How Arctic melting could benefit shippers, oil companies

WASHINGTON And while much of the discussions so far have been focused on dealing with global warming and on preserving habitat and protecting polar bears and walruses, another change is looming. When will commercial interests be able to develop the once-impregnable region? Scientists say the Arctic ’s seas could be essentially free of ice in […]

U.S., Brazil to speed up cellulosic ethanol research

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The world’s top two producers of ethanol, the U.S. and Brazil, will join forces to speed up research into cellulose-derived biofuels, which use inedible plant matter rather than crops as their feedstock. In a statement they said they would expand scientific collaboration led by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) […]

Global Trends 2025: A transformed world (excerpts)

By 2025 the world will be in the midst of a fundamental energy transition Energy Bulletin

Bush oil shale rules roil Mountain West

Seven weeks after a congressional moratorium on oil shale development expired, the Bush administration has issued rules that take the first step toward tapping an estimated 800 billion barrels of oil trapped in sedimentary rock in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. The new rules have highlighted a divisive partisan issue among western politicians, with Republicans ready […]

Indiana coal-to-gas project bucks industry trend

In the heart of southwestern Indiana’s coal country, Duke Energy Corp. crews are building what the company’s CEO calls the power plant of the future — a $2.35 billion complex where coal will be turned into a gas, stripped of pollutants, then burned to generate electricity. The project, one of the “clean coal” technologies supported […]

Placing Bets on Energy

WHEN crude oil sailed above $140 a barrel, analysts forecast even higher prices, virtually without dissent. Four months have passed, crude has fallen below $50, and now a rally generally seems to be considered almost out of the question. Betting against the consensus by selling energy stocks would have paid off several months ago, and […]

Is Obama’s Energy Plan Enough?

With the possible exception of Barack Obama’s puppy-anticipating daughters, no one is more eagerly awaiting the incoming Administration than the leaders of the renewable-energy industries. President-elect Obama campaigned on the promise to spend $150 billion over the next 10 years to support alternative energy, like wind and solar, as well as the green jobs that […]

Food crisis leading to an unsustainable land grab

The world map is being redrawn. Over the past six months, China, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other nations have been buying and leasing huge quantities of foreign land for the production of food or biofuels for domestic consumption. It’s a modern day version of the 19th-century scramble for Africa. This year’s bubble […]

The Oil Industry’s Future

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) — Big Oil is set to spend billions on new exploration in 2009, but in addition to ocean beds thousands of feet below the water’s surface, major producers are surveying the balance sheets of vulnerable companies in the sector. Major oil companies are sitting on enormous piles of cash after posting record […]

The Medvedev Doctrine

He wants to build a new security bloc and a gas cartel, and transform Moscow into a financial hub. Just what exactly does Dmitry Medvedev want? Six months into his tenure at the Kremlin, the Russian president’s signals are so mixed, he has Western policymakers and diplomats baffled. In speech after speech, to audiences at […]

Oil Could Hit $35/Bbl Without Major OPEC Cuts

Oil prices are likely to sink as low as $35 a barrel without a massive production cut from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Lawrence Eagles, head of commodities research at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said Friday. OPEC needs to cut 3 million barrels a day to compensate for the bleak global economic outlook, which […]

Surprise Drop in Power Use Delivers Jolt to Utilities

An unexpected drop in U.S. electricity consumption has utility companies worried that the trend isn’t a byproduct of the economic downturn, and could reflect a permanent shift in consumption that will require sweeping change in their industry. Numbers are trickling in from several large utilities that show shrinking power use by households and businesses in […]

Obama outlines job-creation plan

(CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday offered an outline of his economic recovery plan and jobs were the top priority. American workers will rebuild the nation’s roads and bridges, modernize its schools and create more sources of alternative energy, creating 2.5 million jobs by 2011, Obama said in the weekly Democratic address, posted on […]

The Science of the Future of War

…Our global population from just one billion people in 1800 to six billion in 2000. We live in a globalized world now, and worldwide population is expected to increase to over eight billion by 2030. The evidence of that increase is now all around us, in our polluted environment, our warming climate, our disappearing rainforests, […]

What will President-Elect Obama’s energy plan mean for Houston?

