‘Safer’ nuclear fusion comes closer to reality

The world’s bid to harness the power of fusion, the Iter project at Cadarache in Provence, has now entered a critical phase in southern France. The project is set to receive the first of about one million components for its experimental reactor. The project is about two years behind the schedule because of massive cost […]

U.S. drone kills more al Qaeda

A U.S. drone killed three suspected al Qaeda militants in east Yemen, a local official said, the third strike within 24 hours as Washington intensifies efforts to eradicate al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch after recent warnings of possible attacks. The three men were travelling in a vehicle in the province of Hadramout in an area called […]

Peak oil researcher says shale profits proving ephemeral

FuelFix has a post on Shell’s recent profit decline and asset writedowns, driven by poor performance from their North American shale oil assets – Peak oil researcher says shale profits proving ephemeral. The post points to an article by Art Berman, continuing his long line of analysis questioning the longevity and financial basis of the […]

IEA Trims Estimate for 2014 Global Oil Demand Growth on Economy

The International Energy Agency trimmed forecasts for global oil demand growth in 2014 amid slowing expansion in China and a struggle to secure a recovery in the U.S. and Europe. Global consumption will increase by 1.1 million barrels a day, or 1.2 percent, to 92 million next year, the Paris-based adviser to energy-consuming nations said […]

We Don’t Think in Straight Lines Anymore

When Straight Lines Were Everything In the early years of this site and my forays into peak oil analysis, it amazed me that the primary OECD energy forecasting agencies worked out their oil supply forecasts by simply extrapolating demand forward, working out what the Non-OPEC world could produce (with an optimistic set of assumptions) and […]

Ireland Looks to Be A World Leader in Wave Energy

“We’re fond of saying in the sector that we’re 90% under water…only 10% of Ireland’s territory is land. I’ve worked it out as 40 or 50 acres for every man, woman and child in Ireland”. I’ve accidentally stumbled upon one of James Ryan’s favourite topics as we travel in his car on the remote Mullet […]

Geothermal Energy Stuck in a Hole in Switzerland

An accident in a flagship project threatens the future of geothermal energy in Switzerland. The mishap that was followed by earthquakes has come as a warning that geothermal deep drilling still has a long way to go.   It occurred in a project in the eastern Swiss city St. Gallen earlier in July brings a […]

The Third Carbon Age, By Michael Klare

When it comes to energy and economics in the climate-change era, nothing is what it seems. Most of us believe (or want to believe) that the second carbon era, the Age of Oil, will soon be superseded by the Age of Renewables, just as oil had long since superseded the Age of Coal. President Obama […]

Peak Oil: The Predicament

An observation worth noting … and pondering, from Tom Murphy. I like the characterization that what we face here is a predicament, rather than a problem. Problems call for solutions. Predicaments must settle for responses. Our predicament is that we rode the fossil fuel bonanza to the highest possible heights, without a plan for what […]

Iraq oil exports stagnate, deep cuts ahead due to port work

* Exports to drop by 500,000 bpd in Sept due to port work * Iraq’s SOMO suggests cuts in Basra Light loadings of 25 pct * Start-up of Shell-operated Majnoon oilfield delayed to Oct * Baghdad expects 400,000 bpd production rise by end-2013 By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Iraq’s oil exports are […]

Oil’s Eastern Hemisphere is Shifting, Too

OPEC’s exports earned record revenue last year, but the pressure on the cartel is increasing as Eastern Hemisphere production expands, along with higher unconventional oil production in North America. Increasing supply doesn’t guarantee lower oil prices in the future, but it will help accommodate growing demand from the developing world, reducing the risk of price spikes such […]

Tepco Plan Could Cause Fukushima Reactor Buildings to “Topple”

Japan’s Nuclear Accident Response Director Warns that Tepco’s Actions Might Cause Reactor Buildings to Collapse Tepco’s ill-considered efforts to change soil permeability and water flow have caused severe problems at the site … including highly radioactive groundwater bubbling up to the surface. NHK notes: The vice governor of Fukushima Prefecture has asked the government to […]

Shale Plays Not Working For Big Oil

Recent revelations and write-downs of shale assets in North America by Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron support our research that big companies cannot make money on low rate-low volume shale wells. The majors exited North America in the 1980s because they could not support the operating costs associated with managing this kind of production even though […]

Focus on family farming to feed a growing world

As farmers and ranchers look for strategies to increase production to feed a growing world population, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and Food Tank suggest the best way to nourish the world is through increased production from family farms. FAO predicts the world population will increase by 34 percent to reach 9.1 billion by […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: The 3rd Window

We currently are living through one of the more interesting yet bizarre periods in the history of science. The interesting part is that the evidence continues to accumulate that there has indeed been a scientific discovery fully as significant as the steam engine, electricity, radio, atomic energy, or micro circuitry – perhaps even combined. The […]

