NZ: Smelter threatens closure over Govt’s carbon scheme

The owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter near Invercargill are threatening to close – which would put thousands of Kiwis out of work – and they are blaming the Government’s costly carbon emissions trading scheme. The Asia Pacific head of owners Rio Tinto flew from Europe to Parliament today – to tell MPs if […]

Families now need

Millions of families are having to spend almost The rate has jumped alarmingly from 15.5 per cent in April – a 3.6 per cent rise – and there is no sign of the pressure easing. There is now a worldwide crisis over supplies of key crops such as corn, wheat and rice. It has triggered […]

Nigeria: Nupeng Predicts More Crisis in Delta

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has raised the alarm that unless the issue of Nigerian workers in multinational oil companies, whom it accuses of turning to slaves, is addressed the current crisis in the Niger Delta might be a child’s play in the future. NUPENG’s national president, Comrade Peter Akpatason,who […]

Nigeria: Niger Delta – Financial Crisis Hits Shell

Production looses arising from the protracted Niger Delta crisis and alleged inability of the Nigerian Government to properly fund its own share of the Joint venture has put the Shell Petroleum Development Com-pany of Nigeria (SPDC) in a financial crisis. THISDAY checks revealed that the Royal Dutch Company is cash-strapped and has been finding it […]

China faces 7.3 million tonne LPG shortfall in 2010: report

China will face a shortfall of 7.3 million tonnes in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply by 2010 due to surging demand in the countryside and small and medium-sized cities, state media reported on Monday. According to the development plan of the country’s oil industry, domestic demand of LPG is forecast to hit 26.2 million tonnes […]

Petroleum : A Historical Review

The effect that rising oil prices have on a market is not directly proportional to the cost of crude oil. For example, while crude oil prices increased 400% from 2003-2008, United States gasoline prices did not rise by the same amount. This is because the profits of distributors and retailers, production costs (such as refining, […]

Venezuela’s Chavez to buy Chinese K-8 planes

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday the OPEC nation will buy Chinese military training planes, expanding recent arms purchases and further cementing a growing relationship with China. Chavez in recent years has stepped up purchases of weapons and planes. Washington accuses the self-styled revolutionary of carrying out an arms spending spree that could destabilize […]

Oil Shock 2?

Two years ago a leading economist published a study provocatively titled: “What would $120 oil mean for the global economy?” Answer: a global recession, if the price stayed there for a year. Now the future has arrived, with the United States and other nations getting a double whammy from both the mortgage crisis and oil […]

Economy and the World in Crisis: Gas, Food, Thought

Crisis is defined first as a “turning point” and secondly as a “crucial situation.” Currently the world is deep into the latter as it relates to energy and food, though inevitably the present situation will evolve into the former. The international community, and particularly the United States, must be willing to think differently about energy, […]

Who’s Really to Blame for Rising Oil?

This might be the worst kind of oil spill. The bubbly high price of oil has spilled over into food and the damage appears to be life threatening. Somalia is the latest to join the growing list of African countries where rising food prices have led to violence. A sack of rice that sold for […]

Drillers blame rules for gas costs

Workers in the gas industry and their bosses turned out in force last week for the ninth Four Corners Oil & Gas Conference at McGee Park. Conference chairman Rod Troxell, the Health, Safety and Environmental Professional for Pesco Inc., called the conference “really more of a trade show,” as evidenced by the 370-plus vendors’ booths. […]

China’s energy security moves it closer to the Middle East

Energy consumption in China is growing as fast as the rapidly growing Chinese economy. China has changed from a net oil exporter to a net oil importer. In recent years, 40 to 50 percent of the oil that China consumes is imported. Of that, 60 percent comes from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar […]

Russia becoming energized

Even so, as energy prices soar, Russia grows wealthier and more powerful by the day, a sort of Saudi Arabia with snow. Interestingly, Russia today commands far more influence over Western Europe than it did when 100 Red Army divisions threatened the continent to the point where France began re-arming the Maginot forts. Russia’s Gazprom […]

Saudi keeps June crude supplies to Japan steady

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, will supply full contracted volumes of crude oil in June to two Japanese lifters, steady from May levels, industry sources said on Monday. “The supply will be the contract volume for June,” said the source with a Japanese refiner. A second source with another Japanese lifter also said […]

Trains may not be our biggest worry

U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., stopped by last week and said, among a lot of other things, that America needs bigger ideas. He lamented that for 25 years we’ve been mired in things too small. As a nation, “we need more creativity and imagination,” he said, not quite pounding the conference table, but he seemed […]

