Lehman-Backed Muni Gas Bonds Trade for Cents; Deliveries Halted

(Bloomberg) — Tax-exempt bonds guaranteed by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. for a gas-supply contract may be worth little more than unsecured debt after the bankrupt underwriter’s commodity unit stopped deliveries last week. Main Street Natural Gas, a financing vehicle of the Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia, terminated the contract funded by $709 million in bonds […]

Oil wealth fans ethnic flames in Iraqi town

KHANAQIN, Iraq: In a mirror image of Kirkuk, the Kurdish town of Khanaqin near the border with Iran that holds sizeable oil reserves is being exposed to ethnic tensions and rival territorial claims. The local Kurdish political leadership warns that the area could see an ethnic explosion, as they call for Khanaqin to join the […]

Peeling the Onion: What

…I We might look at the boom and bust cycle of our economy, and indeed, the world economy, as one moved not just by energy, but by new workers (who then conveniently become new consumers and create new markets – remember, 70% of the economy is consumer spending). Each boom cycle has followed the move […]

U.S. weighs measures against Russia – Rice

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States is mulling what measures to take should Russia exploit the oil or minerals of two Georgian breakaway provinces it invaded last month, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday. Interviewed by Reuters, Rice used unusually stern language to describe actions by Russia, which she said had […]

World-class Vancouver also has a dark underbelly

…Sprawling suburbs emerged after the Second World War in response to unprecedented population growth (more than four billion globally since 1950), an abundance of cheap oil and the proliferation of the automobile. With peak oil on the doorstep, we’re finding that the great American dream of a large single-family home on a big lot far […]

Climate change, fuel prices cutting into Lebanon forests

Urban sprawl, pollution join global hike in fuel prices to threaten forests in Lebanon. DUBAI – Devastating fires caused by climate change are threatening forests in Lebanon, in turn accelerating the pace of global warming, an environmental activist has warned. …In the mountainous areas of the country, forests are important to protect the surface soil […]

Gas shortages: get ready for more

The long lines and closed pumps seen across the South this week are a warning: inventories are way too low. …In its most recent Weekly Oil Data Review, Barclays Capital pointed out that the U.S. gasoline inventory has reached its lowest level since August 1967, when demand was a little more than half its current […]

The future of energy

LONDON, England (CNN) — While many of the world’s best business brains are exercising themselves over the current global banking and equities crisis, there is another issue which has the potential to dominate our lives far more in the longer term — energy. Fossil fuels will not last forever, and the race is on to […]

Small is beautiful for carmakers

PARIS (Reuters) – Carmakers will make fuel efficiency a sales mantra at the Paris car show next week when they tout new models to customers whose numbers and budgets have shrunk in the face of financial turmoil and high oil prices. Tighter finances and new emissions rules look set to favour the sale of smaller […]

Canada PM oil sands plan puzzles industry, greens

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – A campaign promise to ban exports of tar-like bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to countries that do not match Canadian efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions could affect shipments to Asia, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Friday. Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which operates the main pipeline […]

France plans to end biofuel tax breaks by 2012

PARIS, Sept 26 (Reuters) – The French government said on Friday it will phase out tax breaks for biofuels by 2012, arguing that higher oil and grain prices have removed the need for fiscal support. In its draft 2009 budget, the government said it will remove in stages from January reductions given to biodiesel and […]

Coal Country: Washington Ups Support for Coal, Clean or Not

Most of the attention focused on the energy bills languishing in Congress homes in on the long-awaited renewal of tax credits for clean energy. But there In the Senate

Rich nations’ greenhouse gases fell in 2006: survey

OSLO (Reuters) – Rich nations’ greenhouse gas emissions dipped for the first time in five years in 2006, easing 0.1 percent despite robust economic growth, a Reuters survey of the latest available information showed Friday. The figures were less gloomy than a report this week, based on scientist estimates to 2007, which said world emissions […]

Natural gas: The next alternative fuel?

(AOL Autos) — Regular readers of AOL Autos know that we have done a series of stories on the development and increasing popularity of cars that run — or will eventually run — on alternative fuels. We’ve written about hybrids, clean-diesel engines, fuel-cell technology, ethanol and more. That brings us to another entry in the […]

Vancouver’s long commuters face problems of peak oil

With little more than a minute between them, floatplane after floatplane glided over Stanley Park and onto the water at Coal Harbour. It was 7:45 a.m. Tuesday morning (September 23), and the crowds exiting the planes were dressed in suits and luggage-free. These are Vancouver The environmental costs of flying or ferrying to work

