Gasoline Margins Rise as U.S. Refiners Cut Back Production

(Bloomberg) — Gasoline margins rose as refiners limited production to protect profits. U.S. refinery utilization is estimated to fall for the fourth week in a row, according to the median of responses in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts. Use rates dropped 0.1 percentage point to 84.5 percent during the week ended July 31, 2.4 […]

Apparent paradox: Vietnam running short of coal, but pushing exports

According to calculations by Vinacomin, the sprawling state-controlled Projecting to 2025, coal demand will be 308 million tonnes. Power plants will consume 268 million tonnes and industries that use coal in production, e.g. steel, glass, cement, fertilizer and chemicals, will use the rest. Staff of the national electric power company, EVN, and the national oil […]

GM admits Volt doubts

General Motors has cast doubt over the long-term future of the Chevrolet Volt by claiming it may not be commercially viable and other rivals may overtake it with superior and more advanced technology. GM submitted a regulatory filing report to the US Treasury yesterday and CEO Fritz Henderson claimed its The Volt is scheduled for […]

Chinese crude-oil imports race to record in July

No. 2 consumer China’s crude-oil imports raced to a record in July, up 42% from last year’s weak base, while refiners raised output to their highest yet as stimulus measures stoked demand in the world’s No. 2 consumer. Although some of the increased gasoline and diesel production is being sold overseas, or pumped into domestic […]

Richard Heinberg

When Richard Heinberg’s new book was about to be published, the editors at The Oil Drum were offered a review copy, and I was offered the chance to provide that review. Yet in a way providing that review gives me a bit of a puzzle, because the underlying premise on which the book is based […]

Bolivia Amazon oil drilling plan opposed by tribes

Opposition to Amazon oil drilling from indigenous tribes is complicating efforts by Bolivian President Evo Morales to rejuvenate state-run energy company YPFB three years after he nationalized it. Morales, the first Indian president of natural gas-rich Bolivia, has championed the rights of the poor, indigenous majority since he took office in 2006 and they have […]

Putin, Erdogan seal 'grand bargain'

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to Ankara last week marked a new era for “enhanced multi-dimensional partnership” between Ankara and Moscow. Putin and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed some 20 agreements covering energy, trade and other fields. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also attended part of the talks between Erdogan and Putin, reflecting […]

Utility Rate Backlash Spotlights Argentina's Energy Troubles

Soaring gas and electricity bills in Argentina have sparked consumer outrage and highlight the trouble the government faces as it tries to cut billions of dollars in energy subsidies. “People are going to have to choose between eating and paying the bills,” Carlos Ulrich, an opposition representative in the Lower House, said Tuesday. Ulrich’s comments […]

Will 'Energy Crops' Become the Next Kudzu?

U.S. policies are subsidizing new energy crops that are likely to spread off the farm and wreak economic and ecological havoc, a federal advisory board cautioned yesterday. For years, researchers have worked to develop “advanced” biofuel feeds from unconventional crops such as grasses and algae.The goal is to enable a switch away from corn- and […]

Kazakhstan raises 2009 uranium output target

Kazakhstan on Wednesday raised its 2009 uranium output forecast to 14,000 tonnes from 12,000 tonnes, staying on track to become the world’s largest producer this year. Updating its statement issued earlier on the same day, state nuclear company Kazatomprom said it had produced 6,000 tonnes of uranium in the first half of 2009 and would […]

Solar cell production seen growing 56 percent in 2009

Solar cell manufacturing capacity will grow 56 percent in 2009 despite weakened demand for renewable energy projects in the face of tight credit markets and a global economic recession, a report issued on Monday by research group DisplaySearch said. The report predicts that cell manufacturing capacity will reach 17 gigawatts this year and will surpass […]

World Solar Industry Appears Headed for a Shakeout

Despite a well-publicized oversupply of products and excess manufacturing capacity for solar photovoltaic equipment and components, some solar power industry watchers are still predicting further robust growth in production capacity. But financial analysts fear numerous makers may fail over the next few years.Record demand for solar equipment and a shortage of polysilicon, the key ingredient […]

A solution for reducing manufacturing costs for CIGS solar panels?

