Oil giant calls eco-award winners ‘con men’

Two Ecuadoreans are among 7 awarded 2008 Goldman Prize SAN FRANCISCO – Chevron Corp. is sharpening its attacks against two opponents in a 15-year legal battle over whether the oil company should foot a multibillion-dollar bill to clean up a toxic stew in the Amazon rainforests. The San Ramon-based company intensified its criticism Monday while […]

U.S. and Britain shift the blame for high oil prices

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain and the United States blame OPEC for record high oil prices that have exacerbated a global economic slowdown, but some analysts believe the cause for oil’s run-up may lie closer to home. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.S. President George W. Bush, both struggling to boost their slumping popularity, have […]

Brazil oil field could be huge find

…Petrobras said in a statement that more studies are needed to determine the potential of what could be the planet’s largest oil find in decades. Analysts said the magnitude of the find, if confirmed, could have far-reaching global energy ramifications. “This would lay to rest some of the peak oil pronouncements that we were out […]

Texas: Bell County looks for solutions to road funding woes

…One of the reasons a flat tax on miles driven is being considered in parts of the nation is because of the negative effect increasing fuel efficiency is having on road funding. A gas tax increase would only partially help the problem, unless the tax was increased by $1 a gallon, Skopik said.

EROI on the Web, Part 3 of 5: Unconventional Oil – Tar Sands and Shale Oil

This is 3rd in a series of 5 guest posts by Professor Charles Hall of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry describing the energy statistic, “EROI” for various fuels. As has been discussed often on this site, net energy analysis is an incredibly important concept – just as we really care about our […]

Australia: Fuel price rises cause spike in stolen car plates

Rising petrol costs have led to a huge spike in the number of registration plates stolen from car parks across Sydney as desperate motorists find ways to avoid having to pay for petrol, the latest figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research reveal. The bureau’s director, Don Weatherburn, said number plates were the […]

An entire village turns against supermarkets and grows its own food

It was a sitcom that inspired many a household to live off the land. And although it might not attract the likes of Margo and Jerry to move to the area, an entire village is trying its hand at the Good Life. In a bid to become less dependent on supermarkets, the residents of Martin […]

Mexico Congress oil row deepens

Leftist politicians in Mexico who last week stormed both houses of Congress have vowed to remain in protest at planned reform of the state oil giant. The government says the Pemex oil company needs outside investment to boost falling production and increase exploration for new reserves. But the protesting deputies and senators argue that this […]

Transport costs rise record 7% as food prices soar at fastest rate in 17 years

Families already struggling to cope with the credit crunch face huge increases in food and transport bills, official figures have revealed today. The ONS figures showed the highest upward effect on inflation coming from transport costs, mainly due to rising air travel prices on European and long-haul routes. The annual rate of increase for transport […]

Oil price storms to record high near 114 dollars

LONDON (AFP) – The price of New York crude oil surged Tuesday to a new record high of 113.93 dollars a barrel, boosted by a weak US currency and tightening energy supplies, traders said. Market participants also digested news that the crude-producing cartel OPEC left unchanged its 2008 estimate of growth in world oil demand. […]

Oil and the ‘New International Energy Order’

With both the cost of and demand for oil rising, nations with large energy reserves are redrawing political and military alliances, and oil-rich countries like Russia and Venezuela are enjoying greater influence. Michael Klare, author of Rising Power, Shrinking Planet, calls it the “new international energy order.” Klare is the director of the Five College […]

China Becomes A BP Shareholder

HONG KONG – China has quietly accumulated nearly a 1% stake in BP to help secure its oil supply to fuel rapid economic growth. The silent investment from China has come to the attention of Downing Street, which has been monitoring the situation carefully. A Chinese sovereign wealth fund has purchased about 1 billion pounds […]

McCain to propose summer “holiday” from taxes on gasoline

Republican presidential contender John McCain this morning will suggest “that the federal government suspend all taxes on gasoline now paid by the American people He will also propose that the federal government “suspend the purchase of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has also contributed to the rising price of oil. This measure, combined […]

British Airways could plunge to 120p, warns analyst

British Airways shares could fall to as low as 120p amid a soaring fuel bill, weakening traffic figures and the ongoing problems at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, a leading City analyst has warned. BA shares fell 8 to 215 Although her earnings downgrade was less severe than the 13.4p suggested by UBS, she took a much […]

$112.48 a barrel

The price of oil has hit a new record on the back of supply worries after bad weather hit Mexican oil exports. US light, sweet crude oil rose 72 cents to $112.48 a barrel, above the previous record of $112.21. Brent crude rose 41 cents to $110.25 a barrel in London. Bad weather led Mexico […]

