Peak oil review – July 28

1. Production and Prices 2. India 1. Production and Prices Oil prices continued to fall last week, closing at $123 on Friday, a $24 per barrel drop since July 11th. US gasoline consumption continues to slip with MasterCard now reporting that sales are down by 3.3 percent compared to last summer. Analysts are projecting a […]

Paris mayor eyes sharing electric cars

PARIS – Parisians and tourists alike so eagerly embraced a citywide bike-sharing scheme launched a year ago that the ambitious mayor is setting his sights on a bigger conveyance. With four wheels. And powered by electricity. In Bertrand Delanoe’s latest “green” dream, a driver would pick up an electric car at a lot in the […]

Postal Service tests hydrogen for its huge fleet

IRVINE, Calif. – It’s just one out of 220,000 U.S. Postal Service vehicles, but the hydrogen-powered fuel cell car now being used in this city represents the agency’s quest to reduce its petroleum appetite. The USPS station in Irvine last Wednesday became the first in the nation to test drive a Chevrolet Equinox as part […]

Sunscreen for fruits, veggies? Farmers try it

Warming, drought will make heat stress ‘bigger issue,’ expert says FRESNO, Calif. – Sunscreen for fruits and vegetables is being tested in Australia and Chile, and now California farmers are checking it out courtesy of a local vendor. Just like people damage their skin in the sun, produce can also get nasty burns. That’s why […]

Oil sands get nod from U.S. anti-poverty group

‘All Energy Is Good’ CALGARY — Support for Canada’s oil sands is coming from an unexpected American group–an anti-poverty coalition led by African-American civil rights and faith leaders. The group is waging a national campaign targeting 50 “extreme” environmental organizations and 100 U. S. politicians it says are restricting energy supplies through climate-change legislation, causing […]

Heavy? Your neighborhood may be to blame

Those built before 1950 help keep you skinnier by encouraging walking It could be your neighborhood that’s making you fat

The Rise of Agri-Powers

AGRICULTURAL POWERS – those self sufficient in food, fabric, and hydrocarbon production – once were unambiguously regarded as strategic powers. This has been true throughout history: societies which were not agriculturally efficient and abundant could never long or fully sustain strategic power. Now, once again, a new set of nations is likely to emerge in […]

ANALYSIS – Asian fuel oil feels heat of tightening supply

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The perennially oversupplied Asian fuel oil market may change into one of the tightest in the next five years, as a massive programme of refinery upgrades cuts supplies and Middle East demand surges. This will cut supplies available for the fuel oil-driven utility sector in South China, the manufacturing hub in a […]

2008 Oil Production Estimate Reduced (Russia)

The Economic Development Ministry cut its forecast Monday for 2008 oil production as output declines at older fields in Siberia, but the new figure remains just above last year’s production. The ministry now forecasts annual production of 492 million tons, 3 million tons less than previously predicted, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said. MoscowTimes

Verenex Confirms Oil Discovery in Libya

Verenex Energy Inc. has confirmed an oil discovery at A1-47/04 in Area 47 in the Ghadames Basin in Libya. This discovery is the Company’s first in Block 4 and is a significant result, confirming the potential of a new Lower Acacus play fairway in the northern part of Area 47 and providing the first positive […]

Shell warns on Nigeria oil exports after attacks

Royal Dutch Shell warned on Tuesday it may not be able to meet all of its oil export obligations from Nigeria for the next few months after militants blew up parts of a key pipeline in the Niger Delta. The Anglo-Dutch giant declared force majeure on its Bonny Light crude oil exports for July, August […]

GM’s SUV, truck production trimmed again

General Motors Corp. will cut production by an additional 117,000 vehicles annually, citing continued weakness in consumer demand for pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. GM spokesman Tony Sapienza said Monday that the Detroit-based automaker will eliminate one shift each at its plants in Moraine, Ohio, and Shreveport, La. Most of the cuts will affect production […]

End of cheap flights boom as airlines raise fares (UK)

More than five million British passengers could be priced out of the budget holiday market as airlines raise their fares, bringing the era of cheap travel to an end. Holidaymakers preparing for the traditional summer getaway this week may find that when they come to book their next break the fares have become unaffordable. Ticket […]

Diesel shortage may aggravate due to power crisis (India)

Marble trader Amit Singh drove to several petrol pumps in the city wanting to top his vehicle tank on Monday. Sify

Forecasts on Saudi Arabia liquids production

Reserves reporting in Saudi Arabia (SA), being unaudited as all OPEC reserves, are mainly political as confirmed by Sadad al Husseini (former VP of Aramco) with the 300 Gb referenced by OPEC being just a speculative number and not a proved one. Field production data are confidential, except for a few publications by Aramco to […]