Although CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenide) solar panels use less raw materials and are cheaper to manufacture than the more expensive crystalline silicon panels, manufacturing them on a commercial scale has proven more difficult. Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science are looking to change that with a new development that provides a […]

BP Joins Exxon in Algae Fuel Lovefest

The latest Big Oil endorsement of algae-derived fuels signals that the technology may be feasible–and a better alternative–sooner than anyone expected. Now that oil companies have finally acknowledged the prospect of peak oil, we’re seeing longtime biofuel holdouts investing heavily in biofuels–and more specifically, algae-based biofuels. Exxon announced last month that it is plunking down […]

Rig Activities Heat Up in the North Sea

With the first offshore field discovered in the 1960s and first production achieved in 1971, the North Sea has been a major petroleum producing region for decades. While production at some fields has waned, new discoveries are made and boundaries pushed to keep the North Sea and the waters surrounding it a viable upstream option.Currently, […]

Peak oil changes everything

…Hubbert believed a conversion to solar power would replace fossil fuels, but such a conversion, at the massive scales required today, may not be practical. Unfortunately, simply getting the millions of modules required to support a portion of the country’s present electric economy shipped across the planet from where they’re made, Japan and China, might […]

Russia's Arctic Plays Concern Region

Of eight nations with rights to Arctic resources, Russia has been most aggressive in its claims. The polar ice cap is shrinking at a rate of 9% each decade as Arctic ice thins, melts and ruptures. The consequences for global warming are potentially catastrophic. Yet as the ice recedes, Arctic resources are becoming more accessible. […]

IEA Raises 2009, 2010 Oil Demand Forecasts on China

(Bloomberg) — The International Energy Agency raised its global oil demand forecasts for this year and next, citing accelerating industrial activity in China, the world

UK: Supermarket offers and food waste targeted in goverment's food strategy

All aspects of food The series of reports called Food 2030 had been expected last month but was delayed by internal disagreement within the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and foot-dragging over measures that would potentially be unpopular with voters. Launching the strategy the environment secretary Hilary Benn said: “Last year the […]

Ethanol Limit Must Rise to Ensure Cellulosic Growth, Poet Says

(Bloomberg) — Development of biofuels not made from corn will halt if the Environmental Protection Agency doesn

Why Corporations, Emerging Powers and Petro-States Are Snapping Up Farmland

In the past six months, big players in the global economy have grabbed 50 million acres of arable land, from Africa to Southeast Asia. Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before: Investment banks, sovereign wealth funds and other barely regulated financial entities in search of fat paydays go on buying binges structurally […]

Russian leader says Ukraine endangering gas supply

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has accused Ukraine of endangering European gas supplies, and threatened to delay sending a new Russian ambassador until relations with its neighbor improve. In a letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko released Tuesday by the Kremlin, Medvedev also criticizes Yushchenko’s push to make Ukraine a NATO member and his support for […]

NZ: Local food advocates seek Aoraki links

Building a more sustainable world is the aim of a new partnership in Timaru. A farmers’ market and garden-sharing scheme are visions of Transition Timaru, which has approached Aoraki Polytechnic to provide appropriate courses. Transition Timaru is a new society trying to build resilience to the effects of climate change and the peak oil crisis […]

Mexico Oil Production to Fall 4.9%, Drop Through 2012

(Bloomberg) — Mexico Mexico

ANALYSIS – Iraq on oil export high, needs overhaul for more

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iraq’s oil exports have hit a post-war high, but its failure to attract the huge investment it needs to overhaul crumbling infrastructure will prevent it from becoming one of the world’s top oil powers for some time. The oil sector is dilapidated after years of sanctions and war, and output is unlikely […]

Heinberg interviewed on Santa Fe Public Radio

Post Carbon Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg was interviewed on the KSFR show The Journey Home. Richard spoke about his latest book Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis. From the interview: “What we really want to know about coal is not when is it going to run out, which is all that the US […]

China quietly reshapes Asia

China on April 21, 2009, formally concluded an agreement to lend US$25 billion to Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and pipeline monopoly Transneft in exchange for the completion of an oil pipeline from Skovorodino in Russia to Daqing in China. Russian commentators claim that the deal was not commercially favorable to China. That contention, however, […]

Kuwait says foils Qaeda plan to bomb U.S. Army camp

KUWAIT (Reuters) “The state security has uncovered a terrorist network following al Qaeda, and includes six (Kuwaiti) citizens who have planned to carry out a plan to bomb Arifjan Camp, the state security building and other important facilities,” the ministry said. Reuters

Peak Oil Warning (audio)

The International Energy Agency has issued a warning this week that global oil production will peak in about 10 years time. The chief economist at the IEA, Faith Birol, says that without an adequate government response – oil shortages could precipitate a worldwide economic and industrial collapse. …Some analysts are saying that the state and […]

Climate change an Australian 'security threat'

SYDNEY (AFP) A record-breaking heatwave killed 374 Australians in January, with another 173 perishing in the devastating February firestorm which flattened entire towns and razed more than 2,000 homes, ASPI said. “As a result of climate change disasters are likely to become larger, more complex, occur simultaneously and in regions that have either not experienced […]

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