South Africa: Eskom Shutdowns Slash Growth to 6,5-Year Low

SA’s economic growth slumped to a 6,5-year low in the first quarter of this year, as power outages led to a sharp contraction in mining output and sharply curbed activity in the key manufacturing sector. Growth in gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to 2,1% in the first three months of the year — down from […]

Kenya: Price Controls Cannot Stop Energy Crisis

Continuous rise in the prices of petroleum products globally is bound to adversely impact on struggling economies – especially petroleum importing countries such as Kenya. The last oil crisis of the 1970s left the economies of these countries in tatters that many are yet to fully recover from. Yet another crisis seems to be looming.To […]

Germany’s Merkel Pledges Millions To Save Forests

Germany has pledged 500 million euros ($786.2 million) by 2012 to help protect the world’s forests, a move activists said could give impetus to UN talks on preserving the earth’s biodiversity. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who won praise from environmentalists last year for her part in pushing through EU and G8 deals to fight climate change, […]

Pricey petrol does a world of good

There was a time when supermarket dockets were but fiddly bits of paper that were carelessly crumpled and thrown away. But a strange thing is happening at checkouts across the country. People are receiving their dockets gratefully, folding them carefully, and saving them to claim a four-cents-a-litre discount on petrol. Soaring fuel prices have transformed […]

Canada House Gives Green Light To Biofuel Bill

Government legislation that will require all gasoline sold in Canada to contain 5 percent ethanol by 2010 passed the House of Commons on Wednesday. The bill, which also calls for diesel to contain 2 percent renewable fuels by 2012, won the support of the main opposition Liberal Party but was opposed by two smaller parties […]

US-made oil disaster has mileage

There is no end in sight to the recent strong gains in oil prices, endangering world economic growth and food equilibrium. This prediction is supported by our own modeling, which indicates that prices are more likely to go up than down in the near future. Could this mess have been avoided, why did it come […]

High fuel costs could reduce tuna fishing: industry group

Rising fuel costs may force one third of ocean-going long-line tuna fishing boats across the world to halt operations, an industry group said Thursday. About 140 boats from Taiwan, China, South Korea, Fiji and elsewhere are already standing idle at port, said Yuichiro Harada, managing director at the Tokyo-based Organisation for the Promotion of Responsible […]

Dow, citing ‘energy crisis,’ ups its prices

Energy policymakers blamed, consumer goods could rise 20 percent Better start stocking up on diapers and detergent. Consumers hit hard in recent months by sharply higher prices for gasoline and food should prepare to start paying more for various household items following Dow Chemical Co.’s decision to raise its prices by up to 20 percent […]

Australian, Chinese researchers make breakthrough in renewable energy materials

A group of Australian and Chinese researchers have made a ground-breaking discovery which could revolutionize solar energy. Max Lu, professor at the University of Queensland (UQ)’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), said here Thursday they were one step closer to the holy grail of cost-effective solar energy with their discovery.. “We have grown […]

Pricey Oil’s Ugly Spillover

The U.S. has reached an important turning point in the development of the digital economy. If oil prices remain high, we will see whether the culture of abundance can survive an encounter with the culture of scarcity. One possibility is that the high cost of oil actually accelerates the shift into the virtual world, as […]

Why gas is so expensive

It’s not runaway greed or overregulation. It’s the world we live in. It’s a price that can be seen in a single gallon of California gas. I can’t decide whether to frame or burn the receipt from a Chevron filling station in Berkeley, Calif., that documents how much I spent to fill the tank of […]

U.S. needs more than hope to handle Earth’s harsh reality

A few weeks ago my wife and I were in New Mexico’s capital, Santa Fe, for Grandparents Day at a private school. Old folks from all over the U.S. had gathered to admire the accomplishments of their beautiful grandchildren. Of course, I talked to these people, asking pointed questions and discovering that there is little […]

The Problem Isn

Whenever corporate executives are summoned to testify on Capitol Hill, you can bet it Here

Crude Oil $130 and Beyond

Markets have a way of humbling even the most prescient prognosticator. That’s definitely been the case for oil this decade. There have been perfectly good reasons why oil prices couldn’t break, let alone hold, every perceived milestone it’s hit and passed in recent years One of the early bear arguments against oil was its potential […]

Exxon Mobil CEO takes aim at environmentalists

DALLAS — Rex Tillerson, chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest oil-and-gas company, came out swinging Wednesday against the environmental movement, arguing the science of climate change is far from settled and that his company views it as its “corporate social responsibility” to continue to supply the world with fossil fuels. […]

