Saudi Red Sea refineries not threatened by volcano

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, May 23 (Reuters) – Recent seismic activity in a volcanic region in Saudi Arabia does not present nearby oil refineries with any danger, officials said on Saturday. Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from the northwestern al-Ais region after a series of tremors hit the volcanic area over the past few weeks, […]

Scottish petrol stations are running on empty

Local authorities in Scotland are to campaign for public money that could be used to retain a network of filling stations in the highlands and islands as closures accelerate there. The Highland Council said that more than half of the remaining 231 petrol outlets in its region faced closure in the next decade unless something […]

Face-Off: Over A Barrel (Rubin vs. Yergin)

Oil prices are heading up. After hitting $145 last summer, then falling to $33 in February, a barrel of oil is now more than $60. How long until it’s back above $100? Jeff Rubin: Very soon. “We’ll be back to triple-digit oil within 12 months. As soon as a recovery begins, very early in that […]

Why does Russian energy giant Gazprom wield such power?

(CNN) — Riding through the streets of Moscow or flipping through channels of Russian TV, it’s difficult to escape messages from the country’s natural gas monopoly, Gazprom. “I’m driving under a huge Gazprom sign right now,” Yuri Pogorely, vice-president of Interfax, the Russian business news wire, said in a phone interview. Television ad campaigns have […]

World Biz Leaders to Call for 'Massive' Climate Investment

Next week, executives from some of the world’s largest corporations plan to get behind a call for an international treaty that would include “strong incentives for massive investment in new technologies and new climate solutions.” The Copenhagen Climate Council has dubbed this planned set of recommendations for policy, business strategies, and models for public-private partnerships […]

Yosemite's giant trees disappear

The oldest and largest trees within California’s world famous Yosemite National Park are disappearing. Climate change appears to be a major cause of the loss. The revelation comes from an analysis of data collected over 60 years by forest ecologists. They say one worrying aspect of the decline is that it is happening within one […]

Not a drag: High-tech airplane wings could cut fuel costs by 20 percent

A new study says that within three years jumbo jet makers could be testing out a new type of wing that reduces mid-air drag and cuts fuel costs by an estimated 20 percent. The wing would do this using small, built in jets that redirect air around the wing during flight. “This has come as […]

Biofuel plants can't compete with falling price of diesel

At least a third of all biodiesel plants across the nation have ceased operation, and production this year is expected to be no more than half last year’s total of 700 million gallons. “It’s a tough climate for biofuels,” said Diane Mulloy, president of Milagro Biofuels. That climate has been shaped by the vagaries of […]

China Faces Unexpected Problem Drilling for Oil in Iraq — Farmers

China National Petroleum Corp. began work in March to develop the Ahdeb oil field in southeastern Iraq, marking the first significant foreign investment in the country’s vast but creaky oil industry. Company officials expected logistical and security challenges in the war-torn country. But two months later, their investment is running into an unexpected obstacle: angry […]

Supply up, demand down, but oil prices rise

Recessions usually bring cheap oil and gasoline. But not now. And that has analysts worried that another fuel-price spike could be on the way. Crude oil, the lifeblood of the global economy, costs $61.67, even as the world struggles through the worst recession since World War II. And prices are rising, climbing 26 percent in […]

GOP: Alternative energy alone won't meet US needs

WASHINGTON — A GOP senator from the nation’s leading coal-producing state contends Democrats will increase energy costs and make the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil if they focus solely on alternative energy. In the party’s weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Republicans support a more comprehensive energy plan that […]

Will the Recession Make the World Smaller?

ThatThat

US Energy Sec: World wants stable oil prices

ROME (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Saturday that the world wants oil prices to remain stable, warning that a new spike could harm the economic recovery. Speaking in Rome where he is attending an energy meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries opening Sunday, Chu said that both the oil producing […]

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Naimi Says Oil to Reach $75 a Barrel

(Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al- Naimi said the price of oil will climb to $75 a barrel when demand picks up. To reach that goal, Naimi said he will recommend OPEC members

Cash needs may drive energy deal with Kurds

Baghdad’s desperation for more cash to rebuild after years of sanctions and war could provide a long-awaited catalyst for a deal with minority Kurds on oil and gas exports. Iraq’s Oil Ministry on Monday rejected an $8 billion Kurdish plan to fill the Nabucco pipeline with gas for Europe, the latest spat in a long […]

