British PM vows justice after ‘act of pure evil’

British Prime Minister David Cameron said this weekend that the apparent beheading of British aid worker David Haines by Islamic State militants was an “act of pure evil” and vowed to “hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice.” Cameron made the comments late Saturday after a video emerged online released by ISIL or […]

With Gas Cut Off, Ukraine Looks West

Keeping Ukraine warm keeps Andriy Kobolev up at night. Mr. Kobolev, the head of Ukraine’s state energy company, Naftogaz, is scrambling to keep gas flowing into his country as winter looms. Russia’s energy giant, Gazprom, had provided a little more than half of Ukraine’s total gas supply, but suspended its shipments in June in the […]

White House, Pentagon say US ‘at war’ with ISIS

The White House and Pentagon acknowledged Friday that the U.S. “is at war” with the Islamic State — contradicting Secretary of State John Kerry and others who a day earlier refused to use that term, prompting criticism from lawmakers that the administration was downplaying the conflict. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and Pentagon spokesman […]

Entire Leadership of ISIS Opposition Wiped Out by ‘Unexplained’ Explosion

Nearly fifty senior commanders of a major coalition of Islamic ‘moderates’ opposed to ISIS in Syria have been killed by an explosion at their secret command bunker as they met to discuss strategy against the the Islamic State. The blast in the Northwest region of Idlib, Syria on Tuesday killed senior members of rebel group […]

Exploding World, Cheap Oil

Geopolitical crises abound, but oil producers are still pumping — and pumping more than the world needs. Here’s a bit of a puzzler. The world is in flames, with an Islamist terrorist group on the rampage across the Middle East, the White House weighing another fight in Iraq, Russia and Europe still trading sanctions and […]

China Daily: “Western Sanctions Will Make Moscow Back The Chinese Yuan Against The Dollar”

The recent NATO summit in Wales, held against the background of the armed conflict in Ukraine, has brought back the Cold War atmosphere to Europe. NATO’s partnership with Russia remains formally suspended. In fact, NATO is treating Russia more as an adversary than a partner. The alliance is setting up a “Rapid Reaction Force” to […]

Scotland’s $25 billion question: How much oil?

A week before Scotland votes on whether to split from the United Kingdom, a furious row has erupted over just how much oil the new state would have. The heart of Britain’s energy industry is in Scotland. Oil and gas firms, and their suppliers, employ about 200,000 people and contribute about £15 billion ($25 billion) […]

What Petrodollar: Russia, China To Create SWIFT Alternative

If, when in February Victoria Nuland infamously launched a (not so) covert campaign to replace the ruling Ukraine president oblivious to the human casualties, resulting in a civil war in east Ukraine, NATO encroachment along the borders of Russia, and a near-terminal escalation in hostilities between Ukraine, Russian, and various regional NATO members, the US […]

Islamic State’s Ultimate Goal: Saudi Arabia’s Oil Wells

For the terrorist group known as the Islamic State, Syria and Iraq were a good place to start their campaign, but in order to survive and prosper it knew from the outset that it had no choice but to set its sights on the ultimate prize: the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.  It is in […]

Scotland independence vote sets North Sea oil industry on edge

Scotland’s independence vote has received a last-minute jolt of energy as polls show a surge by the Nationalist camp, which has effectively countered a mostly downbeat “No” campaign and picked holes in London’s claims to be a responsible custodian of North Sea oil. A week ahead of the September 18 referendum and with oil remaining […]

Dethrone ‘King Dollar’

THERE are few truisms about the world economy, but for decades, one has been the role of the United States dollar as the world’s reserve currency. It’s a core principle of American economic policy. After all, who wouldn’t want their currency to be the one that foreign banks and governments want to hold in reserve? […]

How The Islamic State Smuggles Oil To Fund Its Campaign

In less than three years, the Islamic State has had a remarkable rise from start-up militants to a cash-rich and capable extremist organization. The swift expansion is fueled, in part, by a massive oil smuggling operation in eastern Syria that has now expanded to Iraq, according to regional analysts and oil industry specialists. The Islamic […]

Israel Steals Gaza’s Offshore Natural Gas

While Gazans suffer from daily power shutdowns, Israel is signing an important deal to sell gas to Jordan, gas which, researchers say, was stolen from Palestinians. In addition to confiscating Palestine’s energy resources, Israel has destroyed Gaza’s only power station in its latest military offensive.       Photo: “Gaza electricity; ‘enemy of the (Jewish) […]

A Stress Test for E.U. Energy Supplies

Europe is conducting two stress tests. One is on its energy suppliers, to see how badly they would fare if flows of Russian natural gas were disrupted. The other is on eurozone banks to ensure they are strong enough to finance economic recovery. It is hard to know which of the two stress tests is […]

