Libya Oil Halt Would ‘Probably’ Cause Price Surge, EIA Says

A halt in Libya’s oil output would probably cause prices to soar because OPEC’s spare production capacity is limited to about 2 million barrels a day, the head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. Unexpected outages in countries including Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Brazil have reduced output from oil producers outside of the Organization […]

The Close Tie Between Energy Consumption, Employment, and Recession

Since 1982, the number of people employed in the United States has tended to move in a similar pattern to the amount of energy consumed. When one increases (or decreases), the other tends to increase (or decrease). In numerical terms, R2 = .98. Figure 1. Employment is the total number employed at non-farm labor as […]

World Hunger: The Problem Left Behind

THE drought-induced run-up in corn prices is a reminder that we’re nowhere near solving the problem of feeding the world. The price surge, the third major international food price spike in the last five years, casts more doubt on the assumption that widespread economic development leads to corresponding gains in agriculture. The green revolution has […]

QE3: Quantitatively Easing America Further Into Inflation

Everybody knew it was coming. With the economy continuing to founder, it was only a matter of time before Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve decided to turn once again — like the proverbial pig to its wallow — to printing money in a vain attempt to jolt the moribund American economy back to life. As with […]

Saudi Arabia Not at Risk of Being Oil Importer

Saudi Arabia, the world’s No. 1 crude exporter, can boost its output capacity and isn’t at risk of becoming a net importer of oil, an energy analyst said, rebutting a report by Citigroup Inc. Mohammad Al-Sabban said a Citigroup study published on Sept. 4 assumes that Saudi Arabia will maintain its production capacity for years […]

Saudi Kingdom addresses domestic energy consumption head-on

THE flame of oil is not eternal – none can dare deny. Suspicions concerning longevity and indeed eternity of crude supplies continue to linger. Citigroup said in a recent report – the onus is back again on the supply side of the global energy equation. Having sailed through scare of ‘Peak Oil’ – in not […]

Airlines grapple with food vs. biofuel debate

Airlines battling to cut costs and pollution may not find a quick fix in biofuels, as concerns grow that using feedstocks to create an alternative to kerosene will push food prices higher. The European Union plans to impose a limit on the use of crop-based biofuels, in a major shift in the region’s much-criticized biofuel […]

Is It Peak Silver Redux?

As prices at the pump gradually move back up, one finds no shortage of people calling for new financial regulations. Frequently blamed on speculators, higher gasoline prices are – as some politicians say – the result of lax laws regulating the financial system. Nevertheless, can it really be only speculators that are driving up the […]

Laissez-Faire Failing World’s Dwindling Water Resources

Growing water shortages in many countries are a major threat to global security and development and should be a top priority at the U.N. Security Council, a panel of experts said in a new report. However, that report ignores the biggest threat to water security: neoliberal policies of the free market economic system laying waste […]

India Increases Diesel Prices Again

India’s first increase in diesel prices in 14 months and signs it will open its aviation industry to investment by foreign airlines may reflect a more assertive Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he seeks to trim the fiscal deficit and raise growth. Higher fuel prices brought calls for a rollback from Singh’s allies, pressure he […]

QE3: Fed Primes Pump, Americans To Pay Even More At Gas Pump

The Federal Reserve announced a third round of quantitative easing Thursday afternoon, and it is big: A net $40 billion a month in additional purchases of mortgage-backed securities. And policymakers said additional accommodation will continue “for a considerable time after the economic recovery strengthens.” But the impact of a big, open-ended QE3 is not so […]

Official figures show record prices are driving Britons off the road

  Sky-high petrol prices are driving cash strapped Britons off the road. Compelling new evidence from the ­Department of Transport shows millions of drivers are cutting back their mileage. Total traffic levels this spring fell by one per cent on the same period last year. But with drivers in rural areas hurt most by rocketing […]

US sees tighter oil market; OPEC disagrees

The US government and OPEC offered differing outlooks for global oil markets on Tuesday, with Washington ratcheting up price forecasts for oil on stronger demand while OPEC highlighted rising output from the exporter group. In separate monthly reports, both emphasized the possibility that a worsening European crisis could still drag down oil prices, warnings that […]

Shale oil can’t stop crude topping $150 by 2020: analyst

Oil prices are likely to rise sharply from 2015, surpassing $150 a barrel in 2019 and 2020, Bernstein Research said on Tuesday, in a report at odds with a growing oil industry consensus that says rising supplies of unconventional oil will moderate prices. The 180-page report from Bernstein estimates Brent will rise from an average […]