UK: Thousands of North deaths blamed on pollution

THOUSANDS of people have died in recent years from pneumonia caused by pollution, a study out today will say Details on atmospheric emissions, published causes of death and expected causes of death were examined for the research. And when the social factors were taken into account, the data revealed that deaths from pneumonia were strongly […]

UK: Blow to introduction of greener fuel as oil firms face production delay

Government plans for the introduction today of cleaner fuel on all the country’s forecourts have been thrown into turmoil, with the oil companies ready to offer biodiesel but warning they will not have bioethanol available for greener petrol until the beginning of next year at the earliest. Already hit by mounting concerns about the impact […]

Brazil’s Petrobras denies giant oil field discovery

Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras denied Monday an earlier announcement of the discovery of a gigantic oil and gas field in southeastern Brazil. The salt layer of the second well drilled in block BMS-9 of the announced oil field has not even been reached yet, and the huge field, if it does exist, lies below […]

New Ways to Store Solar Energy for Nighttime and Cloudy Days

Solar power, the holy grail of renewable energy, has always faced the problem of how to store the energy captured from the sun’s rays so that demand for electricity can be met at night or whenever the sun is not shining. The difficulty is that electricity is hard to store. Batteries are not up to […]

Biofuel: the burning question

On the day when the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) comes into force, requiring oil companies to ensure all petrol and diesel they sell in the UK contains a minimum level of biofuel, campaigners condemned as “disastrous” the absence of any standards requiring producers to prove their biofuel is not the product of highly damaging […]

Monbiot: Credit crunch? The real crisis is global hunger.

And if you care, eat less meatNever mind the economic crisis. Focus for a moment on a more urgent threat: the great food recession that is sweeping the world faster than the credit crunch. You have probably seen the figures by now: the price of rice has risen by three-quarters over the past year, that […]

Japan Ups CO2 Offset Buying As Nuclear Power Slows

Japan is stepping up efforts to meet its Kyoto Protocol targets by buying more greenhouse gas emissions offsets from abroad than previously planned as its own emissions rise and nuclear power production dwindles. Japan has become a major emissions credit buyer, using the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) as its agent. Having […]

Biofuels Threaten Food Access In Latin America – UN

A global increase in biofuel production threatens to make food for Latin America’s poor less accessible, a United Nations body said on Monday. “In the short term, it is very probable that the rapid expansion of agrofuels at a world level has important effects on Latin America’s agriculture,” the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said […]

Europe’s Food Supply Not At Risk From Biofuels – EU

Europeans should not fear a fall in food supplies caused by the European Union’s ambitious targets for using biofuels in transport fuels, the EU’s executive Commission said on Monday. Last year, EU leaders agreed to get 10 percent of all transport fuel from biofuels by 2020 to help fight climate change. Ministers are now debating […]

Oil Prices Set to Increase Further

Simmons and other peak-oil theorists bring up valid points about rising recovery rates. One is that we really cant accurately assess the current state of production or recovery rates from most OPEC fields. The EIA and other firms rely on third-party data providers for their information and as a basis for projections. That data is […]

NZ: When the oil runs out

James Samuel wants to see New Zealanders get off their couches, into their garden, and get some dirt under their fingernails. Samuel is the national co-ordinator for Transition Towns, a movement pioneered in the UK in late 2006. While Transition Towns essentially grew from the notion of permaculture an approach to designing human settlements, in […]

How to Make Graphene

A simple way to deposit thin films of carbon could lead to cheaper solar cells.Graphene–a flat single layer of carbon atoms–can transport electrons at remarkable speeds, making it a promising material for electronic devices. Until recently, researchers had been able to make only small flakes of the material, and only in small quantities. However, Rutgers […]

Russian output slumps as oil price hits a record

Russian oil production, for years a vital font of new crude for world energy markets, has begun to stagnate and even slump, adding to market uncertainties that have helped push oil prices to records even as the global economy founders. Russian supply in the first three months of this year fell for the first time […]

Oil price hikes threaten protests in Nigeria

AMID fuel scarcity across the country and ahead of next month However, should the government decide to act the way of its predecessor, ignoring the feelings of the poverty stricken Nigerians and goes ahead to hike the pump prices of petroleum products, it (labour) vowed to bring the government to its knees through strike and […]

Shell boss says EU carbon plan could destroy oil industry in Europe

Jeroen van der Veer, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, has given warning that a proposed EU scheme to force companies to pay for carbon emissions permits previously handed out free threatens to destroy Europe’s petrochemicals and refining industry. Mr van der Veer told The Times that the EU needed to be careful not […]

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