Operation, Multiple Children

Not too long ago, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) launched a campaign to encourage Iranian couples to have more children. This was apparently in reaction to the steady decline of the fertility rate since 1984, as evidenced in the chart below based on World Bank data. This drop is the result of a number […]

Why the US should start selling oil out of the SPR

Economist Philip Verleger looks at the size of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and then looks at the world’s hot spots, and sees a way to solve some of the problems of the latter with the former. He has contributed this guest blog to The Barrel. Russia’s adventurism in Ukraine, ISIS’s alarming advances in Syria […]

Oil attacks hurting Yemen’s economy

Militant attacks on oil facilities in Yemen are hurting the country’s ability to build a strong economic base, the International Monetary Fund said. The IMF said it approved a $552.9 million credit to Yemen to help the country maintain a level of economic stability. The amount is available in semi-annual disbursements, though the IMF’s executive […]

Michael Klare: Oil Rush in America

Whatever you may imagine, “peak oil” has not been discredited as a concept, a statement no less true for “peak fossil fuels.”  Think of them instead as postponed.  We are, after all, on a finite planet that, by definition, holds a finite amount of oil, natural gas, and coal.  Sooner or later, as such deposits […]

ISIS’ struggle to control its oil riches

ISIS videos are part of today’s new reality. One of the many to hit social media has the viewer hearing a recitation of Quranic verses describing a jihad in the battle for Syria’s Al Omar energy facility. Syria’s largest oil field is one of a handful now under the firm grip of the terrorist organization. […]

Dark Age America: The Cauldron of Nations

It’s one thing to suggest, as I did in last week’s post here, that North America a few centuries from now might have something like five per cent of its current population. It’s quite another thing to talk about exactly whose descendants will comprise that five per cent. That’s what I intend to do this […]

Iraq On the Precipice

The catastrophic events in Iraq that are unfolding daily are more significant than at any point in recent memory. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is now calling itself the Islamic State (IS), steamrolled out of Syria into Iraq and appeared to be unstoppable in its march to Baghdad. The Iraqi military, […]

EU energy chief not ruling out ‘worst case scenarios’ on energy security

European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger warned on Tuesday he was not ruling out “worst case scenarios” on Europe’s energy security due to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “lies” amid Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. “That Putin would use false information, lies and weapons was beyond my imagination,” Oettinger said at an event of German energy utility RWE […]

CIA Report Potential Implications Of Trends In World Population, Food Production, And Climate

Excerpt from the August, 1974, CIA report, entitled: Potential Implications of Trends in World Population, Food Production, and Climate.  Full document is available below. “The widespread crop shortfalls in 1972 and the energy and fertilizer crunches in ’73 and ’74 have raised anew the basic question of whether the production of food can keep pace with demand over […]

ISIL and the Confused Energy Picture

For everyone following today’s energy developments the overall picture is confusing, to say the least. This is particularly apparent with regard to oil supplies from mid-June onwards when the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL — also referred to as ISIS — Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) conflict flared up, with the insurgents […]

The Covert Origins of ISIS

Evidence exposing who put ISIS in power, and how it was done. Sources and full transcript: http://scgnews.com/the-covert-origins…

Arab World’s Main Exports Are Hatred And Violence

At least since the early part of the 20th century, aside from oil, the Arab world has produced and exported two products. It has produced essentially no technology, medicine or anything else in the world of science. It has almost no contributions to world literature, art or to intellectual development. According to the most recent […]

Oil tanker ‘vanishes’ with $100M cargo off Texas

The U.S. Coast Guard has lost track of a Kurdish tanker carrying $100 million in disputed oil off the coast of Texas, the Independent reports. Headed for Galveston, the United Kalavyrvta was anchored at least 60 miles off-shore when it vanished from radar screens. The ship’s haul fell under legal dispute when Iraq filed a […]

Feds To Resume Leasing For Fracking In California

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will resume issuing oil and gas leases next year for federal lands in California after a new study found limited environmental impacts from fracking and other enhanced drilling techniques, the agency said Thursday. The move will end a halt that has stood since a federal judge ruled in 2013 […]

The Russia-Ukraine standoff looks to the energy needs of winter

In this month’s excerpt from Platts Energy Economist, Ross McCracken looks at the winter energy implications of the Ukraine-Russia divide. Regardless of Russian denials, Moscow is clearly providing direct support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine. Reports Thursday were numerous of tanks, armored vehicles and rocket launchers being deployed in the region, not to mention […]

Orlov: Propaganda and the lack thereof

With regard to the goings-on in Ukraine, I have heard quite a few European and American voices piping in, saying that, yes, Washington and Kiev are fabricating an entirely fictional version of events for propaganda purposes, but then so are the Russians. They appear to assume that if their corporate media is infested with mendacious, […]

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