People’s decisions to cut back add up to weaker economy

WASHINGTON …The housing crisis and expensive gasoline prices are things shoppers can’t control. So, they’re taking power in other ways, “by controlling the little things … filling up the cart and putting things back at the check out,” says Candace Corlett, principal at consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail. “I’m going to put it back. They […]

Vegans Kill to Drive Cars and Have Sex in a Dystopian Future

The aptly-named Blood Car is a near-future tale about peak oil and bloodthirsty vegans. Gasoline is so expensive that it takes almost 500 bucks to fill your tank, and most cars have been abandoned in vast “car graveyards.” Archie is a nice vegan guy who wants to help the world by creating the first engine […]

More than half Nigeria’s oil output shut due to strike, attacks

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Roughly 58% of Nigeria’s oil pumping capacity remained shut Saturday following an ongoing oil worker’s strike and a series of recent militant attacks on energy infrastructure in Africa’s biggest crude producing nation. Dozens of workers of Exxon Mobile Corp.’s local affiliate were off the job for a third day as the employees’ […]

Gas station loses 1,500 gallons to thieves

… It was a somewhat surprising heist, considering that gasoline theft in the United States typically has been limited to people siphoning modest amounts out of parked vehicles and storage tanks or driving off without paying. But at a time when gas has surpassed $4 a gallon, larger-scale theft has been increasing. The crime cost […]

High gas costs fuel energy debate

Candidates spar over remedies With gas prices hitting record highs nearly every day, the major presidential candidates tangled yesterday over energy policy. Barack Obama said that Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain are part of a Washington establishment that has failed to stand up to oil companies. McCain and the Republican […]

FACTBOX – Key issues in Japan-Russia relations

… OIL PIPELINE Russia is building an oil pipeline that will eventually link fields in eastern Siberia to the energy-hungry markets of the Far East and the Pacific basin. There is competition between Japan and China over which will receive the lion’s share of crude from the pipeline. SAKHALIN-1 Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom has […]

U.S. Sides With Oil Firms, Not Libya’s Victims

…At the moment, the Bush administration is asking Congress to exempt Libya from a four-month-old law passed to help victims of terrorism collect court judgments from the nations that sponsored the attacks. The law applies to Libya, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Sudan. It says plaintiffs with court judgments against any of those nations […]

The New York Times’ Hidden Hand On Oil’s Agenda

Ironically, last Sunday the New York Times’ front page headlined ” Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand”. On the front page of the Week in Review section Jad Mouawad set out to instruct us that oil’s future is murky (“The Big Thirst”). If ever a commentator on a given issue is freighted with prescribed points […]

UK: Strange times

What a puzzling time to be alive. In the world that surrounds us, beauty and the comforting familiarity of seasonal rhythms. The ospreys have returned from West Africa and are putting on a grand fishing display in Findhorn Bay. …And yet, news carried on the wind speaks of melting ice, food riots and starvation and, […]

Food prices dim biofuel glow

Studies debunking the environmental benefits of ethanol have made little impression in China, which is betting on biofuels as the green answer to coal and oil to help clear its increasingly smog-filled skies. But economic realities of surging food prices and global inflation are beginning to disturb the ethanol dream. Prices for cassava and other […]

Nigeria: Electricity – Country to Try Coal

Nigeria is reverting to the use of coal as an alternative power generation strategy, a top government official has said. This is coming eleven months after President Umaru Musa Yaradua promised to declare emergency on the power sector. The president had said the power sector is one of the seven-point agenda of his administration.The National […]

$200 a barrel oil? $75 is more likely

Jeff Rubin, the guy who sees oil rising sky-high, is chief strategist at CIBC World Markets, has consistently predicted much higher oil prices in recent years, and has been right. But Clement Gignac, chief economist at National Bank Financial, and skeptic about the ability of oil and other commodities to rise forever, has bragging rights […]

IBM to double computing, keep energy use same

Global IT major IBM will double its computing power by 2010 but keep its energy use the same as today, says the head of its global industry division. This would be done through two measures, said Michael Valocchi, partner and global industry leader of IBM’s energy and utilities division in global business services.The first was […]

How much your groceries will cost in 10 years

However much you hope that the food crisis will go away, it’s difficult to ignore this week’s headlines warning us that the era of cheap food is over. But which of the staples in our shopping basket will be worst hit? The general picture is that most items will go up, some more significantly than […]

Food vs fuel: Let free markets work

Co-warriors and peak oil theorists always knew biofuel is all about politics. But the unintended consequence of alternative energy is now making politicians wonder what biofuel is all about. The answers they offer will decide the future of ‘green’ fuels — whether made from maize, rapeseed, wheat, sugar cane or palm oil. Politicians don’t mind […]

