Post Traumatic Oil Price Disorder

You know you live in a decadent country when basic facts of life are greeted with jeers and calls for excommunication from the realm like Paul Krugman is getting pilloried for his recent NYT piece on oil price inflation. Here’s the deal folks, oil is priced in dollars and to bail out the U.S. banking […]

Kashagan field oil production delayed

Kazakhstan Meanwhile, experts told New Europe that a further change of dates, from 2011 to 2012-2013, was predictable.

Study: Climate change not behind hurricanes

Research is the latest to look at link between storm and warmer temps WASHINGTON – Global warming isn’t to blame for the recent jump in hurricanes in the Atlantic, concludes a study by a prominent federal scientist whose position has shifted on the subject. Not only that, warmer temperatures will actually reduce the number of […]

Fluorescent bulbs easy to use, tough to recycle

There are still too few disposal options for the bulbs, which contain mercury MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – It’s a message being drummed into the heads of homeowners everywhere: Swap out those incandescent lights with longer-lasting compact fluorescent bulbs and cut your electric use. Governments, utilities, environmentalists and, of course, retailers everywhere are spreading the word. Few, […]

Why do economists frown on a tax on windfall oil profits?

WASHINGTON – Hitting oil companies with a windfall profits tax seems like a perfect campaign pitch, since it would effectively return part of the industry’s record profits to strapped consumers. But a lot of Republicans, as well as most economists, have serious questions about whether the tax makes sense. They cite the country’s previous experience […]

Facts back moving beyond oil

Myths about the current world oil situation and rapid fuel price increases are causing confusion for consumers, businesses and government policymakers. Unfortunately, many people don’t have ready access to alternative points of view. This author strongly recommends that the reader do some research on the Internet to verify the truth of the following claims. MYTH […]

When cars compete with people for food

Crude oil prices hit $120 a barrel this month, translating into gas pump prices above $4 a gallon in parts of the United States. As a result, the rallying cry of energy self-sufficiency is gaining strength, reinforcing the U.S. policy of promoting renewable fuels, particularly corn-based ethanol, to reduce dependence on imported oil. But a […]

Was Malthus just off a few decades?

In 1798, Robert Malthus, in his “Essay on the Principle of Population,” concluded that as population grows, “the price of labor must tend toward a decrease, while the price of provisions would at the same time tend to rise.” In 1968, Paul Ehrlich in the book “The Population Bomb,” predicted disaster for humanity owing to […]

This pundit is immersed in oil data

Tom Kloza, chief analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, is the go-to guy for those who want to know why gasoline prices are soaring and where they’re heading. When it comes to gasoline, Tom Kloza doesn’t feel your pain. He lives only about four miles from his office. In fact, the price pressure at […]

In Siberia, Shopping Malls Are Sprouting All Over

…Siberia, where Russians waited in long lines to buy food with ration cards not long ago, is the improbable epicenter of a huge mall boom. As retail businesses shrink in the United States, provincial Russian towns like this one have become targets of retailers and shopping center developers from around the world. Malls in this […]

US Natural Gas: The Role of Unconventional Gas

US natural gas production has been flat for a number of years. We keep hearing that US production is expected to begin declining sometime in the next few years, but it doesn’t seem to happen. While it is not obvious from most published data, the reason production remains level is because unconventional gas production has […]

Our tails get in the way

The problems and principles of energy descent …Let us imagine ourselves climbing up a rather steep and precarious tree, boosted up by fossil energies into a place we simply could never get to without them. The problems we are facing right now all originate in our fundamental inability to voluntarily set limits — that is, […]

$4 Gas: The End of an Era?

…Someday, family road trips may become completely unaffordable. People who study the oil industry say that classic summer road trips could be going the way of the extinct Ford Edsel. That’s because the demand for oil is increasing all over the world. In India and China, the number of new cars on the road has […]

Australia: Fears over state’s food security

VICTORIA’S ability to feed itself is threatened by new farming practices and cheap imported fruit and vegetables, warns a major food report commissioned by the State Government. Competition for water and increased fuel costs are driving farmers away from essential food production to high-value export-oriented crops such as wine, almonds and dairy. The Secure and […]

Plans for new coal plants under fire

Protesters are to launch one of the hardest-hitting environmental campaigns for more than a decade over plans to build a new generation of coal-fired power stations in the UK. Senior scientists, City investors, international leaders and MPs from all parties have joined environmental groups in condemning plans to approve coal plants before there are guarantees […]

Zones of death are spreading in oceans due to global warming

Marine dead zones, where fish and other sea life can suffocate from lack of oxygen, are spreading across the world The study, by scientists from some of the world

