Did al-Qaeda Succeed?

Ten years after the neoconservatives laid out plans for permanent U.S. global dominance Speaking at a Sept. 4 conference in Orlando, Florida, Thomas Fingar, chairman of the National Intelligence Council, said the United States might still be

Iraq ditches plans for no-bid oil contracts

AN IRAQI plan to award six no-bid contracts to Western oil companies has been withdrawn, those involved in the negotiations say. Iraq’s Oil Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, told reporters at an OPEC summit meeting in Vienna on Tuesday that talks for one-year deals, which were announced in June and subsequently delayed, had dragged on for so […]

US oilfield deaths rise sharply

SNYDER, Texas – Less than two months into the job in the oilfields of West Texas, Brandon Garrett was sliced in half by a motorized spool of steel cable as he and other roughnecks struggled to get a drilling rig up and running. Garrett’s grisly end illustrates yet another soaring cost of America’s unquenchable thirst […]

Iraq ends talks with French oil company

BAGHDAD – France’s Total said Thursday that Iraq has ended negotiations to develop an oil field in southern Iraq, one of six reported cancellations of no-bid contracts with Western oil companies The French oil firm and U.S.-based Chevron were jointly negotiating a technical support agreement for the development of West Qurna oil field near the […]

Bush OK’d US raids in Pakistan

WASHINGTON – President Bush secretly approved U.S. military raids inside Pakistan against alleged terrorist targets, according to a former intelligence official with recent access to the Bush administration’s debate about how to fight al-Qaida and the Taliban inside the lawless tribal border area. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the classified order. […]

Most Europeans ‘very concerned’ by climate change

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Most Europeans are very concerned about climate change though a sizeable minority feel they do not know enough to help counter it, a major EU poll released Thursday showed. A majority of the 30,000-plus people interviewed throughout the EU and candidate nations, believe neither industry, national governments nor the European Unon itself […]

Head for the hills

U.S. economy collapsing under debt I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Or find a cave to hide in. As the United States collapses under a mountain of debt worth trillions, another Wall Street investment bank struggles to stay afloat and global economies start to crumble — the Bay Street guru who warned oil […]

Hurricane Ike and Oil Refineries / Infrastructure Thread #3

Hurricane Ike’s current track predicts landfall between Corpus Christi and Galveston Saturday morning; but the storm isn’t strengthening much yet and the track has been moving northwards–so, because of the wobbles in the track, models are still uncertain. Within the current NHC storm path lies about 5 million bpd of US petroleum refining capacity. (Perspective: […]

Watch as Greenland melts

A new webcam set up in Ilulissat will allow the world to watch as global warming eats away at Greenland’s ice cap. The webcam is set up near the Ice Fjord, a Unesco World Heritage Site. The Ilulissat Glacier, which empties into the fjord, is the world’s most active glacier. The glacier moves along at […]

Peak Oil peak

…The Peak Oil crowd is in a struggle with reality. The sandwich-board energy theorists who claim, “The end is near” for oil, are glumly looking at the crash in the price of crude. What was supposed to be heading for $200 now seems set to dip under the $100 mark. Over at Peak Oil: The […]

To slow global warming, install white roofs

Such roofs and reflective pavement in the world’s 100 largest cities would have a massive cooling effect, according to data released at California’s annual Climate Change Research Conference. Builders have known for decades that white roofs reflect the sun’s rays and lower the cost of air conditioning. But now scientists say they have quantified a […]

From CO2 to algae to biofuel?

Missouri partners to send coal-plant gases into ponds JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Now this could provide some truly green power. Several Missouri universities and electric companies plan to use the carbon dioxide pollution from coal-fired power plants to grow green pond scum that could be turned into biofuel. The project at the Central Electric Power […]

U.S. oil industry braces for another hurricane hit

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Oil companies shut almost all offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico and began shutting coastal refineries in Texas on Wednesday as the latest hurricane headed toward the key U.S. energy hub. Oil output from the region, home to a quarter of U.S. crude production, was less than 5 percent of normal […]

Wind Fuels Gas

Following Russia’s invasion of Georgia, a vital link between Europe and the energy resources of Central Asia, energy security is back at the top of Europe’s agenda. For years now, many Europeans thought that a major part of their future energy security might come from wind turbines and solar panels. Industry, too, has suggested that […]

UN expert faults US, EU biofuel use in food crisis

GENEVA – A United Nations expert said Wednesday that recent studies indicate that U.S. and European Union targets for biofuel production by their grain farmers have been the biggest cause of the world food crisis. Olivier de Schutter, a Belgian professor, also said an international monitor may be needed to supervise the production of energy […]

