All that’s needed is a Status of Forces Agreement signed by an Iraqi government that could not survive without a continued US presence – or in lieu of that, a security situation which makes asking us to leave practically impossible in the foreseeable future – to realize the grandest aspirations of neo-conservatives and security hawks […]

Could Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor Save the World from Peak Oil?

The investment community is familiar with the threat posed by ‘Peak Oil’, and Resource Investor has done its part to keep its readers informed on the situation with articles highlighting some well-known prognosticators including Boone Pickens, Henry Groppe and Matt Simmons, and the threat they see of a crisis emerging. What investors, and those who […]

Is Fusion the Best Way Forward?

The choice of France as the site for an international nuclear fusion reactor is a victory for strong-arm European diplomacy, but the EU has had to pay a high price for scientific prestige with uncertain energy benefits. Winning the right to host the experimental reactor, which offers the prospect of almost unlimited, clean, cheap energy […]

China To Use Oil Reserves To Smooth Prices -Sinochem VP

China plans to use its national petroleum reserve, now under construction, to blunt the country’s exposure to market volatility, Han Gensheng, vice president of Sinochem Corp., said Wednesday. The reserves “will be used to cope with short-term fluctuations and maintain stability in the market,” Gensheng said on the sidelines of a U.S.-China conference in New […]

Boone Pickens says it’s here.

“We’re hitting a brick wall very fast”

T. Boone Pickens again says that Peak Oil is here, in an interview to CNN:

CNN Video

Attention: The first seconds of the video are commercial play.

Revolution, geopolitics and pipelines

By F William Engdahl After a short-term fall in price below the $50 a barrel level, oil has broken through the $60 level and is likely to go far higher. In this situation one might think the announcement of the opening of a major new oil pipeline to pump Caspian oil to world markets might […]

Complacency Has Many Forms

Heading Out writes: I don’t wish to ruin the rest of the summer, there seems to be some assumption in the minds of those writing about this topic that recognition of the problem will bring with it some collective action that will gently ease us into some form of transition zone.

To do so is to ignore the realities that have got the industry to where it is today. Energy companies exist to make their stockholders money. They do this by finding the best and fastest way to generate the most revenue in the short term that they generally can. If this means that they ruin a deposit for additional production after 5 or so years, that is not the immediate issue, and few CEO’s have been recognized for delaying the company profits.

This remains the bigger worry about long term stocks of oil…

More after the jump at The Oil Drum.

Cost of nuclear ‘underestimated’

The cost of new nuclear power has been underestimated by a factor of three, according to a British think tank. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) says existing estimates do not allow for the cost of building novel technologies and expensive time delays in construction. They claim that renewable energy sources like wind and solar should […]

Zimbabwe triples price of petrol

An announcement in the official Herald newspaper said a litre of petrol would cost 10,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($1; BBC

Andrew McKillop: Should Mahmoud Ahmedinjad use the oil weapon?

In any case, the oil price is on your side, Mr. Ahmedinjad. You only have to look at North Korea to see how the hard right neoconservative freaks in Washington react to countries that really do have nuclear weapons and really don’t have oil: America doesn’t bomb them. This means that by 2011, according to Ali Bakhtiari, when Iran stops having any export surplus of oil, you will not be bombed … even if you do have nuclear power plants. Only six years to go! Vheadline

High Oil Prices Causing Worries for Asia

Surging oil prices could curb Asia’s economies, with some analysts predicting the fast-growing region – heavily dependent on oil imports – could slip into a recession if prices don’t recede. With oil prices about 50 percent higher than a year ago, the warnings are starting to mount.

PetroKaz ‘for sale’ sign sends shares up

PetroKazakhstan, the Canada-based oil producer whose assets are in central Asia, on Monday confirmed it was considering a sale, potentially turning itself into the latest target in the global race to control energy assets. The statement sent the company’s New York listed shares up 17.35 per cent to close at $38.15, giving it a market […]

Official warns vs any efforts to ’starve’ China of energy

Efforts to blame the spike in oil prices on growth in Chinese consumption are “unreasonable and untenable,” a Chinese oil official said Tuesday, warning against any effort to limit the growing country’s access to energy. “To spread the ‘China threat’ and try to curb China’s progress and starve its energy needs is not in the […]

China’s oil demand to grow 6-8 pct in 2005 – NDRC official

China’s demand for oil will grow 6-8 pct this year, down from a 15.6 pct surge in 2004, said Xu Dingming, director general of the energy bureau at the National Development and Reform Commission. ‘This year demand will grow slightly by 6-8 pct,’ Xu said at a business conference in Beijing. His estimation is in […]

Russia offers pipelines for Caspian oil and gas

Russia is ready to contribute to the development of the Caspian Sea states’ energy sector, as oil and gas exports from the region are expected to increase by two and a half to three times by 2015, a Russian official told a forum in Geneva today. Igor Yusufov, the Russian president’s special envoy for international […]

Caspian Sea to Become Major Oil Supplier

Energy experts attending a United Nations meeting in Geneva say that oil and natural gas from the Caspian Sea Region could ease the world’s dependence on oil from the volatile Middle East. According to a U.N. Report, the Middle East supplies about 30 percent of all the oil consumed in the world.  By 2020, it […]

China courts Russia, Kazakhstan in hunt for oil

Chinese President Hu Jintao heads to neighbors Russia and Kazakhstan this week with hopes of securing access to more crude oil and gas to fuel his country’s booming but import-dependent economy. Last year China met less than 60 percent of its oil needs with domestic production, and it has cast a hungry eye toward the […]

Nuclear power ‘too slow’ – report

The cost of new nuclear power has been underestimated and the potential of small scale renewable power sources overlooked, according to a report by an independent think-tank. The New Economics Foundation says in its document “Mirage and Oasis” that nuclear power has been promoted in the UK and globally as the answer to climate change […]

World will pay dearly for ignoring climate

THE global cost of catastrophic weather events will soar to $27 billion (

EU Grain Crop Dented by Early Summer Heatwave

Hot weather in southern Europe has threatened to dent this summer’s grain crop, which with the worst drought in Iberia in 60 years, has helped dampen fears of excess supplies next season, analysts said on Tuesday. Spain and Portugal, both net grain importers, have been the worst affected, seeing cereals crops halved by severe drought […]

Interest Rises in Ethanol-Heavy E85

Like lots of motorists, Chuck Nye thought he had no choice but to grin and bear it as rising gas prices made filling up his minivan a painful experience. But then he heard a radio ad promoting E85

Upgrades by refineries won’t help your wallet

Companies will spend billions of dollars on their oil refineries in the United States and abroad in the coming years, but don’t count on those investments leading to lower prices at the pump. Rather, most of that money is going into upgrades to meet new clean-fuel standards in the United States, increase refiners’ ability to […]

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