Peak Oil News

Could higher fuel prices actually help U.S. airlines?

Publicly, U.S. airlines are wringing their hands about rising fuel costs and using the continued spike in oil prices to justify each round of fare increases and new charges for former freebies like seat selection or checking a second bag. Many carriers claim consolidation is the only viable option to survive escalating operating costs. But privately, higher oil prices may be the cause of great jubilation in some airline board rooms. In the long run, some U.S. airlines could benefit substantially from a protracted fuel price crisis, and they may be some airlines you'd least expect.

The Why of Chokingly High Oil Prices

Bush Together with Saudi Arabia Spells Disaster for America

There was a time when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controlled by Saudi Arabia and under the pragmatic thumb of Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, would have opened wide the oil spigots in the face of sky high prices and a looming U.S. economic recession. The kingdom's wily old minister wanted to maintain a balance, siphoning off just enough out of consumer's pockets to keep the kingdom in opulent palaces and extravagant gift items for U.S. Presidents -- all without strangling the egg-laden Yankee goose that made the royal family's life both fabulous and secure. Then too, no one in the oil patch wanted prices so high as to make the search for alternative fuels economical.

America @ $100/Barrel: How Long Will the Oil Last?

These days everyone is worried about oil. The primitive black goo has been linked to climate change, economic disruption and other problems, but make no mistake: We still need oil, and lots of it. Not only is American demand rising�this year it�s expected to top 21 million barrels per day�but ascendant economies in India and China have developed huge appetites for the stuff. The stark reality is that the supply is finite. "Peak oil" theorists argue that production is already maxed out, meaning imminent shortages and sharper price spikes; more optimistic experts believe that day is 20 to 30 years away. Both camps agree that the task ahead is twofold: Develop new supplies while learning to stretch existing reserves.

Nissan Plans Electric Car in U.S. by �10

DETROIT � The Nissan Motor Company plans to sell an electric car in the United States and Japan by 2010, raising the stakes in the race to develop environmentally friendly vehicles.

The commitment � expected to be announced Tuesday by Nissan�s chief executive, Carlos Ghosn � will be the first by a major automaker to bring a zero-emission vehicle to the American market. Nissan also expects to sell a lineup of electric vehicles globally by 2012.

Average gas prices set record at $3.72 a gallon

The average price of gasoline jumped to $3.722 a gallon, the government said Monday, up a hefty 10.9 cents in a week and the fourth consecutive record.

Diesel, the fuel of semi trucks, delivery vans and railroad locomotives, shot up 18.2 cents to $4.331 per gallon, guaranteeing higher shipping costs that could boost the price of everything from TVs to tostadas.

What Condoms Have to Do with Climate Change

As the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Gen. Michael Hayden should have some insight on the biggest threats facing the U.S. But when Hayden recently described what he saw as the most troublesome trend over the next several decades, it wasn't terrorism or climate change. It was overpopulation in the poorest parts of the world. "By mid-century, the best estimates point to a world population of more than 9 billion," Hayden said in a speech at Kansas State University. "Most of that growth will occur in countries least able to sustain it." The sheer increase in population, Hayden argued, could fuel instability and extremism, not to mention worsening climate change and making food and fuel all the more scarce. Population is the essential multiplier for any number of human ills.

IEA Cuts 2008 Oil Demand Forecast for Fourth Month

(Bloomberg) -- The International Energy Agency, the energy adviser to 27 nations, cut its forecast for global oil demand in 2008 for a fourth month as record prices crimp consumption in the world's most developed economies.

The forecast was cut by 390,000 barrels a day to 86.84 million barrels a day, from 87.23 million barrels last month, the Paris-based agency said today in its monthly report. After today's revision, which ``may not be the last,'' the group expects world consumption to grow 1.2 percent this year, the slowest expansion since 2006.

BP, Rio Cancel $2 Billion Australian Power Project

(Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group, the world's third- largest mining company, and BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil producer, canceled a plan to build a coal-fired power plant in Australia that would capture and store carbon to cut emissions.

The plant at Kwinana, which was being studied by the Hydrogen Energy joint venture between Rio and BP, won't be built after it was found that rock formations wouldn't seal in carbon dioxide, said Rio spokesman Nick Cobban. The project would have required $1.5 billion to $2 billion in investment, according to the venture's estimates.

Gas prices spike plans for Hyundai pickup

SEOUL�Hyundai Motor Co. shelved plans to build pickup trucks in the United States as soaring gas prices chip away at demand for trucks, a company official said Tuesday.

The largest South Korean automaker had considered producing pickups at a plant of its subsidiary Kia Motors Corp. that is now under construction in the state of Georgia, near a Hyundai plant in Alabama. The Kia factory is expected to be completed in 2010.

Report: Biofuels majority of non-OPEC oil growth

Biofuels will account for 63 percent of oil supply growth from non-OPEC countries this year, taking global production of crop-based fuel to more than 1.5 million barrels a day, the International Energy Agency said today.

Biofuels output will grow by 425,000 barrels a day this year, a 57 percent increase from a year ago, the IEA said in its monthly report. Total non-OPEC supply growth this year is expected to average 680,000 barrels a day, compared with 550,000 barrels a day last year, the report said.