Tax U-turn to boost North Sea oil

Oil industry leaders are anticipating more North Sea tax relief after the first signs of a Government U-turn. Modest tax changes were announced yesterday as the Prime Minister and Chancellor intervened to try to boost flagging production. Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling took the unprecedented step of making a direct appeal to oil industry leaders […]

Chevron profits shadowed by human rights complaints

SAN RAMON, Calif. (Reuters) – Despite higher profits on record oil prices, the board of directors at Chevron Corp, the No. 2 U.S. petroleum producer, was lambasted at the company’s annual meeting on Wednesday. Shareholders and activists urged company officials to take responsibility for the environmental and human costs of oil production. They harangued the […]

Melting of methane ice triggered long-ago warming surge: study

PARIS (AFP) – Melting of methane ice unleashed runaway global warming some 635 million years ago, according to a study released Wednesday that has implications for today’s climate-change crisis. Release of the potent greenhouse-gas, at first in small amounts and then in massive volumes, brought a sudden end to the planet’s longest Ice Age, its […]

Perfect Oil Storm Brewing in the U.S.

Everyone talks mercilessly about Peak Oil, but is it time to introduce the concept of Peak Demand? At least in the United States? The Federal Highway Administration [FHWA], a part of the United States Department of Transportation [DOT], released its monthly “Traffic Volume Trends” report last Friday. The report showed that estimated vehicle miles traveled […]

The world must end its addiction to oil

This week, a battalion of angry addicts brought London to a standstill. They snarled up the traffic, then marched on 10 Downing Street to demand their fix at prices they can afford. Across the world, in countries as different as the US and Iran, fellow junkies are rising up in rage. Their addiction is to […]

Australia: Fuel price debate ignores real issue

Even by the debased standards of political debate in this country, the petty point-scoring between the Opposition and the Government on easing the burden of petrol prices has achieved a new low. Both sides of politics have done their homework. Their focus groups obviously show that the issue is uppermost in voters’ minds. The question […]

Asian countries begin to burst the oil bubble

One by one, countries across Asia and the Middle East are being forced to abandon price controls on fuel and energy, bringing hundreds of millions of consumers face to face with the true market cost of oil. The effect has already begun to chip away at world demand and may ultimately trigger a slide in […]

FACTBOX: Peak oil: Fact or fallacy?

(Reuters) – The price of crude oil has hit record levels above $135 a barrel, pushing industry analysts to take more seriously peak oil, or the idea that global production is near an apex after which it will decline sharply. The following are some facts about the concept, its adherents and its detractors. – The […]

Global warming to deplete Great Lakes even more

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Global warming will likely drain more water from the Great Lakes and pose added pollution threats to the region’s vulnerable ecosystem, environmental groups said in a report issued on Wednesday. Climate change could further reduce scant ice cover observed in recent winters, increasing evaporation rates and dropping water levels in the five […]

Why oil costs over $120 per barrel

With oil reaching $135 / barrel, Oil Drum readership exceeding 30,000 unique visitors per day and many wild stories circulating in the MSM as to why oil prices are so high this post strives to explain why oil prices are rising exponentially. The most significant feature of the chart up top is the dog leg […]

For Big Oil, does the future look too much like the past?

With Big Oil pumping out immense profits, you Exxon Mobil Corp., the giant among giants, remains outspoken in its belief in the enduring primacy of oil — an issue that activist shareholders challenged at the company’s annual meeting today in Dallas. Energy alternatives have gotten a bit more traction at Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips, but […]

Work-at-home programs may be shortest route to fuel relief

I filled my tank at a gas station in Santa Monica last week and the price was $4.09 for a gallon of regular. Ouch. I drove past that same station over the holiday weekend, and the price was $4.19. Good. Well, not good exactly. With food prices soaring and healthcare costs showing no mercy, it’s […]

Why, In China, Gas Is $2.49 A Gallon

China’s strong economy and huge appetite for energy have been key drivers in the current $130-per-barrel price of oil. China imports over half of its oil, regards the industry as “strategically vital,” controls retail prices and is facing inflation in excess of 8%. The price may seem daunting in the U.S., but it is much […]

Sanyo, VW to develop batteries for hybrids

Lithium-ion strategy comes as VW works on diesel-electric Golf TOKYO – Sanyo and Germany’s Volkswagen AG will develop lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles as global automakers race to develop more environmentally friendly technology. Japanese electronics maker Sanyo Electric Co. said Wednesday it will invest $769 million to expand production by 2015 of such batteries, with […]

Russia’s ‘hypermortality’

An alarming new word has been born. It is “hypermortality,” which might be defined as an extraordinary tendency toward death. It jumps from the first page of the U.N. Development Program report entitled “Demographic Policy in Russia.” “The Russian phenomenon of hypermortality comes to be observed primarily in working-age populations,” it says. “Compared to the […]

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