China’s Oil Demand Tanks

More evidence is emerging that oil demand in China is fizzling – and that China’s economy is fizzling too. The oil analyst Paul Ting emails that China’s December oil demand declined by 4 percent. This is the sharpest monthly demand decline in the past decade and the second consecutive monthly demand decline, Ting says. Ting […]

Weaver’s Way Co-op farms with students

Weavers Way Co-op Farm and W.B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences announce the start of a collaborative Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm to be located on the grounds of Saul High School on Henry Avenue in Roxborough. The farm, called “Henry Got Crops!” will be run by Weavers Way staff working closely with Saul’s […]

Biofuels ignite food crisis debate

Taking up valuable land and growing edible crops for biofuels poses a dilemma: Is it ethical to produce inefficient renewable energies at the expense of an already malnourished population? David Pimentel and his colleagues from Cornell University in New York highlight the problems linked to converting a variety of crops into biofuels. Not only are […]

Dumping iron in the ocean may not fix the climate

As arguments rage over the legality of an attempt to fertilise algae in Antarctic seas, evidence is emerging that, legal or not, this kind of “ocean engineering” may not suck enough carbon out of the atmosphere to reverse climate change. A new study confirms that iron-enriched waters do, as hoped, encourage more carbon to be […]

Will Obama restore solar panels to the White House?

With a new tenant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, speculation is growing about the kind of home improvements we can expect. The question doing the rounds in the blogosphere is: will Obama install new solar panels on the White House’s roof? The first presidential solar panels were actually installed in 1979, after two recent oil shocks, […]

Most effective climate engineering solutions revealed

Many scenarios have been proposed to help us engineer our way out of potential climate disaster, and now a new study could point us towards the ones that are most effective. Tim Lenton of the University of East Anglia, UK, has put together the first comparative assessment of climate-altering proposals such pumping sulphur into the […]

Baker Hughes hikes profit, paints grim picture for 2009

Oil field services giant Baker Hughes Inc., which this week said it is cutting 1,500 workers worldwide, reported a bump in fourth-quarter profits today but its chief executive warned the 2009 outlook In a news release before dawn, Baker Hughes Chief Executive Chad Deaton was more focused on a gloomy short-term forecast that prompted the […]

Obama’s high-wire electric act

Will he take people’s land to build a national grid when local networks for energy renewables may do? To justify taking homes and farms to build the Interstate highway, President Eisenhower cited a security need: Military vehicles must move fast in case of war. Now President Obama, citing a need to curb global warming, wants […]

Mexico’s Pemex expects wider loss in 2008

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s state oil company Pemex said on Tuesday it expected its net loss in 2008 to be “significantly greater” than its 2007 results due to the sharp drop in oil prices in the fourth quarter. Pemex did not provide an estimate of its expected loss in a statement filed with the […]

OPEC Calls for Curbing Oil Speculation, Blames Funds

(Bloomberg) — OPEC wants U.S. regulators to curtail oil trading by hedge funds and speculators who helped make last year the most volatile in crude oil markets. Abdalla el-Badri, secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is seeking rules to

Wind Power hits economic storm

WASHINGTON “The financial downturn has begun to take a serious toll on new wind development,” said Denise Bode, the group’s top executive, in releasing statistics on the industry’s dramatic growth during 2008. Last year, the U.S. industry gained 13,000 direct jobs in wind turbine and component manufacturing as a growing percentage

Peak oil review – Jan 26

1. World Production 2. OPEC still cutting 3. Obama 1. World Production The first part of last week was dominated by concern over the sagging world economy and the expiration of the February futures contract which at one point sent oil below $33 a barrel. Lack of sufficient storage for crude in the US has […]

First crop of algae for biofuels a success

The first real-world, demonstration-scale project in Nevada for turning algae into biofuel has successfully completed the initial stage of research at the University of Nevada, Reno. The project is on track to show the process is an economical, commercially viable renewable energy source in Nevada. University researchers have harvested their first outdoor cold-weather crop of […]

An Apollo program for US energy?