How Big Oil got bigger – and befuddled the pundits

In September 2005, prices rose above $60 a barrel after Hurricane Katrina damaged oil production facilities in the US. The market increased again to $66 a barrel in January 2006 as a result of violence in Nigeria and Iran’s conflict with the west, before reaching a new peak in August when oil rose to $75 […]

UK: Green v green

Environmentalists are used to fighting battles. But with environmentalism going mainstream – wind farms, biofuels and nuclear power stations, for example, are fast becoming some of the most controversial issues in British politics today – environmentalists increasingly find themselves skirmishing with one another as they see-saw between pragmatism and idealism. The Lewis wind farm – […]

UK: Petrol crisis

A DUNDEE environmental expert last night predicted that the present fuel crisis which has seen queues at filling stations and pumps running dry provides a gloomy taste of the future. Philip Jenkins, natural resources management lecturer at Abertay University, said the western lifestyle was unsustainable because of excessive energy consumption. He said there is growing […]

Iraqi oil pipeline blown up again

An oil pipeline south of Baghdad has been blown up, wounding at least eight security guards, Iraqi police say. The blast, near the town of Iskandiriya, caused a large fire and disrupted the flow of crude oil to refineries in the south of Iraq. The pipeline carries fuel south from Baghdad’s Doura oil refinery. It […]

UK: Gasoline

A major fuel crisis will send petrol and diesel prices soaring this weekend. Industrial action has led to the closure of the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland, which produces 10 per cent of the country’s fuel. Knock-on effects will mean the shutdown of a pipeline that brings a third of Britain’s North Sea oil ashore. The […]

UK: RICE RATIONED AS PRICE ROCKETS 60% IN A YEAR

The soaring price of food Cash-and-carry chain Bestway, which has 51 outlets, has instructed staff not to allow bulk buying. Daily Express

Bizbits: Oil: Is oil headed to $200 per barrel?

HOUSTON But growing worldwide thirst for crude, in large part from the rapidly developing economies of China and India, means frustrated consumers probably won

‘Sustainable’ bio-plastic can damage the environment

Corn-based material emits climate change gas in landfill and adds to food crisis The worldwide effort by supermarkets and industry to replace conventional oil-based plastic with eco-friendly “bioplastics” made from plants is causing environmental problems and consumer confusion, according to a Guardian study. The substitutes can increase emissions of greenhouse gases on landfill sites, some […]

UK: PETROL: WE’RE RUNNING OUT

PETROL stations began running dry yesterday after the Government tried to reassure drivers about supplies His

High oil prices put focus on Strategic Petroleum Reserve

New York – Uncle Sam is adding 60,000 barrels of oil a day to giant underground caverns in Texas and Louisiana to be used for the proverbial “rainy day.” Is it raining yet? The price of oil is moving closer to $120 a barrel, up almost $19 a barrel for the month. Gasoline stations can […]

UK: Go-Ahead finds route around fuel rise

Go-Ahead, the rail and bus operator, put fears of rising rail fares on its routes to rest yesterday after revealing that it was protected against sharp increases in fuel prices in its key franchises. The group, which runs two of the biggest commuter routes into London, said that it had bought all the fuel it […]

Buzzard field hit by North Sea pipeline outage

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – The 200,000 barrel a day Buzzard oil field in the North Sea is among dozens that must stop pumping as a key pipeline powers down due to a strike planned this weekend at a Scottish refinery, Nexen Inc., the field’s operator, said on Friday. “As they go through those procedures, then […]

Goodbye SUV, hello small cars

Surge in gas prices leads to scaling down of the vehicles Americans drive. DETROIT (AP) — Scott Piechocinski roamed the rows of a CarMax dealership in Charlotte, N.C., on a recent afternoon, searching for something small to replace his son’s 2001 Nissan Pathfinder sport/utility vehicle. He’s not alone: As gas prices marched higher and now […]

What Nuclear Renaissance?

Despite a slick PR campaign hyping its promise, the nuclear industry isn’t going anywhere. It’s too costly and won’t save us from global warming. If you listen to the rhetoric, nuclear power is back. Smashing atoms will replace burning carbon-based coal, gas and oil. In the face of a disaster movie-like future of runaway climate […]

FACTBOX-The Strait of Hormuz, Iran and the risk to oil

(Reuters) – A cargo ship contracted by the U.S. military fired on an Iranian vessel in Gulf waters on Friday, raising tension between Washington and Tehran in a region vital to world oil shipments. In January, the United States said Iranian boats aggressively approached three U.S. navy battle ships, warning them they would explode in […]

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