The diplomat who said ‘No’ to Saudi oil

Hindsight can be cruel. In 1932, amid a global economic slump, the impoverished Saudis came to London looking for a loan. They also had an offer: would Britain like to try drilling for oil? A disdainful Foreign Office mandarin gave the fateful reply, writes Matthew Teller – no loan, and no drilling. In the spring […]

Can natural gas feed the world?

Natural gas — namely its primary component, methane — can be gobbled up by protein-producing microbes. The protein biomass is converted into things like food for farmed salmon or chemicals or other products, according to Shaw, CEO of Calysta Inc., and Silverman, the chief scientific officer. That salmon, of course, is an important source of […]

Group wants to tap into Mexico’s oil, gas wealth

In preparation for the drilling of Mexico’s Burgos basin — a geologic formation similar to the Eagle Ford Shale north of the Rio Grande Valley — regional business development leaders formed a new bi-national group. Dubbed the Burgos Shale Consortium, organizers said they want to help ensure the Valley and Tamaulipas, is prepared to reap […]

The Plot to Control and Reduce the Population

In the continuing saga of Dr.Richard Day’s 1969 explicit depiction of how the world’s population would be controlled and reduced, bear in mind that these are not the ramblings of a singular lunatic but the conspiracy imposed upon us by the rich and famous in an effort to have more of the Earth’s resources at their disposal. As […]

Chaos In The Middle East, Paralysis In The West

Excerpted from Paul Singer’s letter to investors, CHAOS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, PARALYSIS IN THE WEST Weakness, indecision and unreliability are terrible characteristics in a dangerous world. Strength does not mean bombing everyone. It means having capabilities, choosing one’s spots, and doing what you say you will do. It is not an exaggeration to say […]

Brussels: passing the message about resource depletion

    With 24 languages deemed as “official,” the Europen Union shares some characteristics with the ancient Babel Tower (above, the parliament building in Strasbourg). The Babel of languages is one of the problems associated with trying to pass messages to politicians, but not the most important one. Rather, the main problem seems to be […]

The Petrodollar Dominoes: How The Strong Dollar Is Slamming Oil Exporters

A week ago the Russian Ruble exhibited intraday volatility that makes the JPY look quiet when it crashed to record lows then soared dramatically on intervention hopes. Since then we have had a Russian Central Bank disappointment and some jawboning which did nothing press the Ruble to record-er lows against the USD. Then today, last […]

Keystone XL Pipeline Still Economically Viable In Era Of Cheaper Crude Oil

Falling crude oil prices are forcing developers in Canada’s oil sands region to rethink their expansion plans. But the economic challenges are unlikely to reduce the need for the Keystone XL pipeline to Texas, energy analysts say. Even if developers cancel or delay some projects, the overall volume of oil coming from western Canada is still […]

Ground water depletion driving global conflicts

Global ground water supplies, crucial for sustaining agriculture, are being depleted at an alarming rate with dangerous security implications, a leading scientist said. “It’s a major cause for concern because most of the places where it (ground water depletion) is happening are major food producing regions,” James Famiglietti, a University of California professor who conducts […]

Shale Drillers Pulling Back as Rigs Are Idled Across U.S.

The shale-oil drilling boom in the U.S. is showing early signs of cracking. Rigs targeting oil sank by 14 to 1,568 this week, the lowest since Aug. 22, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) said yesterday. The Eagle Ford shale formation in south Texas lost the most, dropping nine to 197. The nation’s oil rig count is […]

Saudi Arabia Won’t Win This Oil-Price Standoff

There’s a standoff happening between the old oil powers and the booming US shale industry, as the OPEC oil cartel is thought to be pushing down prices to drive new production offline. But the investment bank Citi says it’s not a fight that OPEC leader Saudi Arabia is going to win. Although no one is […]

Libya Plans for Biggest Oil Field to Resume Output Soon

Libya will resume pumping crude “soon” at Sharara, its biggest oil field, after an attack that halted output, reducing the North African nation’s production by almost a third, an official said. Sharara was shut as a precaution after gunmen stormed the on-site production compound, Mansur Abdallah, director of oil movement at the Zawiya refinery and […]

The case against US oil abundance

The swift decline in oil prices has the media buzzing about an oil supply glut, Cobb writes. But can oil – which now trades at eight times its price during 1998’s glut – be said to be experiencing an oil glut now? Back in March 1999 “The Economist” magazine carried a cover photo of two men drenched in […]

On Iran Policy, America Is Not ‘the World’

Sometimes it’s the little things that say a lot. And when PBS NewsHour anchor Gwen Ifill and correspondent Margaret Warner (11/5/14) were discussing  various consequences of the midterm elections, this part caught my ear: IFILL: OK, second area, hot spot, Iran, where there’s been long ongoing discussion about sanctions and that coming to a head […]

Perennial Polyculture Prevails over Peak Oil

KrisCan visits Eric Toensmeier in his Holyoke, Massachusetts home garden that was transformed from a bleakly barren backyard into a thriving oasis of year-round, productive perennial fruits and vegetables. Eric talks about how waste heat from factories and power plants can be utilized for greenhouse gardening; urban food security and self-reliance in the face of […]

