First Shots Are Fired in Global ‘Currency War’

Faced with a stubbornly slow and uneven global economic recovery, more countries are likely to resort to cutting the value of their currencies in order to gain a competitive edge. Japan has set the stage for a potential global currency war, announcing plans to create money and buy bonds as the government of Prime Minister […]

When Natural Gas Replacing Diesel in Frac Jobs

With China slowing down, and a recessionary GDP projection (below 3%) for the developed world in the next two years or so, many analysts are also projecting far less bullish commodity prices.  Due to the very limited export capacity, the price outlook of the land-locked U.S. natural gas (Henry Hub) is even gloomier without the […]

Propane: A New Alternative Fuel for Vehicles?

When you hear about alternative fuels for gasoline, what comes to mind?  Most likely, you’re thinking about liquefied natural gas.  While that is the most popular substitute, it is not the only one breaking ground.  This may come as a surprise, but propane could be the next big fuel for vehicles. Technically, using propane as […]

US DOE/EIA Forecast Estimates Face Reality

In mid-November of 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a statement claiming that the United States (U.S.) would surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production by 2017 (to be clear, they mean liquid hydrocarbons, not crude oil or crude + condensate).  I assume the IEA obtained its U.S. oil production forecast from the U.S. Department […]

Peak oil theories ‘increasingly groundless’, says BP chief

The US will be self-sufficient in energy by 2030, with only 1% coming from imports, the company’s analysts predict Warnings that the world is headed for “peak oil” – when oil supplies decline after reaching the highest rates of extraction – appear “increasingly groundless”, BP‘s chief executive said on Wednesday. Bob Dudley’s remarks came as […]

With Water and Energy, India is Different

It’s been a couple of weeks since our Circle of Blue team completed its 27-day research trip to India. Our work, a scoping mission to prepare for a comprehensive project in 2013, focused on understanding the contest between energy, food, and water in a nation soon to be the world’s most populous. India also is […]

OPEC Cuts Oil Output to 14-Month Low Amid Economic Uncertainty

OPEC reduced its production to the lowest level in 14 months as budget wrangles in the U.S., uncertain impact of stimulus measures in Japan and Europe’s struggle to boost growth cloud outlook for fuel demand. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cut output by 465,000 barrels a day in December to 30.4 million, the lowest […]

Lester Brown, Author – Full Planet, Empty Plates

When gas prices were at or near record highs a few months ago in the US, that got people’s attention. What about food prices? Have you noticed them rising? Are you making different choices in the supermarket? If not, it might be because of two things. One, in America so much of our food is […]

Revealed: America’s Arms Sales To Bahrain Amid Bloody Crackdown

Despite Bahrain’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the U.S. has continued to provide weapons and maintenance to the small Mideast nation. Defense Department documents released to ProPublica give the fullest picture yet of the arms sales: The list includes ammunition, combat vehicle parts, communications equipment, Blackhawk helicopters, and an unidentified missile system. (Read the documents.) […]

Global Resource Depletion, Is Population the Problem?

Environmentalists and scientists often refer to the two different ends of the environmental problem as sources and sinks. Thus the environmental limits to economic growth manifest themselves as either: (1) shortages in the “sources” or “taps” of raw materials/natural resources, and thus a problem of depletion, or (2) as a lack of sufficient “sinks,” to […]

Mideast Energy Crisis Looks For Light at the End of the Tunnel

  When Jordan’s Queen Rania Al Abdullah took the podium to address world political and business leaders at a back-to-back energy and water summit here, she said she was representing a country that relies on imports for over 90 percent of its energy needs. Judging by her grim assessment, the energy crisis has apparently hit […]

ExxonMobil Knew in 1984 MTBE Would Contaminate Ground Water

ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM) told a jury that a gasoline additive to reduce air pollution never caused illness to any resident of New Hampshire, which sued oil companies claiming the chemical polluted its groundwater. ExxonMobil and Citgo Petroleum Corp. made opening statements today in a jury trial of an $816 million lawsuit in which the state […]

Gulf Oil Spill Case: Buddy Caldwell, Louisiana Attorney General, Has Already Spent Nearly $24 Million

Louisiana’s attorney general has spent nearly $24 million building the state’s legal case against BP over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, with much of the money paid to outside law firms that have contributed to his campaigns. Attorney General Buddy Caldwell’s payments to outside lawyers — $15.4 million and counting — account for […]

U.K. Rejects Calls to Halt Arctic Oil Drilling

The U.K. government has rejected lawmakers’ calls for a halt to Arctic oil and gas drilling, despite renewed safety concerns following the recent grounding of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSA, RDSA.LN, RDSB.LN) Kulluk rig off Alaska, saying that securing global energy supplies was paramount. The U.K. government’s comments, published Tuesday, come as Shell Monday said […]

Wal-Mart to Offer Jobs to All Veterans, Boost U.S. Buying

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, pledged to hire all honorably discharged U.S. veterans and buy an additional $50 billion in U.S. products in the coming decade. The initiative to offer jobs to veterans within a year of leaving active duty may result in about 100,000 hires in the next five years, Bentonville, […]

