World population not likely to stabilize at 10 billion people

Projections suggesting the world human population will stop growing around 10 billion people at the end of this century are improbable, according to new research by SFI Postdoctoral Fellow Marcus Hamilton and collaborators. While there could be stagnation over the short term, even small fluctuations in the energy or food supply could cause the population […]

Libyan Production at Risk amid Gialo Field Protests

Production at Libya’s Waha Oil Co. is at risk if strikes and protests at Gialo field continue, Libyan Deputy Oil Minister Omar Shakmak said Tuesday. Protesters from a nearby town have been blocking the entrance to the Gialo field, which feeds crude into a pipeline to the Es Sider export terminal, since last week to […]

Japan’s Methane Hydrates and the Future of Global Energy

All eyes are on Japan as they recently became the first country to successfully extract natural gas from methane hydrate deposits, commonly referred to as “flammable ice,” located nearly 900 feet below the seabed.  For a country that imports almost all of its energy, this discovery could be an incredible asset. In the aftermath of […]

Oil Industry’s fiscal impact

In a recent study, the oil and natural gas industry was measured to see what type of influence it had on the impact of the US economy in 2011 regarding employment, labor income, and value added. Value added refers to “the additional value created at a particular stage of production” as well as “a measure […]

What could “resilience” mean for economies, people, and places?

Click on the headline (link) for the full text. The Decline of Communities Could Explain America’s Health Problems Lindsay Abrams, Atlantic Cities Suburbanites, as compared to urban and rural dwellers, are most certain of their access to community resources. They also care least about their neighbors. As such, their safe, affordable housing in unpolluted environments, […]

Coriolis effect can stabilise plasma in fusion reactors

Researchers at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) and at FOM Institute for fundamental energy research DIFFER discovered that the Coriolis effect can help stabilise the plasma in nuclear fusion experiments. The same effect that causes wind vortices on the rotating Earth can help reach a better confinement of the plasma in a fusion reactor. Researcher […]

World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Could Power 1 Million Homes in Scotland

The title of ‘world’s largest offshore wind farm‘ has been batted about many times in the past few years – from the 100-turbine Thanet Wind Farm in the North Sea to the 175-turbine London Array. However Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd is planning to top both by constructing three offshore wind farms located 22km (13.5 miles) […]

Petrobras aims to triple Brazil’s offshore oil output

Brazil‘s state-run energy giant Petrobras said Tuesday it aims to triple oil production from its huge deep-water fields by 2017. By that date, the company plans to extract 962,500 barrels a day, more than three times the current 300,000, according to the management and business plan released to investors. “The company’s top priority is exploration […]

Flush With Oil, Abu Dhabi Opens World’s Largest Solar Plant

Abu Dhabi, the most oil-rich of the United Arab Emirates, is now home to the world’s single-largest concentrated solar power plant. The 100-megawatt Shams 1 plant cost an estimated $750 million and is expected to provide electricity to 20,000 homes, according to the BBC. Why, you might ask? Bloomberg says the less oil Abu Dhabi […]

Kill the Oil and Gas Subsidies

In a world where $100-a-barrel oil is here to stay, there’s no need to pad the industry’s bottom line. When Saudi Arabia’s longtime oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi, opens his mouth, the world listens. Yesterday, during a speech in Hong Kong, he delivered a message that U.S. policy makers in particular would do well to take note […]

First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plant in US Goes Bankrupt

Last year, to much fanfare, the first batch of qualifying cellulosic ethanol was produced (i.e., it qualified for credits under the EPA program for certifying ethanol for sales). I reported on the development at that time. Western Biomass Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Blue Sugars Corporation (previously KL Energy) reported the major milestone of claiming the first […]

Iraq After Ten Years

March 19, 2013. Ten years ago today the Bush regime invaded Iraq. It is known that the justification for the invasion was a packet of lies orchestrated by the neoconservative Bush regime in order to deceive the United Nations and the American people. The US Secretary of State at that time, General Colin Powell, has […]

10-Year Iraq War Anniversary: What We’ve Learned In the Past Decade

Reflections On a Major Debacle Preface:   Many experts and alternative writers pointed out the false justifications and huge downsides before the Iraq war started.  I know for a fact that many letters and phone calls were made to Congress in an attempt to stop the war. And the protests against the Iraq war were the […]

Wow, North Dakota, That’s a Lot of Oil

It’s no secret that North Dakota has been in the middle of an oil boom since about 2008, but a new chart from the North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Mineral Resources, shows just how steep the increase has been. As of 2006, the state was only producing about 100,000 barrels of crude oil per […]

Pickens: US Doesn’t Need an Oil Reserve–Get Rid of It

he U.S. energy industry needs to be significantly reformed, including an evaluation — or complete elimination — of its strategic petroleum reserve, BP Capital founder T. Boone Pickens told CNBC on Tuesday. Adam Jeffery | CNBC T. Boone Pickens, Chairman BP Capital Management. The reformed Texas oil man is now one of the biggest proponents […]

Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil

Yes, the Iraq War was a war for oil, and it was a war with winners: Big Oil. It has been 10 years since Operation Iraqi Freedom’s bombs first landed in Baghdad. And while most of the U.S.-led coalition forces have long since gone, Western oil companies are only getting started. Before the 2003 invasion, […]

End the export ban

The US should scrap its antique prohibition against the export of domestically produced crude oil. The sole argument for retaining the export ban is unsound. Perhaps unwittingly, it also conspires with antioil politics impeding another important element of North American petroleum logistics. Congress banned exports of crude oil when it passed the Energy Policy and […]

Peak Oil Denial: Why Do They Do This?

An observation worth noting … and pondering, from David Ropeik. [Written in regards to climate change and the vile Heartland Institute, its sentiments have just as much applicability to peak oil….] [D]enial which arises out of the innate subconscious urge we all have to adopt views that agree with our tribe, because of the importance […]

Russia to Get Venezuelan Oil for a Few Cents a Barrel

Russian state oil firm Rosneft and Venezuela’s PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.) have agreed to form a partnership to exploit an oilfield with estimated reserves of 40 billion barrels, strengthening the alliance between the two countries. For 1.5 billion dollars, the Russian company will take over 40 percent of a project at a Venezuelan deposit […]

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Says $100 Crude Oil Is Reasonable Price

Oil at $100 a barrel is a “reasonable” price that won’t choke global economic growth, Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said. “Prices will stay at these current levels in the foreseeable future,” he said today in a speech in Hong Kong, according to the text reported by the official Saudi Press Agency. “Current price […]

Pemex’s Proven Reserves Gain for Second Year After Discoveries

Petroleos Mexicanos, the state- owned company, posted a gain in its proven reserves for a second year, supported by discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore. Mexico’s reserves rose 0.4 percent to 13.868 billion barrels as of Jan. 1 from 13.81 billion a year earlier, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said today on the […]

Cyprus Targets Its Savers in Bailout Agreement

After markets closed on Friday, it was announced that Cyprus worked out a deal with the European Central Bank, European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund (“the Troika”). Here is a typical article reporting on the story. Cyrpus has been in desperate need of a bailout, and was in discussions as early as June last […]

Egyptians Turn to Vigilante Justice as Economy Worsens

A group of residents near the Egyptian town of Mahala shot dead a man suspected of stealing a truck on the same day that two other alleged thieves of a rickshaw were strung up by their feet, highlighting the nation’s security vacuum. The cases yesterday in the two Nile Delta towns, reported by the state-run […]

Reassessing Arctic oil

Shell Oil will discontinue drilling for oil off the coast of Alaska during the summer of 2013.  According to Marilyn Heiman, Director of the U.S. Arctic Program of Pew Trusts, “[Shell] had some safety and management challenges that I don’t think they had fully thought through.” Shell, along with every other oil company out there, […]

Saudi Arabia to Drill Seven Shale Gas Test Wells

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, will drill about seven test wells for shale gas this year, according to Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi. “We know where the areas are,” Al-Naimi said at a conference in Hong Kong today, referring to the country’s shale gas deposits. “We have rough estimates of over 600 trillion cubic […]

Peak Oil: The High Art Of Denial

The Senate’s top Republican on energy issues, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, has crafted a blueprint for U.S. energy policy that calls for increased drilling while opposing laws to cap greenhouse gases that are blamed for global warming…. Murkowski, the top ranking Republican on the Senate energy committee, argues energy is too often seen as a […]

Egypt warns against hoarding diesel

The Egyptian government warned citizens of the dangers of hoarding large quantities of diesel at home on Sunday – a symptom of the shortages afflicting an economy in crisis. Shortages of subsidised diesel have paralysed transport in parts of Egypt, as the government faces pressure to curb energy subsidies that swallow up a fifth of […]

EROEI of Methane Hydrates

In the wake of the recent posts about methane hydrates, the overarching question is, as with any new energy source, what is the energy return on energy invested for these hydrates? In fact early indications are quite promissing: values of more than 30 initially, gradually deteriorating to 7 after 30 years of well exploitation. [sciforum.net […]

UAE opens first big solar energy plant – Reuters

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday officially opened its first big solar energy plant, the three companies behind the project said in a statement. The 100-megawatt (MW) Shams 1 concentrated solar plant (CSP) took the UAE’s Masdar, France’s Total and Spain’s Abengoa three years to build at a cost of around $600 million. Shams […]

Saudis to spend billions on public transport system

Arab News) Saudi businessmen have called for Saudizing the public transport system as soon as it begins operating. The call came after the Cabinet approved a SR 45-billion plan for a public transport system covering roads, railways and seaways to be implemented in Jeddah within seven years. Arab News spoke to Saudi businessmen who said […]

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