FACTBOX: Key facts about oil-producing Azerbaijan

Oil-producing Azerbaijan was holding a referendum on Wednesday on whether to scrap the country’s two-term presidential limit and give Ilham Aliyev the chance to rule beyond 2013. The opposition and rights groups have criticized the move. Here are some key facts about the country:GEOGRAPHY: Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, lies at a strategic crossroads between […]

Chavez hails oil deals

President Hugo Chavez Tuesday hailed a six-billion-dollar drilling deal with Russia in Venezuela’s oil-rich Orinoco basin, and a refinery and oil-export deal with China, as Venezuela’s economy struggles with cheap oil prices. “Two days ago, we signed in Vienna an agreement we’d been working on for months … It’s quite important that Venezuela and Russia […]

Venezuela rethinks cheap gasoline

Venezuela, Latin America’s biggest oil producer, is considering hiking its extraordinarily cheap domestic gasoline price as it copes with the global crisis. President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that his government is considering the move, after having kept prices at the pump frozen for the past 13 years.“It’s one of the issues we’re looking at, because […]

Shell Goes Cold On Wind, Solar, Hydrogen Energy

Oil Major Royal Dutch Shell Plc doesn’t plan to make any more large investments in wind and solar energy in the future and does not expect hydrogen to play an important role in energy supply for some time. “We do not expect material amounts of investment in those areas going forward,” Linda Cook, head of […]

Japan plans measures to boost solar cells

Japan said on Wednesday it aims to lift its global share in solar cell production to over one third from the current 25 percent by 2020, seeking to regain market share it has lost to foreign rivals. Solar cell production, a promising alternative clean energy source, has been climbing worldwide and Japan has seen its […]

Russians eye Cuba offshore oil deal

HAVANA (Reuters) – A Russian consortium is looking at leasing up to 15 blocks covering a total of 15,440 square miles (40,000 square kilometers) for oil exploration in Cuba’s part of the Gulf of Mexico, a Cuban oil official said on Tuesday. Companies from China and Angola are also negotiating deals for oil blocks in […]

Shell says production to grow

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said it would increase production by a healthy 2 to 3 percent annually over the next four years and that it would scale back investments in green energy. The world’s second-largest non-government controlled oil company by market value, whose output has been falling for six years, said big […]

Meltdown 101: Will gas prices stay put for long?

NEW YORK — Each year around this time gas prices begin to rise and continue to do so well into summer, but this is not your typical year. A severe economic downturn has spoiled our appetite for gasoline, with millions of Americans no longer commuting to work or planning summer trips. Yet prices will rise […]

How Much Coal Is Really in Them Thar Hills?

They used to say that “coal is king.” Today maybe it’s “‘clean coal’ is king.” But is there enough in the ground for coal to keep its crown? The accepted wisdom among energy wonks is that oodles of coal remain to be mined and burned. How much is oodles? Consider two points: * Since the […]

Low energy prices cut offshore bids sharply

NEW ORLEANS — With energy prices a fraction of those from last year, bids for Wednesday’s federal sale of offshore tracts in the central Gulf of Mexico fell by more than half, the Minerals Management Service said Tuesday. Fifty-six companies submitted 476 bids on 348 tracts in federal waters off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi […]

Rig Count Downturn Moves into Uncharted Territory

As Mark Twain said, “History seldom repeats, but it often rhymes.” That philosophy has led investors and analysts to track the progression of the current rig downturn against prior ones in an attempt to gauge just how far the rig count still might have to fall before hitting bottom. Many analysts suggested that the current […]

Crude truth behind numbers that govern our lives

I magine that your neighbourhood has been chosen as a benchmark for house prices. Sales are recorded and an index is constructed. Soon, investors begin to trade the index, anticipating its value as a way of managing exposure to property prices. Trading increases and news begins to affect investor behaviour. A local school achieves high […]

Interior, FERC end feud on offshore renewable projects

The Interior Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission agreed to work together to settle a longstanding conflict over which agency oversees offshore alternative energy, the Interior Department announced today. Noting that there is no dispute with respect to offshore wind energy, Salazar added that the intention of FERC and Interior’s Minerals Management Service is […]

Natural World – A Farm for the Future

Wildlife film maker Rebecca Hosking investigates how to transform her family’s farm in Devon into a low energy farm for the future, and discovers that nature holds the key. With her father close to retirement, Rebecca returns to her family’s wildlife-friendly farm in Devon, to become the next generation to farm the land. But last […]

Military Scientists Explore Planet-Hacking

Some of the military’s leading scientific advisers are looking into the idea of remaking the planet’s environment, to stave off global warming. The idea of “geoengineering” — hacking the Earth’s climate, to prevent more radical changes — has been kicking around the scientific fringes for years. One scheme calls for adding iron to the ocean, […]

