News from May 2005

Canadian Oil Could be Headed to China

China is expanding its beachhead in Alberta’s oil sands, and for the first time has secured the right to ship Canadian oil into its home market. Sinopec Group has bought a 40-per-cent stake in Synenco Energy Inc.’s planned bitumen-mining operation for $105-million, committing the Chinese state oil firm to a much larger outlay of nearly [...]

China Court Blocks Lawsuit Over Seizure of Thousands of Oil Wells

A Chinese court has refused to hear a landmark lawsuit by hundreds of private investors whose oil wells were seized by the state, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper, citing unidentified people familiar with the case, also said police have detained Zhu Jiuhu, a widely respected lawyer, who had taken up the investors’ case as [...]

Rising Demand May Trim Stockpiles

Crude oil in New York rose for a seventh day on speculation rising demand for gasoline may reduce U.S. crude oil stockpiles before consumption peaks in the fourth quarter. U.S. gasoline consumption rose to 9.4 million barrels a day in the week ended May 20, the highest this year, according to the Energy Department. Oil [...]

Author Predicts Coming Energy Crisis

When author Michael Ruppert takes the stage in Eugene tonight, he’ll have some really really bad news and a sliver of good news to offer his audience. The bad news: Ruppert and others believe we’re approaching a tipping point they call “peak oil,” the moment when we’ve consumed half of the planet’s oil. With no [...]

Mexico’s Pemex Struggles to Design Deep-Water Deals

Mexican state oil monopoly Pemex said Monday it is struggling to meet a timetable for a deep-water exploration project as it tries to design contracts that attract foreign partners without violating a ban on profit-sharing partnerships. Pemex, which desperately needs foreign help to explore potentially huge deep-water oil deposits as output from existing oil fields [...]

Mexico Gasoline Consumption Up 5.1% On Year Through April

Mexican state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos ( PEM.YY) said Tuesday its domestic gasoline sales surged 5.1% on year during the first four months of 2005. In a statement, Pemex said it sold, on average, 652,500 barrels a day of its Magna and Premium gasolines during the period. The increased consumption came despite steadily rising gasoline [...]

Gas wells again pit David vs. Goliath

Since a state law took effect eight months ago and abolished the power of cities to regulate natural gas wells, three wells have popped up in Mayfield Heights, with the prospect of four more looming. Cities long had blocked the wells because residents complained that they were ugly and potentially risky. Energy companies said they [...]

China’s quest for oil raising tensions with U.S.

When gasoline prices headed skyward this spring, Bob Preston began urging customers at the Advance Auto Parts store he manages here to replace dirty air filters. Hoping for good gas mileage from an engine that can’t breathe properly, Preston told them, is like trying to run “when your lungs are bad.”

Uranium mining boost (Australia)

THE Howard Government has foreshadowed a dramatic expansion of Australia’s uranium mining industry, identifying Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam as future export markets as South East Asia becomes a player in nuclear energy.Linking the nation’s uranium exports to international strategies to combat global warming, the Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has revealed politically contentious plans to [...]

Huge rise in Siberian forest fires puts planet at risk, scientists warn

Fires in the Siberian forests – the largest in the world and vital to the planet’s health – have increased tenfold in the last 20 years and could again rage out of control this summer, Russian scientists warn. They say they have neither the money nor the equipment to control or extinguish the huge forests [...]