OPEC Would Like Oil at $80/Bbl for Investments

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would like oil to reach a price level of $80 a barrel so that most investments in the industry can go ahead, OPEC President Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos said Tuesday. “We would like to reach the $80 per barrel, so that investment could be met,” he said during […]

IEA wants to spur energy investment

Investment in renewable energy is down and achieving oil prices that spur “green-growth” should be a goal for December’s Copenhagen conference, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency said on Monday. The global financial crisis, falling oil demand and a slide in barrel prices have prompted many investors in the industry to scale back […]

Iran election turmoil bad news for oil sector

Political uncertainty and unrest in the wake of Iran’s disputed presidential election are casting a deeper pall on the country’s prospects of a near-term economic recovery, with the vital oil sector likely to witness a stasis it can ill afford amid faltering production and investments. Under the best of circumstances, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have […]

OPEC, EU say regulation needed to stop oil bubble

Oil markets risk another speculative bubble unless the financial sector is reformed and transparency increased, but prices are not yet a threat to economic recovery, the EU and OPEC said after joint talks on Tuesday. “The 2008 bubble could be repeated if adequate regulatory reforms, including greater transparency, (are) not made as part of an […]

Nigeria-Russia: To sign Industrial, Oil, Military agreement

Nigeria and Russia have agreed to cooperate on industrial, economic and military activities. The Russian president Mr. Dmitry Medvedev visits Nigeria for the first time to hold talks of possible Nuclear energy, Oil and military cooperation. According to Russia …Nigerian presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi believes there is much to gain from closer ties with Russia […]

Peak oil – coming soon, but when?

The idea that someday we are going to “run out of oil” is an old one. In fact, it goes back to the beginning of the 20th Century. However, it is a mistaken idea. A reservoir of crude oil is never “pumped dry”. Instead at some point, the extraction of hydrocarbons from a well is […]

Michael T. Klare: Tithing at the Crude Altar

PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has often stated that one of his highest priorities is to vanquish the In the past, the United States made an implicit bargain with our foreign energy suppliers; we will protect your government, supply arms to your military and overlook your human-rights violations in exchange for preferred access to your oil outputs. […]

Interview with Charlie Maxwell (Part 1 of 2)

We caught up with Charlie Maxwell, the life-long oil industry analyst viewed by Barrons Maxwell: I would have to say that what struck me the most, as a surprise, is the virulence in the downtrend in the world economy. That

Japan May End $1.5 Billion Venezuela Loan on Seizures

(Bloomberg) — Japan may cancel a planned $1.5 billion loan for Venezuela Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is risking as much as $33.5 billion in Japanese investment as he takes over plants owned by companies such as Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Corp. Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state-owned oil company, is also behind on payments to contractors including […]

The financial return on energy invested

A number of recent posts on The Oil Drum have explored the relationship between energy and the economy. Francois Cellier provided an overview of links between energy consumption and GDP on a per capita basis. This post will expand on the work of Francois taking a somewhat different approach. In a guest post, Ian Schindler […]

Oil at $200 Means Fewer Chinese Imports, More Jobs

(Bloomberg) — If Jeff Rubin is right, traders can bet on oil prices gushing to $200 a barrel. Everyone else will see If you blamed the record prices on rogue traders and hedge funds, you were mistaken, he argues in his cogent book,

Do you believe in 'peak oil'?

Debate has raged about ‘peak oil’ ever since Shell geologist M. King Hubbert first outlined the theory in 1956. It’s the idea that once around half the world’s reserves of oil have been extracted, production enters a slow and inevitable decline that no amount of investment can reverse. Believers in peak oil argue that once […]

Oil fund management 'under fire'

Auditing giant KPMG has been highly critical of the management of Norway’s oil fund in an ongoing review, it was reported today. In a report published by Upstream’s sister paper Dagens Naeringsliv, it emerged that the comments were made when KPMG was carrying out a review for the Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), part of […]

Ford, Nissan, Tesla to receive government loans

Money offered from $25 billion fund to help develop fuel-efficient vehicles NEW YORK – The Energy Department is expected to announce Tuesday it is lending money to the Ford Motor Co. and two other automakers from a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles. Energy Secretary Steven Chu was scheduled to announce the loan funding […]

US draws line with China on climate technology

Access to green technology is becoming a growing stumbling block in global efforts to fight climate change, with US lawmakers bristling at what they see as China’s attempt to “steal” US know-how. China and India have led calls for developed nations to share technology to help them battle global warming as the clock ticks to […]