History shows that massive federal support for alternative-energy projects could be a massive waste of money. Nearly every president since Richard Nixon has invoked the Apollo program to win support for some energy panacea program. President Obama went into Apollo-mode on the campaign trail to explain why he was going to spend $150 billion to […]

OPEC Calls for Curbing Speculators, Blames Hedge Funds for Rout

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — OPEC wants U.S. regulators to curtail oil trading by hedge funds and speculators who helped make last year the most volatile in crude oil trading. Abdalla el-Badri, secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is seeking rules to

Petrobras Makes a Big Bet

Like oil? Need oil? If so, Jose S. Gabrielli de Azevedo, the president and CEO of Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, Petrobras (PBR), may be your next melhor amigo (best friend). At a time when other big oil companies are barely managing to keep their production from declining, Petrobras on Jan. 23 announced an ambitious $174 […]

Russian Oil Production Appears to Have Peaked

Russia More relevant now to the world however is the ability of Russia to export oil. 2008 saw Russian oil exports fall by over 5.00% and the outlook is not pretty from here. The fall in oil prices not only hurt Russia economically. Current prices are simply way too low for great swaths of Russian […]

Expect 1,000-year climate impacts, experts say

Study: Stopping emissions won’t prevent decreased rainfall, higher seas WASHINGTON – Even if the world can cap carbon dioxide emissions tied to global warming, expect to see droughts and sea level rise that span centuries, not just decades, according to a new study sponsored by the U.S. government. “People have imagined that if we stopped […]

Senate panel OKs alternative energy tax breaks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate Finance Committee approved late on Tuesday some $31 billion in tax credits and financial incentives to boost alternative energy supplies and promote energy-savings steps as part of the Obama administration’s much bigger U.S. economic recovery plan. The tax breaks would, in part, help wind power and solar energy companies that […]

New science could help solve climate crisis

LONDON (Reuters) – A new science that seeks to fight climate change using methods like giant space mirrors might not work on its own, but when combined with cuts in greenhouse gases it may help reverse global warming, a research report said. In the report published on Wednesday, researchers at Britain’s University of East Anglia […]

Weak fuel demand seen expanding US refinery work

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. refiners are likely to take more processing units down for longer periods during spring maintenance as prolonged economic weakness squelches demand for gasoline and diesel fuel. Waves of job losses and the housing market meltdown have hit driving and spending habits of Americans, and that is expected to keep a […]

Shell sells floating storage oil as contango eases

LONDON (Reuters) – The trading arm of Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has sold its first cargo of North Sea crude oil from floating storage, unwinding a trade that has involved up to 80 million barrels over the last two months. In a move that is likely to be followed by other oil traders, Shell sold […]

Canadian bishop slams oil sands development

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – The rapid-fire development of Canada’s oil sands region has garnered a new critic — the Catholic bishop whose diocese extends over the world’s second-largest oil reserves . Luc Bouchard, bishop of the diocese of St. Paul, which covers nearly 156,000 square km (60,000 square miles) of northeastern Alberta and includes the […]

Getting More for Less

North AmericaWhy are things so bad? Part of the problem is the province

Venezuela

(Bloomberg) — Venezuela petroleum shipments to China fell short of President Hugo Chavez Venezuela is seeking to boost trade with China to reduce reliance on the U.S. market. Venezuela

The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Schadenfreude

There are prophets of hope. There are those who try avoid preconceptions, reading events as they happen. And there are the prophets of schadenfreude, that joy that only arises when someone else is suffering. These prophets have political handmaidens, too – cynics who would let the country fail to further their own political interests. Then […]

How California Could Affect Car Choices

A directive from the Obama Administration on fuel efficiency is creating alarm among automakers President Obama’s order to the Environmental Protection Agency to review whether to grant a government waiver that could allow California to pass tougher fuel economy and emission standards for automakers than the federal government could significantly change the vehicle choices consumers […]

Today

…As Leonhardt concedes, we have yet to see how badly the unemployment and housing sales rates go this time. We have yet to hit bottom. I Global warming. In 1982, it was a rarefied theory. Now it

Rosneft Borrows $1.35 Billion From Six Foreign Banks

(Bloomberg) — OAO Rosneft, Russia

Cowskulls and dust: Drought grips Argentina

STROEDER, Argentina (AP) Wheat fields that once supplied flour for pasta-loving Argentines now resemble deserts, and spiny thistles are all that survive on cattle ranches in southern Buenos Aires province. Nothing edible grows, said Hilda Schneider, a 65-year-old rancher who has lost nearly 500 cows to starvation. “With the situation we’re in now, without any […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Is It Time To Abandon the Idea of Phasing Out Oil and Gas?
• More than 20% of global refining capacity at risk of closure
• Charles Hugh Smith Blog: Fire, Then Ice Our Deflationary Future
• Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser says energy transition strategy ‘visibly failing’
• 100 million-degree ‘artificial sun’ sets new records in hunt for energy’s ‘Holy Grail’

• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy
• US seeks to buy up to 3 million bbls of oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve
• Desertification: the world is losing healthy land at an astonishing rate
• US oil production will keep booming in 2024, setting up a possible showdown with Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabia piles pressure on UAE to shift COP28 focus away from oil and gas
• US Warship, Commercial Ships Under Attack In Red Sea