EU eyes lower biofuel goal, Malaysia warns unfair

BRUSSELS, Sept 10 (Reuters) – European Union lawmakers have proposed cutting a target for using traditional biofuels to 6 percent of road transport fuel by 2020, a document seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed. The EU executive Commission earlier this year proposed that 10 percent of all road transport fuel should come from renewable sources, […]

Success of natural gas vehicles in Argentina attracts US companies

Representatives of American companies are flocking to Argentina to buy natural-gas compressors, conversion kits and fuel tanks to sell in the US, said Alessandro Carlo, president of Tomasetto Achille, a major Argentine maker of these products, based in Buenos Aires. Others from the US are heading south to gain technical know-how. “We have someone visiting […]

Assessing the Impact of Global Peak Oil on the Climate

A new paper by Pushker Kharecha and James Hansen at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University Earth Institute shows that if proven conventional oil and gas reserves do not greatly exceed estimates of the Energy Information Administration Green Car Congress

Saudis Vow to Ignore OPEC Decision to Cut Production

VIENNA The Saudis made their strategy clear in informal talks and briefings with oil industry analysts and reporters, but as is their custom they would not speak for attribution because they did not want to appear to undermine a collective decision by OPEC that they endorsed publicly. The confusion surrounding the meeting briefly slowed the […]

Study pins oil-price volatility on speculation

Large investors Since then, these investors have withdrawn $39 billion from those markets as prices have retreated dramatically, the report said. Oil traded at about $102 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gov’t officials probed about illicit sex, gifts

WASHINGTON – Government officials handling billions of dollars in oil royalties engaged in illicit sex with employees of energy companies they were dealing with and received numerous gifts from them, federal investigators said Wednesday. The alleged transgressions involve 13 Interior Department employees in Denver and Washington. Their alleged improprieties include rigging contracts, working part-time as […]

Pentagon admits Afghan strategy not succeeding

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military conceded it was not winning the fight against an increasingly deadly insurgency in Afghanistan and said on Wednesday it would revise its strategy to combat militant safe havens in Pakistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House of […]

‘Extreme waves’ worry Australia

Australia’s coastline is increasingly being battered by extreme waves that are driven in part by climate change, government scientists say. Research has shown that bigger waves are bearing down on the coastline as severe storms become more frequent. The waves could threaten communities with flooding and coastal erosion. …Research has shown that waves greater than […]

$100 billion could yield two million ‘green’ jobs

A $100 billion US government investment over two years could create 2 million “green” jobs in such industrial sectors as steel and construction, according to environmental and labour groups. …John Podesta, president of the think tank and a former Clinton administration official, said $50 billion of the investment would be tax credits to help private […]

More of Gulf may open

Democrats are working on drilling bill WASHINGTON While details are still being worked out, the plan would raise taxes on the oil companies; force producers that benefited from botched lease agreements with the government to pay royalties; require electric utilities to generate 15 percent of their power from renewable sources; and provide loan guarantees to […]

Serving Need Or Feeding Greed?

As Republicans and Democrats lock horns on the congressional floor over the national energy crisis, few Republicans are as adamant or outspoken as South Carolina 2nd District Congressman Joe Wilson. Like many in the GOP, Wilson decries what he sees as Democratic stonewalling of the proposed …A latent fact about offshore drilling rarely publicized and […]

Production photos of Chevy Volt show big changes from concept car

The production version of the Chevrolet Volt electric car is a small four-door sedan that bears no resemblance to the low, sleek, two-door sports coupe that Chevy exhibited on the 2007 auto-show circuit to drum up interest in the vehicle and boost General Motors’ image as leaning green. Official GM photos of the car were […]

Mexico to Raise Gasoline Price to Market Rate by 2010

(Bloomberg) — Mexico will increase the price of gasoline sold by state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos on a weekly basis until it reaches average international market rates in 2010, Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said. Gasoline prices in Mexico will catch up with average market rates as the government gradually eliminates its subsidy, Carstens said in […]

The Agriculture Bomb

…Our farm harvest is highly energy dependent. Food in the U.S. travels an average 1,500 miles to end up on your dinner plate. Nitrogen fertilizers are made from natural gas, insecticides are oil-based, tractors run on diesel, and plastic packaging comes from oil. Add in refrigeration and it may take as much as 1,000 calories […]

Russia: Chubais Predicts Energy Crisis in 2010

Anatoly Chubais, former head of RAO UES of Russia, is predicting an energy crisis in Russia at the beginning of 2010 if the rate of gas production in the country stagnates. He talked about this at the unveiling of his book Economic Notes, co-authored with Egor Gaidar. There have been two cold winters in Russia […]

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