Oil Kingdom

Shale is the new peak oil, and that’s why Saudi Arabia still rules global energy markets. Reading the newspapers these days, you’d think that the much-hyped impending American energy boom is about to make Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC irrelevant. Recent projections by the International Energy Agency (IEA), for example, have the United […]

‘Critical phase’ for Iter fusion dream

The world’s largest bid to harness the power of fusion has entered a “critical” phase in southern France. The Iter project at Cadarache in Provence is receiving the first of about one million components for its experimental reactor. Dogged by massive cost rises and long delays, building work is currently nearly two years behind schedule. […]

EIA Reduces 2013 US Natgas Production, Demand Estimates

The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday trimmed its estimate for domestic natural gas production in 2013, but expects output this year to be up about 1 percent from 2012’s record-high levels. In its August Short-Term Energy Outlook, the EIA said it expected marketed natural gas production in 2013 to rise 0.71 billion cubic feet […]

Peak oil, climate change and pipeline geopolitics driving Syria conflict

Root-cause environmental and energy factors sparking violence will continue to destabilise Arab world without urgent reforms The civil war in Syria has been devastating, generating a death toll fast approaching 100,000, while uprooting millions of civilians from their homes. But as the US and Russia signed an unprecedented accord on Wednesday in search of a […]

Renewable Energy Prices Continue to Fall

RenewEconomy has some interesting graphs from BNEF showing how competitive solar and wind power has become over time – Bugger the utilities: wind and solar will be built anyway. But as the electricity incumbents continue to circle the wagons around their threatened business models, the renewable energy industry may be able to take comfort in […]

The Gassiest Country

Introduction This is the 4th installment in a series that examines data from the recently released 2013 BP Statistical Review of World Energy. The previous posts were: Renewable Energy Status Update 2013 Hydropower and Geothermal Status Update 2013 The State of Oil According to BP Today’s post delves into the natural gas production picture. The US […]

Children given lifelong ban on talking about fracking

Two Pennsylvanian children will live their lives under a gag order imposed under a $750,000 settlement Two young children in Pennsylvania were banned from talking about fracking for the rest of their lives under a gag order imposed under a settlement reached by their parents with a leading oil and gas company. The sweeping gag […]

Fukishima Springs Water Leak

“The Japanese Fukishima crisis took a turn for the worse this week as it was found a barrier built to contain contaminated water has been breached; a leak defined by 20 trillion to 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium. This is yet another problem on top of a spate of errors plaguing the 2011 nuclear […]

ASPO: Future growth in U.S. crude oil reserves

The title, “New data show record growth in U.S. crude oil reserves” might lead most readers to believe that fantastic developments are afoot in the USA. However, if we study the report in detail we can see that large question marks exist over future oil production. The US Energy Information Agency, EIA, has now reported […]

Michael Lynch: Is Peak Oil Demand Real?

There has been increasing chatter in the Internet aether about the possibility that world oil demand might peak sometime in the near future.  The thinking is informed primarily by falling demand in areas like the US and Europe, but especially the perception that a plethora of new transportation technologies, such as plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles […]

Are the Government’s International Energy Outlook Projections Too Conservative?

The DOE/EIA recently completed their latest International Energy Outlook (IEO 2013) forecast.  This analysis indicates that total world energy consumption is projected to increase by 50% 2012-2040.  While renewables supplies are projected to almost double by 2040, the majority of added energy supplies are determined to come from increased fossil fuels.  In light of growing […]

Sincere thanks to all who worked with The Oil Drum

This is a guest post by Kjell Aleklett, Professor of Physics at the Global Energy Systems Group of Uppsala University Sweden. and President of ASPO International At the end of August, The Oil Drum website will change from an active blog into a static archive for many extremely good articles on, primarily, the history and […]

Communities that Abide—Part V: An Example of Success

Last week’s post featured an extended excerpt from Peter Kropotkin, who counted off the main reasons of failure among communist groups: communal living, small size, and separatism from the wider world. Yes, an anarchist worker cooperative of a few dozen members that relocates into the American wilderness, shuns the world, and tries to make a […]

Bahrain Declares War on the Opposition

The special session of the Bahraini National Assembly held on Sunday Jul. 28 was a spectacle of venom, a display of vulgarity, and an unabashed nod to increased dictatorship. Calling the Shia “dogs”, as one parliamentarian said during the session, which King Hamad convened, the Al-Khalifa have thrown away any hope for national reconciliation and […]

The End of the Suburbs

If you’re looking for one book that explains the transformation taking place in our cities, towns and neighborhoods it is Leigh Gallagher’s new book The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream is Moving. Gallagher’s straight forward, reasoned tone and meticulous research give her credibility when writing on subject matter that pretty much every American […]

« 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