…

Water Vapor – The Underappreciated Greenhouse Gas In Global Warming

Water vapor is known to be Earth’s most abundant greenhouse gas, but the extent of its contribution to global warming has been diminished by attention on the economic/political millstone of western civilization carbon dioxide. Using recent NASA satellite data, researchers have estimated more precisely than ever the heat-trapping effect of water in the air, validating […]

Right to eat comes before fuel, minister says

An international conference is taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to discuss biofuels and how promoting them could help solve global security and environmental issues. In an interview with swissinfo, Environment and Transport Minister Moritz Leuenberger explains the Swiss position: that the right to food comes before the right to mobility. Organised by Brazilian President […]

GMO crop critics fear USDA will ease regulations

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – Critics of biotech crops were trying to head off rule changes by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the waning days of the Bush Administration that the critics said would ease restrictions on the controversial crops. “USDA is laying the statutory groundwork to eliminate a lot of genetically modified plants […]

Judges reject Alaska offshore drilling plan

Court orders U.S. to re-examine potential impacts on natives, wildlife ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Federal regulators improperly granted Shell Oil permission for exploratory drilling in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Minerals Management Service to reconsider how exploratory drilling would affect wildlife and Inupiat Eskimo […]

Alaska pollock catch limit likely to take a dive

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Declining stocks of Alaska pollock mean officials are likely to scale back 2009 catch limits for the largest U.S. fishery next month but scientists insist stocks are not in danger of collapse. An expert panel recommended this week that fishermen in the Bering Sea cut their catch by 18.5 percent from this […]

China’s crops at risk from massive erosion

BEIJING (Reuters) – Over a third of China’s land is being scoured by serious erosion that is putting its crops and water supply a risk, a three-year nationwide survey has found. Soil is being washed and blown away not only in remote rural areas, but near mines, factories and even in cities, the official Xinhua […]

Underfunded pensions may bite U.S. energy sector

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), ConocoPhillips (COP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and other energy companies top the list of U.S. companies with severely underfunded pensions — a situation that may drain precious cash in a time of capital market volatility, especially at smaller firms. A […]

Five-year U.S. crude oil futures at record $30 premium

LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. crude oil futures for delivery in January 2014 are trading at a record $30 premium to current contracts, as investors bet that the long-term trend toward higher prices will remain intact despite oil’s slump to $50 a barrel. U.S. crude oil futures — the global benchmark for oil prices — have […]

Price drop has yet to cut Canadian oil output

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – Canadian energy companies have yet to start shutting down large volumes of oil production due to low prices, but the market meltdown has started to fuel some nervousness about the prospect. So far, a 66 percent drop in crude prices since July, coupled with the credit crunch and still-high construction costs, […]

ANALYSIS – Russia acknowledges financial crisis has hit hard

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia had convinced itself — and the outside world — that its huge oil wealth and vast foreign exchange reserves made it much less vulnerable than others to the global financial crisis. But after weeks of virtual silence by state media about the effects the crisis has had on Russia, President Dmitry […]

Energy industry headed for a bigger crisis, it seems

Oil markets are facing a major slump And if the trend continues, as some are arguing today, another round of price spiral may not be far off. The emerging scenario may not only be disastrous for the industry, but indeed for the overall global energy balance too

Iraq-Turkey pipeline hit by Kurd rebel bomb attack

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Kurdish guerrillas launched a bomb attack on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline linking Iraq and Turkey on Friday, halting oil exports, sources from the Turkish energy ministry and pipeline company Botas told Reuters. They said the attack, which triggered a large fire, occurred at 8:30 pm (6:30 pm British time) on Friday evening near […]

Airlines record sharp drop in business travel

GENEVA (Reuters) – Business and first-class air travel dropped sharply in September due to the global financial crisis, the airline industry body IATA said on Wednesday. IATA, the International Air Transport Association, said “premium traffic” on cross-border flights fell 8 percent in September from the same month in 2007, with Asia most affected. Economy air […]

‘Fish technology’ draws renewable energy from slow water currents

ANN ARBOR, Mich. …The working prototype in his lab is just one sleek cylinder attached to springs. The cylinder hangs horizontally across the flow of water in a tractor-trailer-sized tank in his marine renewable energy laboratory. The water in the tank flows at 1.5 knots. Here’s how VIVACE works: The very presence of the cylinder […]

Material slicker than Teflon discovered by accident

A superhard substance that is more slippery than Teflon could protect mechanical parts from wear and tear, and boost energy efficiency by reducing friction. The “ceramic alloy” is created by combining a metal alloy of boron, aluminium and magnesium (AlMgB14) with titanium boride (TiB2). It is the hardest material after diamond and cubic boron nitride. […]

« 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