News from December 2007

Energy security and America

by Tony Hayward , Group Chief Executive, BP, London Energy security is a front-of-mind issue for the people of the world. We face the difficult fact that the current market environment is a tough one, and the energy industry is working hard to keep the energy flowing. The oil price is close to the real-term [...]

Increasing global demand for energy: Challenges and opportunities

The energy crisis has started and the world is about to go through a profound and wrenching change. We face an energy crisis never before confronted in human history . Energy for transportation , manufacturing and everyday living will have to come from other sources than the one we use now , most likely less [...]

U.S. consumers’ wallets hit by weak greenback

NEW YORK A further drop in the U.S. dollar in 2008 could spell more trouble. Dave Minucci listens to the chatter on Wall Street about the flagging dollar but doesn’t have to look far to cast his own assessment. A recent home-heating bill was $120 (U.S.) higher than at the same time last year. But [...]

Shell completes repairs at Scotford upgrader

CALGARY, Alberta, Dec 31 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc completed repairs to its fire-damaged Scotford oil sands upgrader and is now producing in excess of half its 155,000 barrel per day capacity of synthetic oil, with full output expected next month. Shell spokesman Randy Provencal said on Monday that repairs were complete on both [...]

Oil’s wild ride

Crude looks set to finish a volatile year with the biggest yearly price gain since 1999. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Oil prices look set to end 2007 with the biggest gain this decade, climbing nearly 60 percent since the start of the year. But the ascent has been anything but steady. Crude prices are on [...]

Kunstler: Forecast for 2008

For the tiny fraction of people who actually pay attention to real events — those, for instance, who know the difference between Narnia and Kandahar — the final hours of 2007 leading into the fog-shrouded abyss of 2008 must induce great racking shudders of nausea. Has there ever been a society so exquisitely rigged for [...]

Shanghai’s first fuel store to cost $71 mln

BEIJING, Dec. 31 — Shanghai’s first emergency fuel storage facility will cost 520 million yuan (71.2 million U.S. dollars) to build, nearly double the original budget, the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park said at the weekend. A foundation-laying ceremony was held on Saturday at the chemical park, about 50 kilometers southwest of the city proper. Construction [...]

A Question of Blame When Societies Fall

…Dragoon is also home to an archaeological research center, the Amerind Foundation, where a group of archaeologists, cultural anthropologists and historians converged in the fall for a seminar,

Coal-to-Chemicals Projects Boom in China

For years China has been a magnet for the chemicals industry, attracting European and American companies with its cheap production costs and growing market. Now China has another attraction for the energy-intense chemical industry: vast supplies of coal that can replace oil and natural gas as raw materials for chemical production. In the last two [...]

The new energy crisis

The year 2007 surged ahead on a number of levels and set many new records. The Dow blasted through 13,000 and drove on to 14,000. Natural gas remained more or less flat relative to its volatility in 2006, but crude continued to remain historically high with recent trade orders in the high $90s/bbl. Oil may [...]