscientious consumers calculate their impact on the environment could do more to preserve scarce resources than all its predecessors. The concept of water footprints – or “virtual water” – will tell consumers the amount of precious H2O that has been used in the […]

Gas Guzzlers A Hit In China

High, wide and fuel-hungry, the gleaming black Cadillac Escalade on display at the Beijing auto show is an unlikely car for an era of record oil prices. But while sport utility vehicle sales in the U.S. are tumbling, automakers are finding that for China’s newly prosperous car buyers, bigger is still better. “The Chinese consumer […]

Leaders warn on biofuels and food

Two Latin American leaders have issued warnings about the effects of biofuel production on food supplies. Speaking at the UN in New York, Bolivian President Evo Morales said the development of biofuels harmed the world’s most impoverished people. And President Alan Garcia of Peru said using land for biofuels was putting food out of reach […]

Saudi King’s Quiet Bombshell

…If the Saudi announcement was a bombshell, American nearly newspapers ignored it. We decided to canvass experts we respect to see what they thought. Excerpts follow: Tom Petrie, vice president, Merrill Lynch: “King Abdullah’s quote speaks to the fast-emerging reality of what I call Charles T. Maxwell, senior energy analyst, Weeden & Co: “If Saudi […]

Crude Oil Rises Above $117 as Attackers Cut Nigerian Supply

(Bloomberg) — Crude oil in New York rose to a record above $117 a barrel after attacks cut Nigerian output and the dollar dropped against the euro. Royal Dutch Shell Plc said today 169,000 barrels of oil a day was suspended because of attacks last week in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer. OPEC should help […]

Mexican oil output falls 7.8 pct in first quarter

Mexico’s state-run oil company said Monday that oil production fell 7.8 percent to 2.91 million barrels a day in the first quarter as current reserves dwindle. Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, has struggled with falling reserves, especially at its main Cantarell oil field, and lacks the money and expertise to launch new drilling projects. Pemex only […]

South Africa: Mthombo vs Mafutha

…As Mokaba sees it, we live in an age of escalating oil prices and increasing energy insecurity, not to mention Sasol

Iraqi says Kurdish contracts not valid

ROME – Iraq’s Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said Monday that oil contracts between the autonomous Northern Iraqi Kurds and foreign companies remain invalid, despite recent amicable talks between the two sides over the country’s long-delayed federal oil law. The Kurds have signed around 25 production-sharing contracts with several small and mid-sized oil companies, but Al-Shahristani […]

Algeria shortens gas contracts to earn more

ROME (Reuters) – Algeria plans to shift from long-term gas contracts to deals lasting around five years to maximise earnings from rising fuel prices, Sonatrach’s chief executive said on Monday. Gas contracts, often based on the cost of oil products, have traditionally been fixed for long periods, which has limited gains for gas producers from […]

Hotels offer gas rebates amid record prices

Hoping to tempt tapped-out travelers to hit the road this summer, the travel industry is offering fuel rebates and dining vouchers. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Gas prices hit another all-time high of $3.50 a gallon – and that’s bad news for businesses that rely on the summer travel season. Many hotels and inn keepers hope […]

Energy Secretary says does not favor tapping SPR

CAMERON, Louisiana (Reuters) – Energy Secretary Sam Bodman on Monday said he did not favor releasing the nation’s strategic oil reserves to help bring down record high crude prices. “You could affect things for a week or a month but you’re then in a very sticky wicket,” Bodman told Reuters on the sidelines of an […]

Amid strong farm economy, some dire signs

DES MOINES, Iowa – At a time of record agricultural profits, concerns are mounting that American farmers could be edging toward a financial crisis not seen since the 1980s farm-economy collapse. Soaring land values, increasing debt and a reliance on government subsidies for ethanol production have prompted economists to warn that what some describe as […]

Hybrid sales, led by Prius, up 38 percent in

Industry expects trend to continue this year as other vehicle sales struggle DETROIT – Kim Fenske drives a bus in Colorado by day, but when he But he recently decided to go one step further and make an environmental statement with his car.

Food shortages now hitting U.S.? Is peak oil on its way?