House approves renewable energy tax incentives

WASHINGTON The House voted 257-166 to create $15 billion in new tax incentives for investments in renewable energy, capture of carbon emissions, energy efficiency and conservation. The bill also extends $42 billion in existing tax provisions, including one that allows taxpayers in Texas and other states without an income tax to itemize their state and […]

Chris Cook: Oil Market Collapse Waiting to Happen

After a phenomenal “spike” in oil prices to US$147 per barrel, the price has declined to just over $90. In the US this led to a “spike” to $4 per gallon of gasoline and placed energy prices right at the top of the US political agenda.Moreover, this political interest rapidly crossed the Atlantic since British […]

Pirates seize ship carrying tanks, ammo

(CNN) — A Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and ammunition has been seized by pirates off the coast of Kenya, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told CNN. …The ship deliberately took a route far from the coast of Somalia, where pirates are known to operate, in an attempt to avoid them, the minister said. Ukraine’s anti-terrorist center […]

Russia to build missile defence shield & renew nuclear deterrence

Russia is to build new space and missile defence shields and put its armed forces on permanent combat alert, President Medvedev announced today. In a sharp escalation of military rhetoric, Mr Medvedev ordered a wholesale renovation of Russia …Tensions with the West have soared to new levels since Russia

‘Cod delusion’ leaves devastated stocks on the brink

Fishing vessels on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland are this week destroying the best hope for years that the region’s cod fishery, once the world’s most abundant, might yet recover. And at a meeting in Vigo, Spain, governments have rejected a simple measure that might have given the cod a fighting chance. Cod fishing on […]

Moscow strengthens presence in U.S.’ backyard

MOSCOWThis month, the Kremlin has made it clear what Putin meant. It deployed two Russian strategic bombers to Venezuela to patrol Caribbean waters earlier this month, and on Monday it dispatched a navy squadron to Venezuela for military exercises. The appearance of the Tu-160 bombers and the expected arrival of four Russian warships in a […]

McCain, Obama vow to push Energy Department on auto loans

WASHINGTON — Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain vowed to speed up the timetable for allocation of up to $25 billion in low-cost government loans, after the Energy Department warned it might not release any money until mid-2010. The U.S. House voted 370-58 to approve the program and Michigan lawmakers said that Detroit’s Big […]

Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran

Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites but was told by President George W Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency, senior European diplomatic sources have told the Guardian. The then prime minister, […]

Gas Shortage In the South Creates Panic, Long Lines

If Drivers Can Fill Up, They Get Sticker Shock Gasoline shortages hit towns across the southeastern United States this week, sparking panic buying, long lines and high prices at stations from the small towns of northeast Alabama to Charlotte in the wake of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. In Atlanta, half of the gasoline stations were […]

Day 3 at the ASPO-USA meeting

Day three of the ASPO-USA Conference in Sacramento was focused on where we go from here with fuels other than oil. It began with a session on coal and natural gas reserves and the potential of biofuels. There was considerable information on each of the slides that each of he presenters provided, and so I […]

Japan Posts Surprise Trade Deficit

TOKYO — Japan, a nation that rode exports to become the world’s second largest economy, posted a surprise trade deficit in August, an alarm signal for the country’s already shrinking economy and yet another worrisome indicator for troubled global markets. …The government attributed the trade deficit to a short-term imbalance: Falling car exports and higher […]

Strategies for the Energy Crisis

BP’s chief scientist, Steven Koonin, says cutting greenhouse emissions will take major changes. After nearly 30 years at Caltech as a professor of theoretical physics and, eventually, provost, Steven Koonin took a leave of absence in 2004 to become BP’s chief scientist. After a year of study, he recommended a strategy for the company that […]

Nigeria Orders Gas Companies to Prioritize Supplies to Local Consumers

(Bloomberg) — Nigeria ordered oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. to come up with a plan to boost domestic gas supplies by the end of October, or risk a suspension of all liquefied natural gas export projects. Gas Minister Emmanuel Odusina said the companies must set aside between 280 million […]

Southeast gas shortage squeezes small retailers

‘It’s a panic. And we are frustrated,’ says one owner of a gas station WOODSTOCK, Ga. – Ralph Sheffield’s tidy gas station has stayed open around the clock for 13 years, keeping the lights on even during lonely Christmas mornings and the slow holiday season. But the streak ended last week after he went eight […]

Gulf states covet Asian farms

Once committed largely to perceived safe-haven investments in the United States, Gulf nations are now looking to send their petrodollar surpluses towards a more exotic global destination: Southeast Asian farmland.What is clear is a pressing Middle Eastern need to shore up the region’s shaky food security. The Gulf Research Center (GRC), a Dubai-based think-tank, in […]

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