World Oil Production Peaked in 2008

World oil production peaked in 2008 at 81.73 million barrels/day (mbd) shown in the chart below. This oil definition includes crude oil, lease condensate, oil sands and natural gas plant liquids. If natural gas plant liquids are excluded, then the production peak remains in 2008 but at 73.79 mbd. However, if oil sands are also […]

Electricity thefts surge in bad times

As the dismal economy spawns desperate measures, some Americans are resorting to a hazardous practice: stealing electricity. Many utilities say energy theft has risen sharply during the economic downturn. Culprits include residential customers whose power is turned off when they fall behind on their bills and small businesses struggling to keep their doors open. They’re […]

Americans are moving on up to smaller, smarter homes

…New homes, after doubling in size since 1960, are shrinking. Last year, for the first time in at least 10 years, the average square footage of single-family homes under construction fell dramatically, from 2,629 in the second quarter to 2,343 in the fourth quarter, Census data show. The new motto: living well with less. “There’s […]

Kurt Cobb: We must make a lot of mistakes quickly

We often think of progress these days as coming from carefully planned research conducted by government- or corporate-funded laboratories with large staffs of scientists and technicians. As it turns out, many of the key innovations in history have arrived serendipitously or resulted from trial and error. Most people know the story of Alexander Fleming’s discovery […]

World Bank urges Nigeria to diversify economy

World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo Iweala urged Nigeria on Monday to use the financial crisis as an opportunity to diversify its economy away from the oil and gas sector. Iweala said “the oil price collapse is by far the biggest component of the external shock that has hit” the country and urged Nigeria to […]

Kuwait ruler accepts cabinet resignation in new crisis

Kuwait’s ruler accepted the cabinet’s resignation on Monday after deputies moved to question the prime minister, state media said, deepening a political crisis which threatens an economic stimulus plan. Frequent cabinet changes usually do not affect the oil policies of OPEC-member Kuwait, the world’s seventh-largest oil exporter, which are set by a high state energy […]

Oil production – no OPEC cut, US. growth opportunity – peak oil

At first, OPEC’s decision not to cut production gave me pause. As you know, I (along with everyone else) expected to see the cartel slash output even further. Yet when the time came to pull the trigger, OPEC hesitated. The decision seemed admirable, considering another cut would have caused oil to spike again. After my […]

Tar and Feather

Now roughly accounting for 10 percent of the United States’ oil imports, the processes for transforming tar sands into fuel for America’s gas guzzlers makes traditional oil production (even into ANWR) look benign in comparison. Devastating for the local (water, forests), regional (air pollution, bird), and global (GHG emissions) environment, Tar Sands is the wrong […]

High-speed Detroit-Lansing rail line envisioned

Are we ready for a high-speed, hydrogen-powered, magnetically-driven rail line from Detroit to Lansing? A state House task force hopes to find out in hearings on an ambitious plan by private investors to build a first-of-its-kind rail line along state freeways. The elevated rail line would use cars — built by Detroit Three automakers — […]

US troops to remain active in Iraq after pullback

American forces will still conduct joint combat operations even after they pull back to bases outside Baghdad and other cities as part of the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, a spokesman said Sunday. Brig. Gen. Frederick Rudesheim, a deputy commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said the redeployment to the periphery will actually help improve security in […]

Russia, NATO Allies Stage Rival War Games After Resuming Ties

Russia and western European countries begin rival war games today, less than two weeks after NATO ended a seven-month freeze on relations with the Kremlin. Russia is deploying more than 5,000 troops in land-and-air exercises in central Siberia, while NATO-member Norway hosts 7,000 soldiers from 12 countries in an exercise simulating an invasion to control […]

Hybrid car sales go from 60 to 0 at breakneck speed

The Ford and Honda hybrids due out this month are among dozens planned for the coming years as automakers try to meet new fuel-efficiency standards and please politicians overseeing the industry’s multibillion-dollar bailout. Unfortunately for the automakers, hybrids are a tough sell these days.Americans have cut back on buying vehicles of all types as the […]

One Optimistic Oil Forecast

Last October, I noted some serious oil disorder south of the border, particularly when it comes to the formerly famed and now fast-fading Cantarell field. Today, I’m once more urging you, my fellow oil-focused Fools, to keep an eye on Mexican production. At the outset, this Mexican supergiant contained perhaps twice the reserves of Petrobras’ […]

Photovoltaic global solar grew 110 percent in ‘08

The global market for photovoltaic solar power grew 110 percent last year due to explosive growth in Spain, a report said on Monday. Solar energy consultancy Solarbuzz LLC said photovoltaic installations reached a record 5.95 gigawatts (GW) in 2008, up from 2.83 GW in 2007.Europe made up the vast majority of world demand, at 82 […]

Indian steel, mining companies shopping for coal mines abroad

Hyderabad: State-owned National Mineral Development Corp. Ltd (NMDC) and International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL) are looking to buy coal mines overseas, taking advantage of falling valuations due to a global meltdown. “ICVL is talking to coal companies in Australia, Mozambique, Canada, the US and couple of countries and is likely to firm up deals shortly,” […]

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