Energy watchdog suggests oil release unnecessary

* IEA says oil demand is depressed, supply comfortable * Report makes no mention of emergency stocks release * Iran exports edge up, recovery could be short-lived By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Christopher Johnson LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Global oil demand is likely to be muted over the next year and supply and inventory levels […]

Natural gas and the UK’s changing energy landscape

The UK has an urgent problem – keeping the lights on. Some 20pc of the country’s electricity generating capacity will be lost over the next decade, yet demand for power is forecast to double between now and 2050. Britain has also committed to produce 15pc of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, and the […]

The Repricing of Oil

Now that oil’s price revolution – a process that took ten years to complete – is self-evident, it is possible once again to start anew and ask: When will the next re-pricing phase begin? Most of the structural changes that carried oil from the old equilibrium price of $25 to the new equilibrium price of […]

American consumption habits

It is well known that Americans consume far more natural resources and live much less sustainably than people from any other large country of the world. “A child born in the United States will create thirteen times as much ecological damage over the course of his or her lifetime than a child born in Brazil,” […]

To feed a growing population, ‘bet on the ocean’ and innovation

I once read an article in The Guardian that said this:  Over the next 50 years humans will need to produce more food than all the food ever produced over the past 10,000 years combined. There is no disputing that our global food supply is stretched to the limit. We already use most of the […]

China’s implied oil demand falls to 22-mth low

China’s implied oil demand in August fell 0.8 percent from a year earlier to 8.92 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest since Oct 2010, Reuters calculations based on preliminary government data showed on Monday. The daily rate was 3.7 percent, or 340,000 bpd, lower than the 9.26 million bpd in July, Reuters figures showed. […]

The next great oil crisis

Technology is making it possible to tap vast new oil supplies. But that could be the proverbial drop in the gas tank compared to rising demand overseas. After nearly a decade of warnings that the world’s oil supply was running out, Americans now are hearing about technology breakthroughs that can unlock vast U.S. deposits of […]

Australian Electricity market to be opened up to curb demand

The SMH has a report on the latest plans by the Australian energy market regualtor to make power prices more market driven – Electricity market to be opened up to curb demand. In a bid to drive down surging electricity prices, the national wholesale electricity market is to be opened up to large energy users […]

Will the US Face Blackouts as Electricity Generation Suffers in Drought?

Well, its official – the U.S. government has acknowledged that the U.S. is in the worst drought in over 50 years, since December 1956, when about 58 percent of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate to extreme drought. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center’s “State of the Climate Drought […]

Older Cars: The lengthening life of your ride

More and more, people are in a committed relationship — with their wheels. The average age of cars and light trucks (SUVs included), says Experian, is now 11 years — double the age in 1970. Driving this: higher quality and, lately, a poor economy. Plus, as auto historian John Heitmann notes, buyer frenzy about new […]

The Repricing of Oil

Now that oil’s price revolution – a process that took ten years to complete – is self-evident, it is possible once again to start anew and ask: When will the next re-pricing phase begin? Most of the structural changes that carried oil from the old equilibrium price of $25 to the new equilibrium price of […]

Fracking the U.S. economy isn’t working

The concept of peak oil holds that at some point  the maximum recoverable supply of fossil fuels will be reached, and production will then enter a dramatic decline. Recent technological advances in fracking have pushed back the peak, and future improvements in production may make peak oil it irrelevant to any living politician or regulator. […]

World faces tough choices on food

The past decade has seen the end of cheap oil, the magic growth ingredient for the global economy since World War II. Now the increase in the price of maize, wheat and soya beans in the past three months –  the third spike in the past five years – suggests the era of cheap food […]

The future of oil

The concept of peak oil has been debated for over half a century with neither side scoring a decisive victory. Yet the idea of peak cheap oil, as suggested by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in a recent column, may offer a much more compelling analysis of the challenges posed by the commodity. With Britain and the eurozone […]

Peak Oil: Undulating Plateau Shaped By Price

Dr. M King Hubbert famously predicted peak conventional oil. Supporters point to Hubbert’s correct predictions as a source of doom prophecy. Detractors misrepresent Hubbert and point to the unconventional shale oil revolution. Both sides ignore economics and price. The U.S and world conventional oil production predictions of Hubbert were largely correct. U.S. production peaked in […]

Rocking the AC

When it comes up in casual conversation that I do not generally heat or cool my house, people either move to another seat or look at me with some mixture of admiration and disbelief. When non-Californians then find out that I live in San Diego, they might huff or spew, which often involves some embarrassing […]

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