Oil Watch: Reconciliation of JODI and EIA C+C production data

Oil production and consumption data reported by JODI (Joint Organisations Data Initiative) is reported to JODI by national governments giving us reason to believe that this may be the most reliable data set upon which to base interpretations about national and global oil supply and demand. However, the JODI data set is incomplete. 15 countries […]

Limits of Resilience

The Stockholm Resilience Centre investigates the governance of social-ecological systems. Shown here is a rural agricultural system in Madagascar Spare a thought for global business leaders as they prepare for this year’s World Economic Forum, in Switzerland. Instead of a guide  to apres-skieateries, their host has sent them Global Risks 2013. Highlights of this guide to possible futures include a killer […]

Heinberg: Why Is the Economy Shrinking?

Endless growth is a delusion with consequences…The spiral of climate change, peak energy, and economic crisis, with author Richard Heinberg. Fresh interview on giant new book “Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth”. Followed by speech to Chicago Bioneers “Life After Growth: Why the Economy Is Shrinking and What to Do About It”. Radio […]

Obama meets new Saudi interior minister at White House

President Barack Obama met Saudi Arabia’s new interior minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, on Monday to discuss security and regional issues, the White House said. Prince Mohammed, appointed in November after the death of his father, veteran Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, is best known as Saudi Arabia’s long-time security chief and has garnered […]

The Generator Is the Machine of the Moment

IN the days that followed Hurricane Sandy, the developer of the luxury condominium 150 Charles Street hunkered down with his team of architects and engineers to rethink the building’s design. Just steps from the Hudson River, the construction site was partially flooded. “Their mandate was to figure out how the building would have stayed open […]

America, the Saudi Arabia of tomorrow

We pay a lot of attention to revolutions when they emerge suddenly and violently, but when a transformation arrives gradually and peacefully it’s easy to miss. Let’s stop for a moment and take a look at a slow-motion development changing the world as we know it: The United States is giving up its addiction to […]

The Myth Of Human Progress

Clive Hamilton in his “Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change”describes a dark relief that comes from accepting that “catastrophic climate change is virtually certain.” This obliteration of “false hopes,” he says, requires an intellectual knowledge and an emotional knowledge. The first is attainable. The second, because it means that those […]

Oil’s Divisive Influence in Iraq

An employee works at Tawke oil fields in the Kurdish region in northern Iraq on May 31, 2009. (AP file photo/Hadi Mizban) It has long been speculated that oil can be a driver for civil conflict, and one needs to look no further for evidence than the sectarian power politics that is threatening the possible […]

The Population Institute Honors GrowthBusters as Best Film at 33rd Annual Global Media Awards

As Global Population Reaches Seven Billion, Groundbreaking Documentary Spotlights Overpopulation Taboo, and the Environmental Damage in Its Wake COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The Population Institute on January 15 will honor the film GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth in the 33rd Annual Global Media Awards. GrowthBusters not only dares to break […]

Oil Prices: Is the Fox Guarding the Hen House?

Prices are not determined by the fundamentals in a manipulated market they are determined by oil being an “Asset Class” which is code word or a euphemism for giant Casino in New York instead of Vegas. …The price of oil, and as such gas is determined not by supply and demand factors, but by whether […]

IHS: US still needs supply from Canadian oil sands

The US will continue to need hydrocarbons from the oil sands of Canada despite its rising output of light oil from tight formations, which nevertheless are reshaping markets for heavy Canadian material, says IHS. Although production from tight formations in the US eclipsed that of output from the Canadian oil sands last year—2.2 million b/d […]

California could be next oil boom state

California is sitting on a massive amount of shale oil and could become the next oil boom state. But only if the industry can get the stuff out of the ground without upsetting the state’s powerful environmental lobby. Running from Los Angeles to San Francisco, California’s Monterey Shale is thought to contain more oil than […]

Beijing air pollution soars to hazard level

Air pollution in the Chinese capital Beijing has reached levels judged as hazardous to human health. Readings from both official and unofficial monitoring stations suggested that Saturday’s pollution has soared past danger levels outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO). The air tastes of coal dust and car fumes, two of the main sources of […]

Not at that price: Why long-term forecasts for cheap oil and natural gas are baseless

Here’s the short version of why forecasts of low long-term oil and natural gas prices are almost certainly wrong: It costs more than that to get the stuff out of the ground. Only two things could actually lead to low long-term prices: 1) Somebody could invent and deploy some genuinely brand new technology that makes […]

The War On Terror Spreads to Africa: U.S. Sending Troops to 35 African Nations

The U.S. is sending troops to 35 African nations under the guise of fighting Al Qaeda and related terrorists. Democracy Now notes: U.S. Army teams will be deploying to as many as 35 African countries early next year for training programs and other operations as part of an increased Pentagon role in Africa. The move […]

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