News from June 2008

As Gas Prices Rise, Teenagers

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. From coast to coast, American teenagers appear to be driving less this summer. Police officers who keep watch on weekend cruising zones say fewer youths are spending their time driving around in circles, with more of them hanging out in parking lots, malls or movie theaters. The price spike in gasoline, to an [...]

Fuel prices sink fishing profits

Leaping fuel prices are sinking the fortunes of America’s commercial fishermen, some of whom may soon call it quits for good. In Alaska, boats that typically haul in rockfish and perch sit docked for prolonged periods. In Texas, shrimpers are traveling to Mexico just to buy cheaper diesel. And along the East Coast, lobstermen are [...]

Bad hurricane season could cause natural gas spike, analysts say

As the Atlantic hurricane season enters its second month, many energy industry observers are taking bets on how a major storm in the Gulf of Mexico could affect already volatile commodity prices. In 2005, three big hurricanes walloped the Texas-Louisiana coastline – home to key oil refineries and major offshore natural gas operations – and [...]

Zambia: British Petroleum Ups Aircraft Fuel By 50 Percent

THE price of Jet A-1 fuel for aircraft has been increased by about 50 per cent with immediate effect due to soaring prices of crude oil at the international market. The increment has, however, shocked Zambian Airways, which has described the move as unprecedented and a blow to the aviation industry. Zambian Airways chief operations [...]

Worse Than Grandma’s Depression (Kunstler)

This isn’t so funny anymore. Intimations of a July banking collapse rumbled though the Internet this weekend while mainstream news orgs like The New York Times and CNN pulled their puds over swift boats and Amy Winehouse’s performance technique. Something is happening, and you don’t know what it is, do you Mr. Jones…? to quote [...]

This economic panic is pushing the planet right back down the agenda

Almost everyone seems to agree: governments now face a choice between saving the planet and saving the economy. As recession looms, the political pressure to abandon green policies intensifies. A report published yesterday by Ernst & Young suggests that the EU’s puny carbon target will raise energy bills by 20% over the next 12 years. [...]

Chevron’s Nigeria Strike Leaves Oil Output Unaffected

Chevron Corp.’s worker strike in Nigeria last week didn’t cut oil production from the West African nation, Petroleum Minister H. Odein Ajumogobia said. Output is about 1.886 million barrels a day, Ajumogobia said today in an interview in Madrid, where he is attending the World Petroleum Congress. Nigeria produced 1.9 million barrels a day in [...]

Australia: Fuel protest causes F3 slowdown

Motorists driving to Sydney from the Central Coast face delays during peak hour this morning due to a protest by truck drivers The protest was about soaring fuel prices, the Transport Workers Union said. Sydney Morning Herald

Truckers in France protest high fuel prices

Truck drivers protesting soaring fuel prices have slowed highway traffic outside Paris and other French cities. Labor union officials say 40 protests nationwide are designed to win reductions in gasoline taxes and other government measures to offset rising world fuel prices. France’s traffic information center says truckers who were driving at a snail’s pace brought [...]

Russian oil exports fell 5.3% to 757mln bbl in Jan.-May

Russia’s crude oil exports fell by an estimated 5.3%, year-on-year, in January-May 2008 to 103.3 million metric tons (757 million barrels), the Economic Development Ministry said Monday on its web site. The decline was due to lower crude output and increased supplies to domestic refiners, the ministry said. Russia’s oil exports to the Commonwealth of [...]