Iran: ‘No cyberattack targeted Iran Oil Ministry’

The head of the Communications and Information Technology of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said on Saturday that no cyberattack had been carried out against the Internet and communication systems of the Oil Ministry. “The website of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Oil Ministry were temporarily shut down due to a technical […]

Global Sell-Off Shows Fed Reach Beyond the U.S.

Despite a partial recovery in the markets on Friday, tumbling stock, bond and commodity prices around the world over the past month are demonstrating just how reliant the global economy has become on the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. In the weeks since the Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, first indicated that the central […]

Illinois Adopts Nation’s Strictest Fracking Regulations

On Monday, Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation to regulate fracking in the state of Illinois. Legislation overwhelmingly passed both the Illinois Senate (52-3) and the House (108-9) last month. The law is now seen as the nation’s strictest for oil and gas drilling. The Chicago Tribune writes that the legislation will force oil and gas […]

Rosneft to Send $60 Billion Worth of Oil to China

The Russian state oil company, Rosneft, intends to sign a major contract to supply China with more than $60 billion of crude oil, a deal that could signal a small shift away from Western Europe toward Asia. Russia has been gradually opening its oil spigot to China in recent years. While the overall volume of […]

Shale gas won’t stop peak oil, but could create an economic crisis

A new report out last week from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has doubled estimates of “technically recoverable” oil and gas resources available globally. The report says that shale-based resources potentially increase the world’s total oil supplies by 11 per cent. Acknowledging fault-lines in its new study, contracted to energy consulting firm Advanced Resources […]

China’s Arctic Strategy

China has certainly been busy since it won observer status at the May Arctic Council summit in Kiruna, Sweden. First, Yu Zhengasheng, Chairman of China’s Political Consultative Conference, visited Finland, Sweden and Denmark with an eye to boosting general trade and cooperation, particularly in the Arctic. China then announced an expanded research and scientific polar […]

The US Wants Syrian Oil, Not Democracy

“… the Persian Gulf, the critical oil and natural gas-producing region that we fought so many wars to try and protect our economy from the adverse impact of losing that supply or having it available only at very high prices.” –John Bolton, George W. Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations   ll the hubbub over […]

Surviving the Next Gulf Oil Spill

DOWN here on the Gulf of Mexico, the air is heavy with expectation as we await the arrival of billions of dollars in fines from companies involved in the BP oil-well blowout, which spewed millions of gallons of oil into the gulf over three months in 2010. The Restore Act, signed by President Obama last […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: Middle Eastern Turmoil

Some 24 million barrels of oil per day or 27 percent of the world’s daily production comes from countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Until recently the oil markets have paid remarkably little attention to the deteriorating political and security situation in the region. With the intervention of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia on […]

China’s Military Buildup Worrisome

China’s “spectacularly active” naval posture and “massive” military buildup in Asia are part of a pattern of belligerent behavior toward Japan and other neighbors over maritime disputes, according to Japan’s ambassador to the U.S. Speaking at a Bloomberg Government breakfast in Washington yesterday, Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Kenichiro Sasae described China’s increasingly frequent forays […]

Did Israel Attack Syria Again?

The IDF is refusing to comment on reports that Israel attacked the Al-Miza military airbase near Damascus last night, which if true could lead to a Syrian response and a massive escalation of the 27 month conflict. Image: Wikimedia Commons A Syrian television station sympathetic to anti-Assad rebels reported that Israel was responsible for the […]

75-Year Pemex Oil Monopoly to End This Year

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said he’s confident Congress will end the state oil monopoly this year, opening the way for companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) to tap the nation’s reserves. In the model envisioned by Pena Nieto, state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos would develop some fields, while others are […]

“All of the Above” Energy Policy Must Be Weighted by Common Sense

“All of the Above” is just a cliché if not tempered by an appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of different energy sources, and a standard basis of comparison. Renewable energy is gaining market share, but fossil fuels–especially oil and gas–will play crucial roles in the energy mix for decades. Last month, Real Clear Politics […]

Additional Iranian Oil Sanctions May Be Counterproductive

A June 6, 2013, article from Reuters is titled, “Lawmakers in new drive to slash Iran’s oil sales to a trickle.” According to it, U.S. lawmakers are embarking this summer on a campaign to deal a deeper blow to Iran’s diminishing oil exports, and while they are still working out the details, analysts say the ultimate goal […]

US and the Middle East

Of all the mistakes the US can make about an especially turbulent Middle East, one should be especially easy to describe and avoid. The mistake is to assume that a surge in production of oil and gas from unconventional resources in North America means the US has diminishing reason to worry about Middle Eastern affairs. […]

Why we should speed U.S. gas exports

John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. When President Obama meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of Eight meeting this week, there should be a spotlight on our two nations’ drastically different approaches to natural gas […]