The New York Suns is reporting that stores like Costco on both coasts are restricting the amounts of rice, flour and cooking oil that customers can buy at one time. Is the worldwide food crisis starting to hit home? Combining that article with Economist Paul Krugman’s analysis “Running Out of Planet to Exploit” in the […]

Chinese consumers look toward larger vehicles

BEIJING: The Chinese government is putting intense pressure on automakers to improve energy efficiency, but Chinese consumers are increasingly interested in large sport utility vehicles and full-size luxury cars, top auto executives said Sunday at the opening of the Beijing auto show. The shift of the Chinese market toward larger vehicles is likely to push […]

The United States, China, Peak Oil, and the Demise of Neoliberalism

… Peak Oil and the Limits to Accumulation Suppose the Chinese capitalist class has the necessary wisdom and will to pursue a Keynesian, social-democratic-style restructuring. Will such a restructuring take Chinese capitalism onto a path of sustained stable and rapid growth, and will the expansion of the Chinese economy in turn lead the global capitalist […]

Survivalists get ready for meltdown

LONDON , England (CNN) — Derek is compiling a survival guide on how to cope after the total collapse of society. It is, as you can imagine, a big job. Already he has 58.8 gigabytes of material stored on his computer, he tells me impressively. … Derek, 60, who moved from London to the countryside […]

Militants claim 2 attacks on Nigerian oil pipelines

LAGOS, Nigeria – Militants said they blew up two more oil pipelines Monday in restive southern Nigeria and called for former President Jimmy Carter to help mediate an end to the crisis. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said in a statement that fighters hit two pipelines it believes are […]

Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World

Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.

The New York Sun

Venezuela to seek end to asset freeze in Dutch court

Venezuela expects to appear in a court in the Netherlands by the end of the month to demand an end to an asset freeze won by Exxon Mobil. Petroleos de Venezuela SA will tell the court that Exxon is abusing the bilateral investment protection treaty between the Netherlands and Venezuela, the South American country’s energy […]

IEA says world energy demand will more than double by 2030

The International Energy Agency (IEA), the Paris-based energy adviser to industrialised countries including Ireland, said today that during the past five years, spare oil producing capacity has fallen below the 3-4 mb/d (million barrels per day)typical of the past decade. The IEA also said that without policy change, world energy demand will more than double […]

Growing world needs every form of energy: Shell

The world will need every form of energy available — from coal to biofuels — to keep pace with a booming population, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell said on Sunday. Jeroen van der Veer also said record oil prices, which hit $117 a barrel on Friday, had yet to curb the thirst for […]

Energy industry says more construction needed

Environmentalists argue more energy efficiency could greatly reduce the need for a huge new wave of power plants and transmission lines. In two studies out Monday, the power industry gives its terse response: Don’t count on it.Increased efficiency can offset a substantial but relatively small portion of the increase in generating capacity needed to meet […]

EU hints at biofuel climbdown

The European Commission has given its clearest signal yet that it may ditch its controversial targets to ensure 10 per cent of transport fuel comes from biofuels by 2020. According to Guardian reports, senior officials at the Commission have indicated they are willing to discard the binding targets in an attempt to ensure that those […]

Large-Scale Biofuel Production May Increase Marginalization of Women

Rapid increases in the large-scale production of liquid biofuels in developing countries could exacerbate the marginalization of women in rural areas threatening their livelihoods, according to a new FAO study. The study notes that large-scale plantations for the production of liquid biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel require an intensive use of resources and inputs […]

Oil Finds Prompt Brazil to Change Rules

Following news of another potentially massive offshore oil find, Brazil’s government is likely to change the rules for its oil sector sometime this year, joining a long list of countries that have used high oil prices as an excuse to raise the amount of revenue the government gets from the oil industry. Currently, Brazil charges […]

Running Out of Planet to Exploit

Nine years ago The Economist ran a big story on oil, which was then selling for $10 a barrel. The magazine warned that this might not last. Instead, it suggested, oil might well fall to $5 a barrel. In any case, The Economist asserted, the world faced It

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