News from February 2006

Number of unsold homes hits record high

The backlog of unsold new homes reached a record level last month, as sales slipped despite the warmest January in more than 100 years. Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, predicted “real downward pressure on prices over the next few months.” MercuryNews

The Oil Drum: NYT Ed Says Peak Oil ‘Almost Certainly Correct’

Was browsing the NYT on a short break from work tonight when I was amazed to discover a long op-ed by Robert Semple Jr, associate editor of the Times Editorial Board, on peak oil. Unfortunately, it’s behind the Times Select paywall, so the rest of you will have to make do with a few fair [...]

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Saudi Aramco announces new gas find in Eastern Province

Saudi Arabia has announced a new gas find in Eastern Province, putting the capacity of the new field at 27 mln cubic feet per day. Current gas production in the kingdom is around seven bln cu feet but is due to go up to around 10 bln cu feet per day by 2010. III

Scientists confirm historic massive flood in climate change

Scientists from NASA and Columbia University, New York, have used computer modeling to successfully reproduce an abrupt climate change that took place 8,200 years ago. At that time, the beginning of the current warm period, climate changes were caused by a massive flood of freshwater into the North Atlantic Ocean. The group used an atmosphere-ocean [...]

Spy Chief: Iraq May Spark Regional Battle

A civil war in Iraq could lead to a broader conflict in the Middle East, pitting the region’s rival Islamic sects against each other, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte said in an unusually frank assessment Tuesday. “If chaos were to descend upon Iraq or the forces of democracy were to be defeated in that country [...]

High Oil Prices Seen Sustained Over Long Term – EIA Chief

Global crude oil prices are likely to trade around $50 a barrel in real terms for the foreseeable future, the head of the Energy Information Administration said Tuesday. “Relatively high prices are going to be with us for a long time,” EIA Administrator Guy Caruso said in a speech to a meeting hosted by Lukens [...]

Mosley’s Brave New World to be Fuelled by Crisis?

Max Mosley believes that the predicted fuel shortage could be the catalyst to persuading grand prix teams to accept a different formula in future. Fearing that the sport could be suspended in the event of any fuel crisis, the FIA president could urge teams to accept a fuel consumption-based formula rather than the current one [...]

Renewable Ventures to Fund up to $100 Million of Solar Electric Power Plants

Renewable Ventures, LLC today announced that in partnership with its institutional investors, it is ready to fund $100 million of solar energy and other renewable energy projects nationwide. A specialist in the financing and management of renewable energy projects, Renewable Ventures works with project developers, installation companies and energy customers to commission onsite power plants [...]

France Puts Tiger in Tank of its Biofuel Push

France revved up the engine of its bid to stay in the top ranks of European producers of “green fuels” by announcing a big tender on Tuesday for more biodiesel and ethanol. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said France would also be defending the interests of farmers by launching a tender for 1.1 million tonnes [...]