News from January 2005

Bush, Iraq and the hydrogen economy

The closest thing to an independence plan produced by the Bush administration or the energy industry is the hydrogen economy. The idea is to convert our vehicles, ships, and aircraft to burn the pollution free fuel in various forms. It would solve a problem, but it could take 20 years or so.

However, hydrogen isn’t a source of fuel – it’s a storage medium. It is produced by expending some other primary source of energy.

The source the government, energy industry, and the automotive industry has in mind is nuclear power. We are talking about literally thousands of new nuclear facilities dedicated to the production of hydrogen through fission powered electrolysis (the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen gas).

The hydrogen economy is really a nuclear economy. Investors and the rest of corporate America may not realise how close the country is to making a gigantic bet on a nuclear future. The scientists and engineers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory have been developing the advanced nuclear technologies that would power the hydrogen world.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a58378b0-732d-11d9-86a0-00000e2511c8.html

Pipelines a way to play oil sands

Billions of dollars will be spent over the next decade to develop Alberta’s oil sands, and pipelines will be needed to feed the energy-starved world, according to report by UBS Securities Canada Inc.

Globe and Mail

Heinberg Reviews Diamond: A White-Knuckler

Heinberg: “the most powerful of the world’s current leaders are every bit as irrational as the befuddled kings and chiefs who brought the Maya and Easter Islanders to their ruin.”

A must read.

http://www.energybulletin.net/4182.html

Global warming: Grim news expected from scientists’ council of war

World experts gather next week for the biggest scientific assessment in four years of Earth’s global warming crisis, and the conclusions they will reach are likely to be depressing. New evidence put forward by leading scientists will add pieces to a mosaic of evidence which suggests the climate crunch is heading our way faster, and [...]

Indian oil firms win in Libya bid

Two Indian oil companies have won a contract to look for oil in Libya, the Press Trust of India reports. State-owned Indian Oil Corp. and Oil India Ltd. have won a license to explore a 7,087 sq km (2,736 sq miles) block in the oil rich Sirte Basin. www.bbc.co.uk

Ryanair hit by soaring fuel costs

Ryanair, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, has reported a 26% drop in quarterly profit after it lowered fares and the price of fuel soared. Net profit was 35m euros ($45.5m; Ã‚Â£24m) in the three months ending 31 December, from 47.5m euros a year earlier. www.bbc.co.uk

Venezuela and China sign oil agreements

resident Hugo Chavez and Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong signed several agreements Saturday concerning oil, agriculture and technology, officials said. Chavez, whose relationship with the United States has deteriorated recently, has sought to forge new trade and political ties with foreign powers including China and Russia.http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=1/31/2005&Cat=9&Num=16

Genoil Hopes Hydrogen to Boost Energy from Oil

in the near term at least, hydrogen could be more useful in traditional oil refineries and heavy oil fields than in creating a fleet of futuristic automobiles, said the chairman of Genoil, a Canadian energy technology services company.

Genoil Chairman and CEO David Lifshultz believes improving hydrogen use at conventional oil refineries can increase yields of oil products from heavy oil by as much as 25 percent.

Planet Ark

Record profits put oil firms on tax alert

The government will come under further pressure this week to hit oil companies with a windfall tax as the industry reveals gushing profits.

American group ExxonMobil will start the ball rolling today when it is expected to announce profits of $24bn – the biggest in American corporate history.

The Guardian

Oil: Are India and China inflating a global bubble?

Risk & Return
Oil: Are India and China inflating a global bubble?

Sunday, 30 January 2005
by Paul Mampilly
…skip ahead…
The price of oil declined at the end of 2004 and is now approaching $50 again. Reasons provided for the increasing prices are supposed high demand because of the booming economies of China and India and the recent cold weather in parts of the US and the approaching election in Iraq.

Both India and China, extrapolating the current trend (China: 5.5 bill. barrels per day and India: 2 bill. barrels per day) to determine their long term oil needs, have decided that a crisis is impending. With this in mind, each country has sent its corporate minions to shop for oil assets around the world.

Capuchinomics