Crude Oil Falls Below $40 on OPEC Skepticism, U.S. Supply Gain

(Bloomberg) — Oil fell below $40 a barrel for the first time in more than four years as OPEC failed to convince traders that the glut in crude will diminish and the U.S. government said supplies climbed for the 11th time in 12 weeks. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed that the group

Reality Report: Talking with Richard Heinberg about the Green New Deal

2008 has been a remarkable year. About a year ago James Hansen of NASA gave a presentation at the American Geophysical Union meetings in San Francisco that showed how greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere were already too high. Energy and other commodity prices rose and then fell spectacularly. Recently the International Energy Agency released […]

GM delays Volt engine factory

DETROIT – General Motors Corp., which is trying to conserve cash while it awaits a government bailout, has put the brakes on construction of a factory that will make engines for two of its most important new products. The cash-strapped automaker has delayed big-ticket purchases such as buying structural steel to build the factory in […]

Changes ‘amplify Arctic warming’

Scientists say they now have unambiguous evidence that the warming in the Arctic is accelerating Computer models have long predicted that decreasing sea ice should amplify temperature changes in the northern polar region. Julienne Stroeve, from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union that this process […]

Inhofe’s 650

The Senate’s proudest global-warming skeptic, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, recently released a list of “MORE THAN 650 INTERNATIONAL SCIENTISTS” who “DISSENT OVER MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING CLAIMS.” Exciting! Let’s take a look First, a bit of background: In January, Inhofe posted his initial list of more than 400 “prominent scientists” who, he claimed, disputed that man-made […]

OPEC agrees to a major cut in production

The OPEC cartel agreed on Wednesday to cut production by 2.2 million barrels a day, the group’s largest ever cut, in an attempt to put a floor on oil prices. After riding a wave of rising oil prices for nearly a decade, the world’s top exporters are struggling amid a weakening global economy, a dizzying […]

Declining energy prices extend to electricity

After years of steep increases, costs to build power plants and transmission lines have started to fall, promising to temper electricity rate increases for consumers, according to a report out Wednesday. The development is notable because the nation is poised to build the biggest wave of plants in a generation to meet rising electricity demand, […]

Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan May Reduce Oil Supply

(Bloomberg) — Russia and the former Soviet republics of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan may cut oil supply next year to bolster their economies as a global recession reduces demand for crude. Russia may slash exports by 320,000 barrels a day if oil stays at current prices, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters in Oran, Algeria, […]

Declining oil prices threaten Iraqi stability

Plummeting oil prices may force Iraq’s government to slow ambitious reconstruction plans, and the country could face a budget shortfall by next summer, U.S. and Iraqi officials said. “We’re in a situation where Iraq is The trend worries U.S. officials who say a strong economy is needed to lock in the security gains made over […]

Russia May Cut Oil Production, Kuwait’s Minister Says

Russia may cut oil production by as much as 400,000 barrels a day, equivalent to 20 percent of an estimated reduction in OPEC output, as demand shrinks because of the global recession, Kuwait’s Oil Minister said. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who is attending OPEC’s meeting in Algeria today, is “promising to act positively,” […]

Algeria’s gas fields seek to set eco-example

A gas field in the Sahara Desert is seeking to set a global environmental example with a project to bury carbon dioxide instead of spewing it into the atmosphere. A joint venture of Algerian and international oil firms in In Salah, one of Algeria’s largest natural gas fields, has invested $100 million to capture the […]

The New Era of Ecological Civilization

Reflecting on the problems before him, Albert Einstein once said, “The world we have made as a result of a level of thinking we have done thus far creates problems we cannot solve at the same level at which we created them.” Perhaps this is even more true today, when we face issues like the […]

Bad Money – Book Review

If it was not obvious when Kevin Phillips’ new work Bad Money was published in April, it should be obvious now: the U.S. economy – and thus much of the world’s economy – is in decline. The book pivots around events of August 2007, making me wish that Phillips had held off writing the book […]

Nigeria: Power – Insecurity Threatens 6,000 Megawatts Target – House

The House of Representatives Committee on Gas has raised an alarm that the dream of Nigeria become a mirage unless something tangible was done to restore law and order and stamp out criminality in the Niger Delta. Aguma, said the major challenge facing the oil and gas sector in Nigeria is security and lamented that […]

Nigeria: Country to Supply 25 Percent of U.S. Oil By 2015

Nigeria’s crude oil export to the United States will leap to 25 per cent by 2015. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, made the revelation while delivering a speech at the Southern Center for International Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, entitled “Old Ties in New Times: Nigeria and the next USA Administration.” The estimate is […]