Iran Sends 4,000 Troops To Aid Syria’s Assad

While the world awaits Russia’s formal response to last week’s US escalation in Syria (as Putin demonstratively arrived an hour late for talks on Syria with UK PM David Cameron) another country: Iran – fresh from an election in which moderate candidate Hassan Rohani became the new president – is taking matters into its own […]

Hassan Rouhani wins Iran presidential election

Reformist-backed cleric Hassan Rouhani has won Iran’s presidential election, securing just over 50% of the vote and so avoiding the need for a run-off. Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf was well behind in second place. Turnout was estimated at 72.2% among the 50 million Iranians who were eligible to vote to choose a successor to […]

Saudi king cuts short holiday in Morocco

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah arrived in Jeddah from Casablanca on Friday, having cut short a private holiday in Morocco, the state news agency said. The elderly king returned early because of “repercussions of the events that the region is currently witnessing,” the agency said, in an apparent reference to Syria. Saudi Arabia has been a […]

Pentagon bracing for public dissent over climate and energy shocks

NSA Prism is motivated in part by fears that environmentally-linked disasters could spur anti-government activism Top secret US National Security Agency (NSA) documents disclosed by the Guardian have shocked the world with revelations of a comprehensive US-based surveillance system with direct access to Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft and other tech giants. New Zealand court records […]

US “Finds” Chemical Weapon Use Against Syrian Rebels; Military Proposes Arming Rebels, No-Fly Zone

The “red-line” has been crossed. The New York Times is reporting that: U.S. CONCLUDES SYRIA USED CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST REBELS: NYT, and NYT SAYS EUROPEAN OFFICIALS REACH SAME CONCLUSION ON SYRIA MCCAIN SAYS U.S. TO PROVIDE WEAPONS TO SYRIAN REBELS And alongside that finding, as part of (or justification for?) the arming of the Syrian […]

UN says nearly 93,000 killed in Syrian civil war

Syrians are being killed at an average rate of 5,000 per month, the U.N. said Thursday as it raised the overall death toll in the civil war to nearly 93,000, with civilians bearing the brunt of the attacks. The grim estimate reflects the growing sectarian nature of the bloodshed as the regime of President Bashar […]

Peru Seeks Investments of at Least $1B in Amazon Oil Auction

Peru’s government aims to attract more than $1 billion in investments in an upcoming public auction of 26 oil concessions in the country’s Amazon region, a top government official said. The chairman of government agency Perupetro, Luis Ortigas, said that exploration investments in each concession will be between $40 million and $50 million. “If it […]

Workers protest at consulate in Saudi Arabia

Indonesian workers frustrated by long waits to get exit visas from Saudi Arabia protested outside their Jeddah consulate on Sunday, setting fire to the building’s outer wall and briefly clashing with security forces, witnesses said. Hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in the world’s top oil exporter are trying to rectify their immigration status or […]

Comment Period Extension for Fracking Regulations Justified

The Bureau of Land Management’s 60-day comment period extension for hydraulic fracturing rules proposed last month for federal and Indian lands will be needed to allow the oil and gas industry to effectively review and comment on all existing various state and federal agency regulatory activities that overlap with much of what BLM is proposing, […]

US extends sanction relief to China, others for cutting Iran’s oil supply

  The Obama administration will extend six-month sanctions exemptions to China, India and seven other countries for significantly reducing oil imports from Iran, officials said Tuesday, as the U.S. imposed new measures  against companies believed to be acting as a front network to help the Iranian government evade international financial restrictions. The waivers will be […]

Russian Arms, Syria and the Price of Oil

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, in a broadcast this Thursday past, boasted of the Russian arms deliveries to the Syrian regime that would include deliveries of a highly advanced anti-aircraft weapons system. Whether accurate or not, the Russians are clearly stoking the fires of the Syrian debacle and now risking its spread beyond Syria’s borders. […]

Texas man pleads guilty to trying to blow up natural gas pipeline, possessing homemade bomb

A self-described political activist pleaded guilty in federal court today to attempting to blow up a natural gas pipeline with a homemade bomb last June in Plano. Anson Chi, 34, of Plano pleaded guilty to possessing an explosive device composed of methyl nitrate and other parts that was not registered with the National Firearms Registration […]

What is Happenning in Istanbul?

To my friends who live outside of Turkey: I am writing to let you know what is going on in Istanbul for the last five days. I personally have to write this because at the time of my writing most of the media sources are shut down by the government and the word of mouth […]

Post Carbon Institute Goes to Washington

It may be an exaggeration to say that the nation’s capital was built on a swamp, but being there with temperatures hovering at 90°F (32°C) and humidity at nearly 100%, you can see why that myth has persisted. It doesn’t help that the political climate makes the air feel that much more oppressive. Speaking of […]

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