Russia accused of annexing the Arctic for oil reserves by Canada

The battle for “ownership” of the polar oil reserves has accelerated with the disclosure that Russia has sent a fleet of nuclear-powered ice breakers into the Arctic. It has reinforced fears that Moscow intends to annex “unlawfully” a vast portion of the ice-covered Arctic, beneath which scientists believe up to 10 billion tons of gas […]

Indonesia limits fuel purchases ahead of price rise: report

Indonesia’s oil and gas company Pertamina has set limits on subsidised fuel purchases ahead of the government’s plans to hike fuel prices, reports said Saturday. In an announcement sent to petrol stations around the capital and several other cities, Pertamina has limited retail purchases of gasoline and diesel fuel to 75,000 rupiah (8 dollars) for […]

The coal industry’s ace in the hole

The coal industry is planning to replace oil by turning coal into liquid fuels and into feedstocks for the chemical industry. Of course they are also planning to burn ever-more coal to produce electricity. If these plans materialise, green chemistry and renewable solar energy will both be sidelined for the rest of this century. You […]

A big cause of the high price of gasoline

Here is a test question for you: The next time you find yourself irritated by the price of gasoline, you need to remind yourself of how much — or little — of that nearly $4 per gallon charge is the oil company’s profit. How much is that profit, anyway? As a frame of reference, start […]

Ecuador offers to buy out oil companies

President Rafael Correa says Ecuador wants to buy out private oil companies unwilling to negotiate new deals with his government. Correa has asked companies now suing over an October decree that slashed their share of windfall oil profits to 1 percent to drop their lawsuits.Ecuador on Friday offered to boost those companies’ share of soaring […]

‘Food prices may drop 20 pc if biofuel production stopped’

Global food prices could ease by up to 20 per cent by 2010 if biofuel production is stopped completely across the world, a US-based think-tank has said in its latest report. “If biofuel demand from food crops was abolished after 2007, prices of key food crops would drop more significantly. By 2010, maize prices are […]

Airbus and Algae: Why Biofuels Won’t Cut It

We noted yesterday aviation’s uphill battle to replace tradititional—and increasingly expensive—jet fuel with alternative fuels. Today, Airbus and Honeywell announced a new project to provide one-third of aviation’s fuel needs by 2030 using second-generation biofuels made from things like vegetable biomass and algae. The problem is, even if the Airbus plan works exactly as expected, […]

What if gas cost $10 a gallon?

Forget pizza delivery. And cheap airfares. And bottled water. In fact, forget a way of life that looks much like today’s. But would that be so bad? In four years, U.S. gas prices have doubled to more than $3.70 a gallon, and crude oil has tripled to around $125 a barrel. Allowing for inflation, that’s […]

Peak Oil and Politicians

In 1956, M. King Hubbert, a petroleum geologist with Shell Oil, presented a paper to the American Petroleum Institute that predicted US oil production would peak in the early 1970s and then follow a declining curve, now known as Hubbert’s curve. But Hubbert almost didn’t get to give his paper. He got a call from […]

Goldman sees oil averaging $141 in second half

Says fundamentals argue in favor of WTI prices continuing to move higher NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Goldman Sachs once again issued a provocative forecast for the price of crude oil Friday, saying a barrel is likely to average $141 over the second half of the year — a further 10% or so above the latest […]

The Caribbean will pay a price for flatfootedness, says economist

…”In a lecture in 2001, I tried to explain that oil prices would increase to US$80 per barrel. (This indicates a US$3 billion dollar increase to the airline industry alone in operational expenses as a consequence for tourism in the Caribbean). I shall like now to suggest that according to our analysis at the Landfall […]

Iran criticizes Saudi Arabia for oil production increase

Tehran – Iran on Saturday criticized a decision by Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production, Fars news agency reported. While terming the Saudi decision a ‘political move,’ Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari told Fars that a production increase would just lead to a further increase in reserves. Fars reported that the increase followed a […]

UK demands repayment of climate aid to poor nations

Developing countries attack plan to offer warming help as loans instead of grants Britain’s But the Guardian has learned that the money is not additional British aid and will be administered by the World Bank mainly in the form of concessionary loans which poor countries will have to pay back to Britain with interest. A […]

Global Warming as an Eviction Notice?

It’s May 15th in Sonoma County. I live in the coastal wine region — a short 8-mile drive to the Pacific ocean. At this time of year the temperatures are supposed to range between highs of 70 and lows in the high 40s. Yesterday it was 94 degrees and today it’s supposed to top 104. […]

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