OPEC talk of pumping more oil

THE oil cartel OPEC said it would consult on a possible increase in production after the price of crude rose for a fifth successive day on Friday, trading above $US126 a barrel for the first time. Amid heavy speculative buying by hedge funds, an OPEC source said member countries might discuss action aimed at bringing […]

Ghana: ‘Literally, This Is Energy From Dirt’

You’ve heard of solar power, and also wind power. Now, you might start hearing about soil power as well. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that make use of the energy given off by soil microbes are amongst the technologies that hold promise for bringing power to developing states, where electricity is often scarce.The cells also form […]

High oil prices will break some airlines: Ryanair boss

The current record highs in oil prices will force some airlines into bankruptcy, the outspoken chief executive of budget airline Ryanair told a German newspaper on Sunday. World oil prices have rocketed 25 percent since the start of 2008 and have doubled in the past 12 months from around 62 dollars. If the high prices […]

The oil rocket

Nothing can rise exponentially, even if it is crude Oil. The asset’s exponential rise is more an indication of an ending trend and not vice versa. There aren’t any chilly warnings of Oil heading to $200, like many in OPEC believe. Does OPEC really know? The axiom linked with $40 plus Oil, as harbinger of […]

Iran looks to tap key oil field with homegrown crews

AZADEGAN OIL FIELD, Iran (AP) — At this huge oil field in southwest Iran, one building stands out among the pumps and maze of pipelines: On its roof in giant letters, big enough for satellites or pilots to see, are the words: “We can do it.” The slogan, made famous by Iran’s revolutionary leader, Ayatollah […]

Qatar says oil price out of OPEC’s control

DOHA (Reuters) – There is nothing OPEC can do to reduce record oil prices, so there is no need for the organisation to hold an emergency meeting before September, Qatar’s oil minister said on Sunday. “We don’t need to meet before September because we have nothing to do before September,” Abdullah al-Attiyah told Reuters by […]

Oil powered Norway gradually turns into the wind

UTSIRA, Norway (AFP) – As Norway prepares for a future after oil, the gale-force potential of harvesting wind power off its long coastline has become an increasingly attractive proposition. “Wind-mapping shows that … Norway is among the (world’s) most ideal locations for wind power, both on the coast and offshore,” said Norwegian Deputy Petroleum and […]

Low supply means it’s the end of the road for cheap oil

OVER the past 10 years, the price of oil has risen from $10 a barrel to more than $120. But are the days of cheap motoring gone for good? The rocketing prices have underlined a number of important changes in the global oil industry. There has been a major shift in the balance of power, […]

Australia: Families in west running on empty

SOARING fuel prices are carving into the budgets of car-dependent households in western Sydney, exacerbating problems of insufficient public transport options and long distances to workplaces. Families in the west are driving up to 20 times the distance of those in the eastern suburbs, inner west and Lower North Shore, according to research by a […]

Gas prices hit another record high

The price for a gallon of gas jumped to $3.707, trumping Friday’s record $3.671 a gallon. CNNMoney (NEW YORK) — Retail gasoline prices jumped to yet another record high Sunday, according to drivers’ advocacy group AAA’s Web site. The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline edged up to $3.707, topping the […]

Greeks queue for petrol as fuel truckers strike

ATHENS (Reuters) – Thousands of Greeks queued for hours at petrol stations to fill up their cars on Saturday as a fuel truck drivers’ strike started to hit supplies. Some 70 percent of stations around the country had run out of petrol, officials said, as the strike to press for higher distribution fees for truck […]

Nuclear Fuel Recycling: More Trouble Than It’s Worth

Plans are afoot to reuse spent reactor fuel in the U.S. But the advantages of the scheme pale in comparison with its dangers Although a dozen years have elapsed since any new nuclear power reactor has come online in the U.S., there are now stirrings of a nuclear renaissance. The incentives are certainly in place: […]

The End of OPEC

Churchill The cartel has struggled with both tasks. They have had some successes and some failures in keeping short term prices high. But since prices broke out of the $30 ceiling in 2003, OPEC had had little success in containing the price rise. Now analysts are increasingly questioning whether OPEC is able to contain oil […]

Oil Prices Are Up and Politicians Are Angry. Yawn.

There is seemingly no more combustible mix than high oil prices and a hotly contested election. With gasoline closing in on $4 a gallon, Washington is awash in proposals to bring down prices But what can the White House, Congress or competing presidential candidates do to reduce gas prices in the near term? The short […]

Price of fertiliser soars with food crisis

FERTILISER prices have shot up to record levels as farmers around the world scramble to grow enough to alleviate the world food shortage. The general manager of distributor AG Plus, Matt Henry, said its two main fertilisers, MAP or monammonium phosphate and DAP or diammonium phosphate, were worth between $420 and $450 a tonne two […]

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