The End of the Big Oil and Gas Game Has Come

Sheikh Ahmed-Zaki Yamani said in 2000, “The Stone Age came to an end, not because we had a lack of stones, and the oil age will come to an end not because we have a lack of oil.” The former Saudi oil minister was arguably the world’s foremost expert on the oil industry at that […]

Natural Gas production continues to skyrocket

Natural gas production in the lower 48 United States averaged 69.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in October, breaking its previous monthly average high for the 10(th) consecutive month, according to Bentek Energy®, an analytics and forecasting unit of Platts.  This was up 7.9% or 5.2 Bcf/d from the daily average production this time […]

Financial Collapse Will Cause Civil Unrest to Erupt in America by 2016

Economist Martin Armstrong is predicting that rising resentment against the status quo as a result of economic inequality is likely to cause a serious political uprising before 2016. “It looks more and more like a serious political uprising will erupt by 2016 once the economy turns down. That is the magic ingredient. Turn the economy […]

Saudi Cut In Oil Price For US May Lead To Price War

Saudi Arabia’s move to cut the cost of its oil to US customers has injected fear into the oil markets, bringing the price of OPEC crude below $80 and suggesting to some observers that the cartel is preparing for a global price war. OPEC production has remained level despite worldwide demand, and as a result, […]

OPEC Officials Don’t Expect Oil Price Below $75 a Barrel This Year

As oil prices slid further downward Thursday, OPEC signaled that it isn’t ready to hit the panic button—yet. Oil’s more-than-25% decline since the summer has led to speculation that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries—whose crude accounts for around a third of global oil supply—would cut its output to try to support prices, especially […]

Why are global oil prices dropping? Vladimir Putin has a theory.

Global oil prices have been plummeting, and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday offered a theory why: politics. Oil prices fell to a four-year low this week, and that has further tightened the screws on Russia’s economy, already hit hard by sanctions and fears of recession. The Russian ruble has been plummeting, in part because […]

Ukraine and Russia strike gas deal

Moscow to resume gas exports into Ukraine throughout winter despite rivalry in EU brokered deal. Moscow and Kiev have agreed to a deal that will guarantee that Russian gas exports flow into Ukraine throughout the winter despite their intense rivalry over the fighting in eastern Ukraine. In a signing ceremony on Thursday following protracted negotiations, […]

The collapse of oil prices and energy security in Europe

  This is a written version of the brief talk I gave at the hearing of the EU parliament on energy security in Brussels on Nov 5, 2014. It is not a transcription, but a shortened version that tries to maintain the substance of what I said. In the picture, you can see the audience […]

Saudi, Venezuelan Oil Officials Meet, a Sign of Pressure on OPEC Countries

Top officials from major oil producers Venezuela and Saudi Arabia held a rare bilateral meeting Wednesday as OPEC member countries grapple with a continuing price slump. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Rafael Ramirez, who until recently was head of state energy giant Petróleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, and is the country’s OPEC representative—and Saudi Oil Minister Ali […]

US oil CEO Hamm scraps hedges

Harold Hamm, the chief executive of North Dakota oil producer Continental Resources Inc (CLR.N), has stunned a bearish crude market by scrapping all of the company’s hedges – a bold bet that prices will recover soon after sliding some 25 percent. In so doing, Hamm, who last month called OPEC a “toothless tiger”, appears to […]

We Have Just Witnessed The Last Gasp Of The Global Economy

  It is difficult to find the motivation to write about the state of the global economy these days, if only because there is not much left to say. I feel like I am composing multiple obituaries for the same long dead corpse. Most of the Liberty Movement and I suspect a small portion of […]

U.S. Returns Fire in Saudi Arabia’s Oil War

One day after Saudi Arabia declared war on U.S. oil producers by lowering prices in an attempt to dump cheap crude in the United States (US) market, the White House and private oil companies responded.  White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that the U.S. is monitoring the global oil supply and demand situation but has […]

T Boone Pickens: The real problem with oil

Many energy investors think there’s a powerful force working against them in the market. Investor T. Boone Pickens thinks they’re right, but the problem isn’t what they think. Pickens says that the big issue in the energy market isn’t OPEC or the strong dollar; he says it’s supply and he also says domestic drillers are […]

Falling Oil Prices Make Fracking Less Lucrative

Oil prices are down than more than 25 percent since June and are staying low for now. Drivers may appreciate that, but for oil companies, it’s making some of the most controversial methods of producing oil less profitable — and in a few cases, unprofitable. Most of the world’s oil is selling for about $80 […]

A New Oil Boom in Mexico’s Aging ‘Golden Belt’

More than a century ago, an enterprising Californian struck oil near this Gulf of Mexico port city, the first of many finds that tagged this area as “the Golden Belt” and propelled Mexico into the top ranks of oil producers. Now the cradle of Mexico’s oil industry is set to kick-start a new energy boom, […]

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