Europe's solar power seen competitive from 2010

European solar power will start to become economically competitive compared to mainstream electricity from next year, a report by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) said on Monday. EPIA President Winfried Hoffmann said that in sun-bathed southern Italy investments in photovoltaics would next year start to compete with electricity from the national power grid.But problems […]

Arctic Nations Say No Cold War; Military Stirs

Arctic nations are promising to avoid new “Cold War” scrambles linked to climate change, but military activity is stirring in a polar region where a thaw may allow oil and gas exploration or new shipping routes. The six nations around the Arctic Ocean are promising to cooperate on challenges such as overseeing possible new fishing […]

Wind could power the entire world

Wind power may be the key to a clean energy revolution: a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finds that wind power could provide for the entire world’s current and future energy needs. To estimate the earth’s capacity for wind power, the researchers first sectioned the globe into areas of […]

Peter Tertzakian – Demand: The other side of the oil coin

George Selden is not a household name like Thomas Edison or Orville Wright, but his influence on our day-to-day lives has been just as great, if not greater. For on May 8th, 1879, Mr. Selden, a New Yorker, applied for a patent on a lightweight In fact, recognizing the importance of Selden

Energy Stocks Will Surge When the Recession Ends

(Bloomberg) — The U.S. produced about 88 percent more oil in 1970 than it does today. Production has been declining for 39 years since hitting that level. When will world oil production peak? Many energy experts believe it already may be happening or will within four years. One of them is Matthew Simmons, head of […]

UK powers up plans for world's largest green car trial

The UK government will today unveil the world’s largest ever coordinated trial of environmentally friendly vehicles. The From the end of this year, around 340 of the vehicles will be available to qualifying members of the public in eight different locations around the country including Oxford, London, Glasgow, Birmingham and the north-east. Power companies, regional […]

Special Report: Global processing capacity trails advances in production

Natural gas production last year advanced in every region, as climbing natural gas prices spurred global production growth of nearly 7% (OGJ, Mar. 9, 2009, p. 64). Gas processing capacity, however, lagged this growth. In the US, capacity moved ahead by nearly 2% but Canada’s growth was flat (Table 1). For the entire world, OGJ’s […]

Beyond CO2: Study reveals growing importance of HFCs in climate warming

Some of the substances that are helping to avert the destruction of the ozone layer could increasingly contribute to climate warming, according to scientists from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory and their colleagues in a new study published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors took a fresh look […]

Hurtling towards calamity

If a giant meteorite were assessed by scientists to be hurtling through space in our general direction with a one in one thousand chance of slamming into our planet we’d be making frantic preparations. The probability might be low but the consequence so severe that people the world over would be pulling out all stops […]

Renewable Energy and the price of oil

How much easily recovered oil is really left? At what high-end prices are practices like directional drilling and 4D exploration financially feasible? At which low-end prices does renewable energy cease to become a financially feasible option? It appears from the many news reports, opinion pieces, and general facts that easily recovered oil reserves are running […]

Russian official says global powers will clash over Arctic

A top Russian government official on Friday warned that the race for Arctic energy riches would lead to clashes between global powers and said Russia needed to speed up exploration in the region. “Our neighbours are engaged in researching technologies to build ice-class vessels and are investing efforts in building drilling platforms for the Arctic,” […]

Global Biodiesel will Triple from 2010 to 2020: 12 Leading Biofuel Tech Firms

Pike Research projects the global biodiesel and ethanol markets will reach $247 billion in sales by 2020, up from $76 billion in 2010. They see three key waves of biodiesel development over the next several years:* Fuels based on waste greases will reach market in 2010. * Jatropha-based fuels will begin having a significant impact […]

Ethiopia: Africa Takes Closer, But Still Wary Look at Biofuels

Africa’s search for affordable ways to feed its people, rejuvenate land resources and break the poverty cycle is leading it back to bioenergies. A conference underway in Addis Ababa is brimming with ideas for resolving the “food versus fuel” controversy that doomed earlier biofuel projects. Thinkers and visionaries from all over the world are congregating […]

Biofuels do well as jet fuel, Boeing says

Good news for the struggling biofuels industry: The plant-derived fuels perform favorably as jet fuel, a study by Boeing and others in the aviation industry has concluded. According to the study, a series of laboratory, ground and flight tests conducted between 2006 and 2009 indicated the test fuels performed as well as or better than […]

Global oil and gas E&P spending seen down 15 pct

Oil and gas producers will cut spending more sharply than expected this year because of the slump in North American natural gas prices, analysts at Barclays Capital said on Monday. Spending globally on exploration and production is expected to shrink by 15 percent in 2009 from the previous year, compared to the 12 percent drop […]

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