Oil Price Off the Rails

The convergence of record high gas prices ($3.60 a gallon average across the U.S.), a presidential campaign, obscenely high earnings reports from Big Oil, and the prospect of $4 gas during the summer driving season has led to some rampant silliness, including the proposed According to economics, soaring prices would, in normal times, lead to […]

U.S. Oil Addicts Deny Need To Change Energy Policy

The addicts have spoken. Not only do they want more oil and gas drilling, anywhere and all the time. They also want to continue huge tax breaks for oil companies that are rolling in dough. For decades they have supported giant oil industry tax breaks like the oil depletion allowance. Now they oppose even short-term […]

GAO: Economic Implications of Switching from Coal to Nat. Gas at Power Plants

Elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases–carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and several synthetic chemicals–in the atmosphere resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels and other sources have the potential to cause significant changes in the earth’s climate. These potential impacts include shifts in sea level and weather patterns and could pose threats to coastal and other […]

China looks abroad amid global grain shortage

China is looking at farms in places like Russia and South America as it seeks new ways to feed the world’s largest population amid a global grain supply shortage, state media said Tuesday. Chinese companies exploring overseas agricultural resources that are in short supply will help balance domestic demand and supply, the Beijing Morning Post […]

Hunting for oil beneath the ice

There’s a new rush for petroleum from Alaska to the North Pole. Can ConocoPhillips and other energy giants find another Saudi Arabia under the ice? … Right now we’re some 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and it’s so white outside that the distant horizon appears to blend seamlessly into the blustery sky. The […]

Crumbcatchers

In the Roaring Twenties my grandfather, Diamond Ben, was a flashy guy. He had a taste for Cadillacs. He owned a tux and a diamond stickpin. He had a big house by the beach, and two garages on Broadway. He hung out with celebrities. But my grandfather lost the house and the two garages and […]

Russian April Oil Output Falls to Lowest in 18 Months

(Bloomberg) — Russia, the world’s second-largest oil supplier, produced the least amount of crude in 18 months in April as aging fields and rising costs threaten the country with the first annual decline in oil output in a decade. Production dropped to 9.72 million barrels a day (39.8 million metric tons a month), 0.8 percent […]

Carbon Disclosure Project Report

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the world Findings: 96% of suppliers identified greenhouse gas regulation as a potential risk. Taxation and emissions limits are the most commonly reported risks. Suppliers foresee extreme weather conditions adversely affecting operations and slowing productivity. 58% identified reduction in energy consumption as the best means of managing climate change related […]

Limitations of charcoal as an effective carbon sink

Fire-derived charcoal is thought to be an important carbon sink. However, a SLU paper in Science shows that charcoal promotes soil microbes and causes a large loss of soil carbon. There has been greatly increasing attention given to the potential of However, a new study by Professors David Wardle, Marie-Charlotte Nilsson and Olle Zackrisson at […]

Exxon profit soars, but misses forecasts

…Despite Exxon’s investments in finding new oil, the company production declined. In addition to oil production falling, overall production including natural gas fell by 3 percent. That drop will likely be noticed by proponents of the “peak oil” theory, who contend world oil production has peaked and will run out in fairly short order. Many […]

Canada: Rising prices spread fear at the pumps

You drive past the gas station in Orleans and the sign says your fill is going for $1.22 a litre. Blame it on Russia. The world’s largest oil producer reported that its output decreased for the first time in 10 years. It delivered one per cent less oil than a year ago. What’s disconcerting about […]

Massachusetts: Governor Patrick: clean energy a ‘better idea’

…Convinced that the age of fossil fuels is coming to a close, the governor hopes to seize on the imagination of business leaders to make Massachusetts the center of the clean energy industry through incentives that would eliminate the gas tax on certain biofuels and recruit innovative renewable energy firms to develop their technologies in […]

Senators ready dueling energy plans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats and Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate on Thursday set the stage for a divisive energy policy debate with two dueling party-line bills to combat high gasoline prices. With Senate Democrats promising to unveil a new proposal to tame record-high U.S. pump prices averaging $3.60 a gallon on Friday, Republicans rolled […]

Gulf States May End Dollar Pegs, Kuwait Minister Says

(Bloomberg) — Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency’s decline stoked inflation across the region, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa al- Shimali said. “Yes, there are some” Gulf Cooperation Council states considering dropping their pegs to the dollar, which has fallen 13 percent against the euro in the last […]

Oil prices rally as Turkey bombs Kurds in Iraq

LONDON (AFP) – The price of oil climbed back above 113 dollars on Friday in reaction to news that Turkish planes bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts in oil-rich Iraq overnight, analysts said. Prices were rising at the end of a volatile week in which crude struck a record high of almost 120 dollars before sliding on […]

Do you need to stock up the bunker?