NOAA Predicts 9 to 14 Tropical Storms, 4 to 7 Hurricanes

Scientists with NOAA said they expect the coming hurricane season to produce fewer storms than last year. The forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calls for nine to 14 tropical storms with four to seven becoming hurricanes. Of those hurricanes, one to three could mushroom into a major hurricane with winds topping 111 […]

Innovative technology may push oil aside

Two experts, Jeff Rubin, a respected Canadian market analyst, and Gregory Dorsey, an American financial commentator, are predicting oil selling at $200 a barrel within the next three years. In the past, both men have correctly predicted the more dramatic fluctuations of oil and natural gas prices. Their rationale is that world peak production of […]

The Next Oil Shock

Energy Policy: A top expert tells Congress that oil will be around for a long time and high inventories and low prices are no excuse not to find more. Oil shock? How about a no-oil shock? Be careful what you wish for, goes the old proverb. Well, as we all had hoped, energy prices have […]

Oil and our lives (Jeff Rubin)

…Take away cheap oil and the world gets a whole lot smaller. Trade – either by air cargo or ship container – begins to shrivel. The tourist industry that many nations depend on starts to wither. California strawberries and New Zealand lamb disappear from your supermarket. Suburbs turn into ghost towns as commuters ditch cars […]

Colin J. Campbell: "Time for solutions is running out"

About “Transition Towns”, “ordinary people vs. politicians”, and more… It has been Colin’s farewell appearance in public because… Well, listen here to the… … interview w/ Paul Nellen ASPO Germany Conference, Berlin, May 19, 2009. Life-Info

The sinking Titanic: interview with Michael C. Ruppert

…Even though major newspapers like the New York Times admit these days that the end of cheap oil is near, they rather avoid to discuss the underlying consequences of Peak Oil. How would you explain those consequences? Isn The most dire consequences may lie in food production, anyway. Agriculture depends a huge deal on oil. […]

In Brazil, extreme weather stokes climate worries

A bout of extreme weather has reignited a debate about how climate change is affecting Latin America’s largest country, home to most of the world’s biggest rain forest and one of the world’s bread baskets. Unusually heavy rains in the north and northeast have made hundreds of thousands of people homeless and killed about 45. […]

Tanzania: Imperial Projects And the Food Crisis in the Periphery

Considering Tanzania’s position in relation to food crises around the world, Ng’wanza Kamata laments the inability of Jakaya Kikwete’s government to develop the ‘agricultural revolution’ it once promised. Highlighting that food production difficulties have over the years invariably been attributed to drought and peasant farmers’ supposed laziness and poor agricultural methods, Kamata argues that the […]

China energy expert sees coal power slowing from 2011

China’s boom of coal-fired power plants is likely to slow after next year as excess capacity and then expanding renewable and nuclear energy sources kick in, a senior energy policy analyst said in an interview. Jiang Kejun, of China’s state-run Energy Research Institute, told Reuters the forecast slowing also reflected longer-term shifts in the country’s […]

Tar sands' climate threat, security promise both exaggerated: report

Further development of Alberta’s famous oil sands will be neither the climate disaster that activists fear nor the energy security panacea that proponents suggest it is, the Council on Foreign Relations concludes in a new report. The reality of the oil sands in the international energy and climate picture suggests both the United States and […]

The lithium boom is coming: The new bubble?

NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) – New vehicle emission standards will likely be a boon for everything from aluminum to new plastics, but the producers of lithium — a mineral used in batteries that power new generation vehicles — could be the big winners. But while the few public companies that mine lithium will likely […]

Rise in methane detected above Arctic

Experts not sure if it’s melting permafrost, or something less troubling OSLO – A rise in concentrations of a powerful greenhouse gas over the Arctic after a decade of stability is stirring worries about a possible thaw of vast stores trapped in permafrost, experts said. Levels of methane in the atmosphere rose 0.6 percent in […]

New Zealand: Taskforce plan urged

Australia’s former trade commissioner to China says the Tasman District Council needs to set up two taskforce teams to address the issues of peak oil and climate change. Carolyn Hughes, who held the position for four years until 2004 and now lives in Ruby Bay, said at the council’s draft 10-year plan submission hearings in […]

Renewable power mandate overcomes hurdle in Senate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A measure requiring utilities to generate a certain amount of electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, overcame a legislative hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Thursday. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted down an amendment offered by Republican Senator Jeff Sessions that would have removed the renewable […]

Refiners blast proposed climate bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. refiners on Friday blasted landmark climate change legislation that is currently making its way through Congress as an “abject policy failure,” saying it could lead to an increase in imports of refined products such as gasoline and diesel. The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association said in a statement the roughly 1,000 […]

« 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