China and Russia agree to boost energy alliance

China and Russia agreed to strengthen a strategic partnership by expanding their co-operation to projects including oil trade, pipeline constructions, explorations and nuclear power. “The first round of talks have achieved some positive results,” the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishang as saying during his meeting with visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister […]

‘Abnormal’ oil prices could fall to $80-OPEC pres

OPEC should not consider cutting production after oil’s steep two-week decline as markets are now balanced, OPEC President Chakib Khelil said on Tuesday, adding that prices could yet fall another $50 a barrel. Khelil, who is also Algeria’s oil minister, said oil prices could fall to $70 to $80 in the long-term, if the U.S. […]

‘Small Silver Lining’ in Reduced Consumption in US

Further weakening in the US economy could actually benefit emerging economies by pushing down oil consumption in the world’s biggest market and thus easing global price pressures, according to Supavud Saicheua, managing director and head of research of Phatra Securities Plc. While reduced oil consumption in US will shrink inflation in emerging markets, the foreign […]

China’s Power Crisis Deepens as Coal Supply Dwindles

(Bloomberg) — China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, is facing a deepening summer power crisis that may persist into the winter months, the nation’s dominant electricity distributor said. State Grid Corp. of China, which more than 1 billion people rely on for power, said electricity shortages have worsened because of inadequate coal supplies. Forty-six percent […]

Fuel prices force schools to weigh class, staff cuts

Fuel and energy costs are rising so quickly for the USA’s public school districts that nearly one in seven is considering cutting back to four-day weeks this fall. One in four is considering limits on athletics and other extracurricular activities, and nearly one in three is eliminating teaching jobs. In the first detailed look at […]

Calif. Field Goes from Rush To Reflection of Global Limits

…The prophet of limited supply is Matthew Simmons, a voluble Houston-based consultant who says the world hit its sustainable peak oil level in May 2005. He argues that even Saudi Arabia’s super-giant Ghawar field — with original reserves of 82 billion barrels and covering a 160-by-30-mile expanse — is in decline. A self-labeled “Darth Vader […]

Gas prices drive push to reinvent America’s suburbs

MARICOPA, Ariz. “The people of Maricopa don’t want to be a bedroom community, a city of rooftops,” Smith says. “They want a self-sustained community.” Especially today. As gas prices hover around $4 a gallon, the nation’s far-flung suburbs

The True Cost of Sustainable Biodiesel

Biodiesel will become cheaper than petroleum diesel but it won’t be because the price of biodiesel goes down. This change will occur because the price of petroleum will continue to rise. A good place to start to understand some of the factors that affect the price per gallon of biodiesel is to ask where does […]

Putin steps up attacks on Russian coal company

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday made a new attack on the coal miner Mechel, saying it had evaded taxes, erasing a third of the company’s market value for the second time in a week. The Kremlin, however, was more conciliatory toward the company, which is the largest Russian coking coal miner, leaving […]

SAfrica wants carbon capture at new coal-fired plants

South Africa wants all new coal-fired power stations and coal-to-liquid plants to have mandatory facilities to capture carbon dioxide emissions, a government minister said on Monday. The move comes as South Africa — a major emitter of harmful greenhouse gases, with some 90 percent of its electricity produced from coal-fired plants — strives to build […]

Campaigners seek an end to production of CO2-intensive ‘unconventional fuels’

Shell, BP and other oil companies at the centre of the tar sands revolution in Canada are facing a backlash from the Co-operative and other members of the ethical investment community determined to bring a halt to these operations for environmental reasons. A joint report from Co-operative Investments and the wildlife charity WWF released today […]

Snub for Iran eases nuclear crisis

A window of opportunity for Iran to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) seemed to have opened when on July 18 the Russian news agency quoted a source in the Foreign Ministry in Moscow hinting at such a prospect. It happened two days after Washington let it be known that a shift […]

U.S., China lead way in tapping wind power

China could well be on its way to blowing the U.S. out of the water when it comes to harnessing wind energy. This is a rare energy success story for a country whose carbon emissions were recorded as the highest in the world last year, according to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. But the Chinese […]

Small farming is the future

…I decided years ago that I didn’t want my farming operation to get bigger. I liked milking 45 cows, raising their feed and doing a little direct marketing. I liked being small. “Hopelessly behind the times,” I was told. Local cheese makers were giving up, local meat processing was a thing of the past. Small […]

New Zealand: Power shortages cost economy $3b

Business is licking its wounds as the country emerges from the winter of tight power supplies. Lost production and the cost to some generators exposed to high wholesale prices to meet customer obligations will, according to previous dry year precedents, total hundreds of millions of dollars. At the extreme end of calculations the Manufacturers and […]

« 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