In the 1950s and 1960s, bunkers were a feature of many American suburban homes, populated by families fearful of the prospect of nuclear war. That threat has subsided, but now many reasonable people are stockin up on essential supplies in preparation for a new cataclysm. When you hear the word “survivalist”, what image comes to […]

Iran Doubles Oil Stored in Tankers, Bolstering Rates

Iran, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, more than doubled the amount stored in tankers idling in the Persian Gulf, sending ship prices higher as demand for some of its crude fell, people familiar with the situation said. The 10 tankers hold at least 20 million barrels of oil, equal to about 5 days of the country’s […]

Iran’s yen for the euro

Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer, has reportedly shifted from the US dollar to euro and yen as currencies in which it will trade its crude produce. This is seen as a major blow to the US dollar as a reserve currency. Iran’s move may be determined partly because of its ongoing political stand-off […]

Rocketing oil price leaves British Airways on the runway

The terse one-line statement from British Airways that it is “exploring opportunities” with American Airlines and Continental is confirmation of just how worried the three are by rising oil prices. AA and Continental announced huge first-quarter losses and BA is expected to reveal its second profit warning of the year next month as crude remains […]

Bolivia takes over four energy companies

Bolivia will pay $43 million to take controlling stakes in four energy companies, one through an agreement with Spanish oil company Repsol and others through state decrees, the government said on Thursday. Bolivia’s state energy company YPFB signed a deal with Repsol, agreeing to pay $6.3 million to acquire enough shares to give it a […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Half-Life For Air Travel

In recent weeks, airlines around the world have been reporting substantial losses, declaring bankruptcy or completely shutting down. So far the losses have been mostly of small airlines, but many of the large ones have started to thrash around for merger partners. At $3.71 a gallon, jet fuel is now the single largest expense an […]

Natural born survivors

For three years, my husband has talked about taking to the hills. About buying a smallholding on Exmoor where, with our four-year-old daughter, we can safely survive the coming storm – famine, pestilence and a total breakdown of society. I would wait for his lectures to finish, then return to my own interests. I had […]

Oil Price May Go Up to $250, Warn Experts

Crude prices continue to baffle analysts and pundits. With the $100-era a well established fact in our daily life, there is now a growing chatter within the energy fraternity that $200 a barrel may not be a far fetched idea altogether. Is another global oil shock now gathering pace? With limited additional supplies, alternative fuel […]

Lower oil production is the real story

The profit is what captures everyone’s attention, but there’s a bigger concern hidden amid the numbers of Exxon Mobil’s earnings. The company’s worldwide oil production fell 10 percent, to just under 2.5 million barrels a day.The problem isn’t unique to Exxon Mobil.While Exxon Mobil boosted production from fields in West Africa and the North Sea, […]

Global warming could starve oceans of oxygen: study

Global warming could gradually starve parts of the tropical oceans of oxygen, damaging fisheries and coastal economies, a study showed on Thursday. Areas of the eastern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with low amounts of dissolved oxygen have expanded in the past 50 years, apparently in line with rising temperatures, according to the scientists based in […]

Coal Use Set to Increase in the Global Energy Mix

A combination of strong demand, record oil and gas prices, concerns over energy security and a reluctance to recommit to nuclear energy, has seen a renaissance of coal in the European energy mix. This is a trend closely mirrored in the US and Asia. However, while coal might help to fill growing energy security gaps, […]

Leggett: Dawn of an energy famine

This week the shape of the global energy crisis came into its sharpest focus yet. The world needs renewable energy fast, but as BP and Shell announced record profits, they also demonstrated that they are in essence retreating from renewables, perhaps with the exception of biofuels. They intend to focus their record billions on expanding […]

Rationing — Food For Thought

…If food prices continue their rapid ascent, and if hording or rationing result, the social climate may deteriorate rapidly .It is hard to imagine two more potent causes of insurrection than economic hardship accompanied by a denial of access to food. In some countries food shortages already are causing riots. The situation is so grave […]

Car buyers lighten up

High gas prices drive buyers toward smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Reports released Thursday by top automakers affirmed the continuing shift in vehicle sales: Record-high gasoline prices are prompting more consumers to switch to smaller cars. GM General Motors, the world’s largest automaker, said sales of light vehicles fell 16% to 257,638 in […]

Global fertiliser shortage looming

MOTORISTS and transport operators may be complaining about the cost of fuel at the pumps with prices now in the region of Farmers are just about managing to survive with higher fuel costs which have seen “red diesel,” now priced at over 60p per litre. But the same cannot be said for the cost of […]

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