IRL: First hybrid public bus gets rolling

Transport firm Dublin Bus yesterday cut the ribbon on what it claims is the first public hybrid-electric bus to be used in the British Isles. The bus, which will go into service next week, will be powered by a 2.4 litre diesel engine that is less than a third the size of normal bus engines […]

Global methane levels move upward again

Methane levels in the atmosphere have started to rise after almost eight years of near-zero growth, an international study says. And the increase may lead to an acceleration of global warming, the scientists behind the study warn.Dr Paul Fraser of the CSIRO, who co-authored the study that appears in Geophysical Research Letters, says samples taken […]

Change, but at what price?

No one could have predicted quite how dramatically 2008 would have ended. Even as President Bush was slashing his way through US environmental protection laws, president-elect Obama appointed Nobel prize-winning physicist Steve Chu as the next US energy secretary. Chu is seen as the repudiation of everything that Bush stood for, and predicts temperatures will […]

Peak oil review – Dec 15

1. Prices and production 2. The December 17th OPEC meeting 3. Obama 1. Prices and production It was yet another volatile week with oil prices swinging wildly in reaction to the latest news. At week

Mongabay: Corn expansion is hurting ladybugs

Expansion of corn acreage to meet ethanol targets is reducing the ability of beneficial insects to control pests, a loss valued at $58 million in the four states studied (Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin), report researchers writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Corn is a less favorable habitat for many […]

Creating a ‘Culture of Cycling’ in Boulder, CO.

BOULDER, Co. Community Cycles, which was founded by a handful of Boulder bike-riders two years ago, has become a driving force in getting people out of cars and onto bikes. “We started out with a plan to distribute bikes,” said Rich Points, Community Cycles

Arctic ice volume lowest ever as globe warms: U.N.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Ice volume around the Arctic region hit the lowest level ever recorded this year as climate extremes brought death and devastation to many parts of the world, the U.N. weather agency WMO said on Tuesday. Although the world’s average temperature in 2008 was, at 14.3 degrees Celsius (57.7 degrees Fahrenheit), by a […]

In ”eat local” movement, Cuba is years ahead

HAVANA (Reuters) – After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba planted thousands of urban cooperative gardens to offset reduced rations of imported food. Now, in the wake of three hurricanes that wiped out 30 percent of Cuba’s farm crops, the communist country is again turning to its urban gardens to keep its […]

Connacher cuts oil sands output as prices slide

CALGARY (Reuters) – Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd (CLL.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday it will cut bitumen production at its Alberta oil sands project as prices sink below costs, the first Canadian producer to take such action in the wake of falling oil prices. Connacher said it will restrict output from […]

U.S. gasoline demand drops despite lower prices

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Retail gasoline demand in the world’s largest consuming nation fell 2.5 percent in the week ended December 12 even as prices at the pumps dropped more than a dime, according to a MasterCard SpendingPulse report released Tuesday. Gasoline demand averaged 9.098 million barrels per day during the week, down 2.5 percent […]

Exxon Mobil to spend $1 billion to make clean diesel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday it would spend $1 billion to upgrade three of its largest oil refineries to produce clean burning diesel fuel. The upgrades, which will increase the supply of ultra-low sulfur diesel by 6 million gallons per day, come at a […]

OPEC says deep recession slashes need for its oil

LONDON (Reuters) – The first drop in world oil demand in 25 years will sharply lower the need for OPEC crude in 2009, the producer group said on Tuesday, opening the door for a substantial production cut when it meets in Algeria this week. In its monthly oil market report, OPEC said demand for its […]

Oil prices ready to recover after $100 fall

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil’s collapse by more than $100 a barrel has made July’s all-time high above $147 seem a distant memory but many analysts now expect a rebound and say crude’s bear market may prove to have been exceptionally brief. Oil prices could already have hit rock-bottom for 2008 when they touched lows near […]

Panel: Navy will need oil for decades

Even as designers experiment with new ways to power the warships of the future, the surface Navy will remain dependent on fossil fuels for at least the next 40 to 50 years, a panel of naval engineers said Tuesday. Cruisers, destroyers, amphibious ships and littoral combat ships all will probably continue to need some kind […]

Robert Bryce: OPEC Was Right About Oil Prices. Now What?

Back in June, I wrote a piece for The American in which I argued that oil prices were being driven higher by the immutable law of supply and demand. Today, with prices plunging to near $40 instead of the $145 level seen in mid-July, it Of course, it

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