North Dakota: The new Saudi Arabia?

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated in 2000 that the Bakken might hold 413 billion barrels. If so, it would dwarf Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar, the world’s biggest field, which has produced about 55 billion barrels. The challenge is in getting the oil out. Bakken crude is locked 2 miles underground in a layer of dolomite, […]

Richard Rainwater turns bearish on oil. For now

Billionaire investor Richard Rainwater has turned bearish on oil. Only temporarily bearish, mind you, but it still struck me as big enough news to write my column about this week. It’s not online just yet, but in the interest of serving this blog’s readers with the freshest possible news (and because Time’s PR folks are […]

Small cities should prepare for fewer flights

PRESCOTT, Ariz. – The rejection from Air Midwest came swiftly on a one-page fax. The carrier couldn’t afford to fly to the mountain community of Prescott anymore, officials said. The city would simply have to find a new tenant for its tiny airport. “Everything was going fine The federal government guaranteed numerous small towns and […]

Survivalists get ready for global meltdown

With oil prices soaring, a small but growing number of Americans are bracing for a global meltdown. They say they’re ready for it and plan to ride it out. Iver Lofving is convinced the world is running out of oil. He’s spent the last ten years getting ready for that day

Hollow victory

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett’s been proselytizing about peak oil from the House floor to the White House for years. He told us that America was in trouble by producing so much less oil than we consume. He warned of dependence on foreign oil and urged a national commitment to a smart energy policy In 2005, borrowing […]

A chilling global warming forecast

New reports about climate change should have us all sweating about the future. There’s always a new report about global warming, but the one released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with its charts on optimal temperatures for soybeans and peanuts, is downright creepy in its detail. This isn’t your usual futuristic fodder, with vague […]

Oil rises as dollar falls on Europe rate comments

NEW YORK – Oil prices rose back to $125 a barrel Thursday after the dollar fell in response to comments by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet suggesting the bank could raise interest rates. At the pump, meanwhile, gas prices rose to a new record near $3.99, and are likely to hit $4 soon. Trichet […]

Beyond gasoline: Prices surge for oil-based goods

New York – Besides gasoline, the Department of Energy calculates, there are 57 major uses of petroleum In brief, this means less money in consumers’ pockets in the months ahead. But it also goes beyond consumers. For example, the price of asphalt is up 65 percent so far this year

When the oil runs out

Have you heard of “peak oil”? If you are appalled at $4-a-gallon gasoline, you ain’t seen nothing yet…… For Pittsburgh, the peak-oil crisis is likely to have a profound impact upon the “ed-med” economy (higher education and medical institutions) that this region is betting on. This comes from Dan Bednarz, Pittsburgh’s Paul Revere on the […]

Religion and the survival of culture

Among the more interesting things I’ve had occasion to notice, during the time The Archdruid Report has been online, is a common assumption shared by the two popular viewpoints about the future of industrial society – the belief in a future of perpetual progress and the belief in a future of sudden collapse. Despite their […]

Six fixes for pricey gasoline

Ideas to help people ease the burden of high gas prices are swirling in Washington. Will any of them work? NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — With a nationwide average gas price of just about $4 a gallon, lots of people are thinking there must be something the government can do to help. Some things which contribute […]

New Zealand: Fertiliser price shock

Beleaguered district farmers are faced with a 90 percent hike in the cost of phosphate fertiliser, at a time most are already facing exceptionally poor returns and spiralling interest costs. Fertiliser costs have been rising steadily for the past few years, on the back of an enormous upsurge in demand from developing economies like China […]

AFGHANISTAN: Fund shortage may shut UN humanitarian air service

…Fuel prices have gone up by about 100 percent in the past 12 months, making flights very expensive, according to Lataste. “It’s also difficult to find operators who can meet UN flight safety standards and are willing to fly in Afghanistan, mostly due to insecurity,” he added. Intensifying conflict-related violence and deteriorating security in different […]

Brighter future for solar panels: silicon shortage eases

New factories could end a production logjam. But consumers may not see prices drop before 2010. Quartz, the raw material for solar panels, is one of the most abundant minerals on earth. But for years, the solar industry has faced a bottleneck in processing quartz into polysilicon, a principal material used in most solar panels. […]

Australia: Miners hobbled by gas shutdown at Apache Energy

HUNDREDS of millions of dollars in revenue could be wiped from the balance sheets of mining companies affected by the shutdown of Apache Energy’s Varanus Island gas processing plant in Western Australia. Many of the miners have been forced to switch to diesel, a much more expensive and strictly short-term solution. DJ Carmichael head of […]

Electricity outages anger, frustrate Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan The rising demand and inadequate energy infrastructure in this South Asian nation of 160 million people has precipitated the nationwide electricity outages, fueling protests that have turned violent and helping to sink the economy. The outages threaten to increase public frustration with Pakistan’s young government, which is already facing a challenge from Islamic […]

Border battle brews over Mexico’s undersea oil

Unable to develop its deepwater wells and crowded by foreign energy giants, the nation weighs opening up a key industry. U.S. GULF OF MEXICO — Eight miles north of the maritime border with Mexico, in waters a mile and a half deep, Shell Oil Co. is constructing the most ambitious offshore oil platform ever attempted […]

Chile truckers extend strike to protest fuel prices

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Truckers across Chile said late on Wednesday they would continue their national protest against high diesel prices, potentially restricting the movement of goods to local and export markets. Thousands of Chilean drivers started what was meant to be a 48-hour strike on Tuesday, parking their trucks along national highways in protest of […]

Improving Mileage: ‘Hypermiling’

And just as some three years ago, we had to start learning the new phrase

The Science of Denial

The Bush administration has worked overtime to manipulate or conceal scientific evidence The last week has brought further confirmation of the administration

Brazilian Oil Finds May Cost $240 Billion to Develop

(Bloomberg) — Brazil’s oil discoveries, including the Western Hemisphere’s largest in three decades, may cost $100 billion more to develop than the industry’s most costly field. The Tupi deposit and nearby offshore prospects probably will cost $240 billion to exploit, said Peter Wells, director of U.K. research firm Neftex Petroleum Consultants Ltd. and a former […]

‘Peak Oil’ author returns to Grass Valley

The last time Richard Heinberg came to Grass Valley to talk about the global energy crisis, gasoline cost around $3 a gallon. In September 2005, the author of “Peak Oil” said the world had reached the point at which it was consuming more fossil fuels than it was finding and refining. He then predicted gasoline […]

No stopping runaway fuel price as pressure on supplies increase

…Just like in the 1970s, the first decade of the twentieth century has seen rapid, major increases in commodity prices. Not just oil, but also gold and other precious metals, copper and other base metals, wheat, maize and other food crops have increased rapidly in price during the noughties. Partly as a result, inflation is […]

The latest gas pain: More job losses

An already weak labor market is likely to be further battered by high gas prices. Economists expect more layofffs in the next few months. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The labor market was having enough trouble so far this year. Now, fears about $4 gas and near-record oil prices are likely to throw more fuel on […]

Fuel prices: Bikers protest with motorway go-slow (UK)

Up to 500 motorcyclists mounted a slow convoy into Manchester city centre at rush hour this morning to protest at the rising cost of fuel. The bikers, who were joined by taxi drivers and about 30 lorry drivers, left Birch services on the M62 at 8am and rode slowly down the motorway. “In terms of […]

Continental Cuts 3,000 Jobs as It Grounds Planes

Continental Airlines said Thursday that it would cut 3,000 jobs and retire 67 Boeing aircraft from its fleet, becoming the latest airline to announce capacity reductions in the face of high prices for jet fuel. Continental Continental

Nigeria’s removal of Shell hailed

Shell’s removal from the controversial oil fields in Nigeria’s Ogoniland has been welcomed by the son of executed anti-pollution activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. Ken Saro-Wiwa Junior, a spokesman for Nigeria’s president, told the BBC it was a sign that the government was listening to the Ogoni people. Nigerian President Umaru Yar’adua said earlier that another company […]

Summer airfares double, triple, quadruple

The law of supply and demand is kicking in for airline passengers this summer This week, six (American, United, Delta, Northwest, Continental, US Airways) raised prices again for flights on many domestic routes where there’s no non-stop competition from low-fare carriers. The result, says travel price guru Tom Parsons of BestFares.com, is that the cheapest […]

India: Soaked by Oil Subsidies

Its state-controlled companies are losing a lot of money, and private rivals can’t compete You’d think Sarthak Behuria, chairman of Indian Oil, would be one of the world’s happiest executives. His state-controlled company, with $59 billion in revenues, is India’s largest refiner of oil into such products as gasoline and diesel, which are eagerly bought […]

Kiribati likely doomed by climate change: president

WELLINGTON (AFP) – The president of the low-lying Pacific atoll nation of Kiribati said Thursday his country may already be doomed because of climate change. President Anote Tong said communities had already been resettled and crops destroyed by sea water in some parts of the country, made up of 33 coral atolls straddling the equator. […]

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