How to Launder $1 Billion of Iranian Oil

Looking nervous and somber, the FBI’s star witness entered from the lockup and shuffled across the New York federal courtroom in a beige prison smock. The Turkish-Iranian gold trader took a seat at the witness stand for the hearing on Nov. 29, the second day of testimony in a money laundering and sanctions-evasion case brought […]

The Drastic Drop Off In US Oil Imports

While the dust may now have settled on last week’s OPEC meeting, the cartel’s impact on U.S. oil inventories is set to linger on. Stocks are at their lowest level since January 2016, and are down over 80 million barrels from their peak in March – in spite of a 30 million barrel injection from […]

China’s Push to Trade Oil in Yuan Faces a Key Hurdle

China’s moves to set up trading oil in yuan have sparked enthusiasm about what could be a shift in the global financial system: a reduced role for the U.S. dollar. Players like Adam Levinson, founder of hedge fund Graticule Asset Management Asia, call it a “huge story” to come. But with policy makers prioritizing market […]

A Few Notes on Nature Spirits, Part Two: Into A Living World

Last week’s post here on Ecosophia.net dealt with some of the reasons why so many people in today’s industrial societies are acutely uncomfortable with the suggestion that the forces and processes of nature might be persons rather than things. That’s what we’re discussing, after all, when we talk about nature spirits. The world of spirits, […]

Is The EIA Overestimating The U.S. Shale Boom?

The American shale boom may be overstated by the U.S. Energy Department, according to a new MIT study that suggests the agency may be over-attributing a rise in shale drilling to technological advances. “The EIA is assuming that productivity of individual wells will continue to rise as a result of improvements in technology,” MIT researcher […]

Toyota will build the first megawatt-scale hydrogen fuel and renewable generation plant

Toyota will build the first megawatt-scale hydrogen fuel and renewable generation plant, setting a new energy benchmark that experts hope with pave the way for Australia’s hydrogen industry. Toyota North America will build the plant to support its operations at the Port of Long Beach, in the US, using agricultural waste to generate electricity, water […]

Maduro Unveils “The Petro”: Venezuela’s Official Cryptocurrency To “Overcome Financial Blockade”

Three months ago, in a not entirely surprising move meant to circumvent US economic sanctions on Venezuela, president Nicolas Maduro announced that his nation would stop accepting dollars as payment for oil imports, followed just days later by the announcement that in a dramatic shift away from the Petrodollar and toward Beijing, Venezuela would begin […]

The Seneca Cliff Explained as a Network Phenomenon: a Three Dimensional Collapse Overview Model

A Three Dimensional Collapse Overview Model In this post, Geoffrey Chia illustrates one of the fundamental characteristics of the “Seneca Effect”, also known as “collapse,” the fact that it occurs in networked systems dominated by feedback interactions. This is a qualitative interpretation of collapse that complements the more quantitative models that I report in my […]

Can We Skip Straight to Renewable Energy Without Natural Gas?

By Heather Goldstone & Elsa Partan Living Lab Radio Francis O’Sullivan, MIT Energy Initiative A protest this weekend at the site of a proposed natural gas power generator on the Cape Cod Canal highlights the controversy surrounding the rise of natural gas. Some say it’s an improvement over other fossil fuels, and a necessary bridge […]

After 2.5 Billion Barrels, Eagle Ford Has More Oil Coming

Mark Twain would appreciate irony in the Eagle Ford Shale, where rumors of the play’s impending exhaustion are greatly exaggerated. The Eagle Ford has produced 2.5 billion barrels (Bbbl) of oil and will generate another 2.1 Bbbl, according to Allen Gilmer, CEO of DrillingInfo, the Austin-based Big Data repository of all things oil and gas. […]

Kunstler: What Now?

“Contact with Russians.” Grown men and women, doubling and re-doubling down on a political fantasy, repeat this prayer hour after hour on the cable channels and Web waves as if trying to exorcise a nation possessed by the unholy hosts of Hell. But such vicars of the news as Wolf Blitzer, Rachel Maddow, Chuck Todd, […]

The Last Great Exploration On Earth Is To Survive On Earth

Evoking images of calving icebergs, and endless white icescapes, Antarctica has been described as a “silence deep with a breath like sleep”. Some say that its profound beauty haunts you for the rest of your days. And, one man who understands this better than most is Robert Swan OBE. In 1986, he made the longest […]

Ugo Bardi: A Religion Called Economy

  Published also in Italian in “Effetto Cassandra”  A post by Michele Migliorino The idea that religions are giving way to a more advanced human level of existence is part of common knowledge. Science and technology are emancipating humankind from mythical and religious discourses under the effect of the belief that only rationality should guide […]

Peak oil and the Aramco/SABIC petrochemical project

THERE is an important connection between this week’s announcement by Saudi Aramco and SABIC of an MoU for a direct oil-to-chemicals complex and the Tesla Semi electric truck, which is being trialled by DHL and other logistics companies. To fully understand this link, let’s first consider the wider context behind the Tesla truck story. This story […]

You’re Just Not Prepared For What’s Coming

I hate to break it to you, but chances are you’re just not prepared for what’s coming. Not even close.  Don’t take it personally. I’m simply playing the odds. After spending more than a decade warning people all over the world about the futility of pursuing infinite exponential economic growth on a finite planet, I […]

The Unreal Effects of Ozone Layer Depletion

Ozone layer depletion is probably at the top of the list of events that have the potential to wipe humanity out from the earth’s surface. It is the prime cause of increasing global temperature – which at this rate does not augur well for humankind. But, thankfully, concerted efforts over the years from scientists, researchers, […]

Is Peak Oil dead? Not by a long shot! Remember Ladyfern?

Preface. Oil is finite. Period. Don’t be fooled by news stories that peak oil is dead, or we have reached peak demand.  They’re all nonsense. Gail Tverberg at ourfiniteworld.com is especially good at explaining this. Worse yet, what we have left has been and is not being drained as quickly as possible to pay the […]

Saudi Arabia and Russia reach compromise on oil

Ministers from OPEC and their allies have agreed to extend their production pact all the way to the end of 2018 but with a review in June that will take into account market conditions and progress toward rebalancing. The outcome represents a successful compromise between de facto OPEC leader Saudi Arabia (which wanted to announce […]

GE, Baker Merger Will Redefine Process Of Oil And Gas E&P

The NovaLT suite of products is designed to supplement an increasing trend for distributed power generation closer to the point of consumption. With efficiency between 80% and 90% in cogeneration applications, BHGE’s NovaLT family of gas turbines represent an advanced solution to produce heat and power. The modular built of the NovaLT16 significantly reduces customized […]

US Vastly Overstates Oil Output Forecasts, MIT Study Suggests

Turns out, America’s decade-long shale boom might just end up being a little too good to be true. There’s no denying that fracking has turned the U.S. into a force in the global oil and gas markets, which has more than a few people abuzz about the prospect of energy independence. But now, researchers at […]

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