Heinberg: Want Cheap Oil? Reduce Demand!

Ask the major oil companies or the US Department of Energy why oil prices are beyond ludicrous and they What the experts are really telling us is that a higher level of investment is needed now than was the case previously in order to produce the same increment of new oil. Hmmm. Let

Hybrids no quick fix

Looking to buy a hybrid vehicle? So is everyone else. It could take two months to 90 days to locate one in Cheyenne. But the waiting lists are even longer in Colorado, sending buyers north as they search for an opening. The rush began as soon as gasoline prices inched upward, and the pressure also […]

Minister’s warning on fuel prices (UK)

Welsh Transport Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones has written to the UK Treasury to warn about the impact spiralling fuel prices are having on hauliers in Wales. The Plaid Cymru leader and assembly government deputy first minister met hauliers’ representatives last month. BBC

School Bus Gas Shortage in South Carolina

Just a few weeks from the start of school, South Carolina could soon be facing a $12 million deficit in money to school the state’s school buses. We’re talking about 5,700 buses and about 12.5 million gallons of fuel, that’s what it takes to get your kids to school. But, by Christmas this year, the […]

As gas prices bite, Americans go Roman and eye up Vespas

For the longest time, big has been beautiful in America, at least in terms of cars. But as petrol prices bite into American pocketbooks, US motorists are ending their love affair with the “Yank tank”, and many are considering the ultimate step in downsizing: losing two wheels and riding a scooter. “Americans love cars, especially […]

More airlines fold as fuel prices soar – IATA

Twenty-five airlines went bust or stopped operations in the first six months of this year and more could fold as fuel prices soar, a spokesman for aviation industry association IATA warned. ‘In the last six months we suspended 25 airlines from the settlement system. Suspension occurs when an airline goes bankrupt or ceases operations. This […]

High Heating Oil Prices Signal Need For Migration

The poorer folks in New Hampshire are worrying over how they’ll keep warm in the next winter. Modest proposal: move to dwellings which cost less to heat. With the average price of heating oil at $4.53 a gallon, and the average use in New Hampshire about 800 gallons of oil each winter, a pre-buy contract […]

Still farming, but for how long?

Clifford Wells expects to receive 3 cents a pound more on his tobacco crop this year than he did last year. Problem is, Wells is spending twice as much on fuel for his farm vehicles and nearly triple for fertilizer on the 320 acres he farms in Carter County where he grows tobacco, raises beef […]

Fishermen say high fuel costs forcing them out of business

Alaska fishermen are hoping to catch tax breaks on two fronts: high fuel costs, and oil spill payouts (if any) from Exxon. “We’re seeing a 69% increase in fuel costs in Cordova from June of last year,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in a phone interview after she traveled to several fishing communities. “In Dillingham […]

U.S. gasoline to average $3.84/gal this year – EIA

Gasoline prices will remain above $4 a gallon for the rest of the year, while oil prices will continued to be pressured by the tight market for crude, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday. Regular-grade gasoline in the United States is expected to average $3.84 a gallon in 2008, up from a previous […]

Oil speculation: Why we don’t have answers

The debate over whether oil prices are being driven by speculators in the futures market or by the fundamentals of supply and demand for the physical product slides right on by a central point. The question Congress and regulators should be focusing on isn’t who is driving prices, but how prices are being driven. And […]

Saudi Arabia’s Waning Influence On the Oil Market

In the 1970s, particularly during the oil embargo of 1973, the oil market was almost single-handedly dominated by then-Saudi Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani. “For more than two decades,” writes Pamela Sherrid, “Ahmed Zaki Al-Yamani’s commands boosted or battered personal pockets books and national economies around the world.” [1] Today, when Saudi Oil Minister […]

Cheney wanted cuts in climate testimony

WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney’s office pushed for major deletions in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change, fearing the presentation by a leading health official might make it harder to avoid regulating greenhouse gases, a former EPA officials maintains. When six pages were cut from testimony on climate change and […]

Ignored, Scorned, Belittled and … Right

Have you forgotten what real leadership and real straight talk look and sound like? No wonder. Well here’s a refreshing refresher course. Back in 1977 the much maligned, President Jimmy Carter, showed genuine leadership and political courage, two traits almost entirely missing from today’s “leaders.” Following the Arab oil boycott of 1973, Carter took a […]

And some (natural gas) answers are expensive

When problems start to arise, it is common, and often wise, to focus attention on the issues that the problem starts to generate, and to reduce attention on less obvious other problems. So it is at present, when the rising price of oil, and its consequent impact on gas, and thence more general prices, is […]

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens wants to supplant oil with wind

SWEETWATER, Texas “We’re paying $700 billion a year for foreign oil. It’s breaking us as a nation, and I want to elevate that question to the presidential debate, to make it the No. 1 issue of the campaign this year,” Pickens says. Today, Pickens will take the wraps off what he’s calling the Pickens Plan […]

We have to stop wasting precious oil on frivolities

Anyway you crack it, oil remains the miracle fuel. A barrel of this concentrated sunlight is portable, burns cleanly relative to coal, has a high energy yield and until now has been relatively easy to obtain. This is why oil is the world’s fuel of choice for transportation systems whether they operate by road, rail, […]

China Shuts More Coal Power Plants; Warns on Shortage

(Bloomberg) — China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, shut 2.5 percent of its coal-fired power plants, prompting local governments to limit electricity consumption and issue warnings on possible blackouts. Insufficient coal supplies forced the closure of 58 power- generating units in central and northern China as of July 6, or 14,020 megawatts of capacity, data […]

The Bush Administration Strikes Oil in Iraq

…and speaking of oil, just when we were barely getting used to Big Oil and Iraq hitting the front pages of American newspapers in tandem, here comes Afghanistan! Who now remembers that delegation of Taliban officials, shepherded by Unocal (“We’re an oil and gas company. We go where the oil and gas is…”), back in […]

Britain says to slow introduction of biofuels

The British government said on Monday it would slow the introduction of biofuels to address concerns that switching the use of land could exacerbate climate change and push up food prices. The government accepted the conclusions of a report it commissioned from Ed Gallagher, chair of the Renewable Fuels Agency, which called for a more […]

Russia: Hydropower, Rail Shortages Will Likely Hit Coal Exports

Russia’s hydropower levels have fallen to the lowest in 16 years and coal-fired plants are struggling to take up the slack because a chronic rail wagon shortage is making it hard for them to get enough fuel, the country’s coal exporters said Monday. For years there have not been enough rail wagons available to move […]

N. Klein – Disaster capitalism: State of extortion

But these cases of disaster capitalism are amateurish compared with what is unfolding at Iraq’s oil ministry. It started with no-bid service contracts announced for ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP and Total (they have yet to be signed but are still on course). Paying multinationals for their technical expertise is not unusual. What is odd is […]

The Politics Behind Iraq’s Kurdish Oil

However much solidarity the US wants to show with the Kurds (and surely they deserve the real deal, not Kissinger’s false embrace) encouraging oil investment before there is a national consensus on sharing revenues is risky – maybe even reckless. It could make sense if you’ve have concluded that Iraq will eventually break up into […]

China’s move signals oil and gas ambition

Oil rigs are scarce commodities these days; so scarce that it can be easier to buy a company that owns them than to buy the rigs themselves. That is one of the main motives behind China Offshore Services’ $2.5bn acquisition of Awilco Offshore. There has been a high level of sensitivity over Chinese companies’ acquisitions […]

Greenland: Uranium vs. World Heritage

Greenland’s Home Rule government is facing a difficult decision these days. It must decide whether it wants to place southern Greenland on UNESCO’s World Heritage list or allow uranium mining. MPs are pushing for Southern Greenland to be designated by UNESCO for its 1000 years of agriculture dating back to the time of Eric the […]

Nuclear Recycling Fails the Test

In Europe uranium reprocessing has created higher risks and has spread radioactive wastes across international borders. Radiation doses to people living near the Sellefield reprocessing facility in England were found to be 10 times higher than for the general population. Denmark, Norway, and Ireland have sought to close the French and English plants because of […]

UK: Wind power offers politicians a quick fix in energy debate

There are more than 50 million private cars in the UK. They emit approximately 200 million tonnes of CO2 annually. A 33% reduction in fuel consumption would save 66 million tonnes of CO2 each year. This is equivalent to the claimed CO2 offset from more than 17GW of wind generation capacity. If we assume that […]

Toyota to put solar panels on Prius hybrids

Toyota Motor plans to install solar panels on some Prius hybrids in its next remodeling, responding to growing demand for “green” cars amid record-high oil prices, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said Monday. The panels, supplied by Kyocera, would be able to power part of the air-conditioning on high-end versions of the […]

Diesel Demand May Be Driving Oil Price

(Bloomberg) — Soaring fuel prices are damaging the U.S. economy, and the government should be doing whatever it can to slow or stop their astonishing ascent. Demand for diesel, according to energy economist Philip K. Verleger, may be driving much of the run-up in crude oil, which reached $145 per barrel on July 3. Truckers […]

India says link climate to food, energy for G8 deal

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A meaningful global deal to fight climate change will be impossible if it is not linked to food and energy security, India will tell the Group of Eight summit, a stand that rich nations say will make a pact difficult. Climate change is high on the agenda of the annual G8 […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy