The Seven Secrets of Successful Globalization

A fashionable consensus among MBA students, managers and luminaries such as Colin Powell, George Soros and Tom Friedman, to name but a few, has been building around the notion that the world is globalized—that borders don’t matter at all. But fashion is no substitute for the facts—so consider some data about globalization. Despite the perception that […]

Ugo Bardi: The question of Sovicille

My job often casts me the role of public speaker and that gives me a chance to visit very interesting places. Not long ago, I gave a talk in the small town of Sovicille, near Siena, in the beautiful countryside of central Tuscany. At this presentation, a member of the audience posed a question that […]

Pipelines 101: An Introduction To North American Oil & Gas Pipeline Routes and Safety Concerns

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be rolling out a whole lot of information about pipelines. Why? Because these metal tubes are truly the blood vessels of the oil and gas industry. Without them, the industry wouldn’t be able to deliver the liquid fossil fuels to their refineries, or out to the […]

Leaked contract reveals BP’s control of Iraqi oil

A report published today uses leaked documents to shows how BP secretly renegotiated it’s Iraqi oil contract, and how Iraqis will pay the price. Here is the press release for the report, published by PLATFORM A leaked contract between BP and the Iraqi government has revealed the extent to which the company has gained control […]

Could a US Default Push Oil Prices Above $130? ‎

Could the price of oil, already high at about $96 per barrel, rise above $150 if the U.S Government defaults on its debt? Indeed it could. Here’s why: Oil, priced in dollars, tends to move higher as the U.S. dollar falls, and vice-versa. It’s a result of oil traders trying to maintain their “purchasing power” […]

Militants attack gas pipeline to Israel

Gunmen blew up a terminal along Egypt’s natural gas pipeline to Israel in the northern Sinai Peninsula Saturday, security officials said. It is the third attack on the pipeline this month and the fifth since the 18-day uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in February. No gas has been flowing through the pipeline since the […]

India will use various currencies to pay Iran oil debt

India will use different currencies, but mainly euro, to pay Iran for its oil exports, an Iranian Oil Ministry official told Reuters on Sunday. “Different currencies will be used by India to pay its debt to Iran but the main part of the payment will be in euro,” the official said on condition of anonymity. […]

A deflationist’s nightmare

If you’re in the same camp as David Rosenberg and Gary Shilling you believe that the economy is in the throes of a deflationary cycle. Whether or not I agree is irrelevant to this article. However I’d like to point a critical flaw in the deflationist’s investment strategy. A deflationary economy will cause bonds to […]

Orlov: Thinking in Straight Lines

Let’s face it, we, the civilized, educated, enlightened part of humanity like things to be straight. Let primitive tribesmen live in picturesque and practical round huts—we require abstract boxes of steel and concrete clad in plate glass, with plenty of nice straight lines, true vertical and horizontal planar surfaces and lots of ninety-degree angles to […]

World Population In 2050 To Explode To 9 Billion, Africa Contributes 49%

The world population is expected to reach nine billion in 2050, experts said. For the next fifty years in 2100, it is expected to climb to another billion, making it to ten billion. This is based on a review article by Professor David Bloom, which was highlighted by the Harvard School of Public Health press […]

US-China conflict: worldwide competition for oil?

Chinese jets have headed off an American spy plane over Taiwan, raising tensions between Beijing and Washington. But Conn Hallinan says the conflict is a worldwide competition, and both the US and China are out to secure oil resources. ­China has warned that relations with the US might become tense after two Chinese fighter jets […]

Data Shows All of Earth’s Systems in Rapid Decline

Protecting bits of nature here and there will not prevent humanity from losing our life support system. Even if areas dedicated to conserving plants, animals, and other species that provide Earth’s life support system increased tenfold, it would not be enough without dealing with the big issues of the 21st century: population, overconsumption and inefficient […]

Profits surge for Exxon Mobil, Shell

Major oil companies continued their earnings streak Thursday, with Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell becoming the latest to post big jumps in second-quarter profits, largely on the back of soaring oil prices. Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest oil company, said quarterly profit surged 41 percent to $10.7 billion, while Shell nearly doubled net […]

MPG Ratings for Buildings: The Next Wave of Energy Efficiency

My organization, the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) is an energy efficiency think tank in Washington, D.C. and has just released a landmark report on building energy rating and disclosure requirements in U.S. cities and states. New laws in New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, as well as in the […]

Automakers, Obama administration agree on fuel efficiency standards through 2025

The Obama administration and major auto manufacturers have reached a deal to raise fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks between 2017 and 2025, resolving a contentious negotiation over how to cut vehicles’ greenhouse gas emissions. The agreement would require U.S. vehicle fleets to average 54.5 miles per gallon or 163 grams per mile […]

Chevron Secures LNG Sales Agreements With TEPCO

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) today announced that its Australian subsidiaries have signed binding Sales and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) with Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) for the delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Chevron-operated Wheatstone natural gas project in Australia. Under the agreements, Chevron, together with Apache Energy and Kufpec, will deliver up to […]

BP Disaster a Year Later, Healthcare Crisis Worsens

When news of the disastrous BP oil well explosion reached the residents of Jean Lafitte, Louisiana last April, Mayor Tim Kerner did the only thing he could think of to stop the oil from destroying his community. He encouraged everyone in his town to join him on the water, working day and night throughout the […]

Oil still leaking at 2 platforms on NE China sea

Remote satellite sensing and a survey made by a patrol boat of the sea area on Wednesday and Thursday, both conducted by the China State Oceanic Administration (SOA), identified several oil belts in an area of 4.6 square kilometers to the east of the Penglai 19-3 oilfield, though ConocoPhilips’s oil-cleaning efforts continue. The surveillance has […]

Andrew Nikiforuk – Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent

Calgary based journalist and author Andrew Nikiforuk delivers a powerful and revealing presentation on what is really going on with the Alberta Tar Sands. In his talk he discusses the back story, the present and the fate of all oil-addicted “Petro-States”. This is Canada’s largest and most environmentally destructive mega-project ever and if we don’t […]

Syria erupts in fresh Friday violence

Security forces have fired at demonstrators in the southern city of Deraa as tens of thousands again took to streets across Syria after Friday prayers to demand the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad, witnesses and activists said. “They are firing at demonstrators in alleyways and people are running for cover. Protesters have been trying to […]

US oil production gains change the energy landscape

The Independent Petroleum Association of America has called attention to a stealthy trend changing the energy landscape: US production of crude oil and gas liquids is increasing. Not many years ago, US production was thought to have entered a period of perpetual decline. Even fewer years ago, the assumption was that the only producing region […]

The Coming Global Instability, Part I

The root causes of global financial instability cannot be wished away or “solved” with modest policy tweaks: they are systemic. Systemic financial instability is spreading rapidly around the globe. Nobody knows the precise timing, of course, but if we consider the systemic causal forces at work, it seems the future is now: the next few […]

EPA Unveils Air-Quality Rules for ‘Fracking’

The Obama administration proposed Thursday the first national air standards for oil and natural-gas wells that are drilled using a controversial practice known as hydraulic fracturing. The Environmental Protection Agency said it was proposing new rules to reduce the amount of air toxins and smog-forming gases that are released into the air when oil and […]

Analyzing the Global Oil Supply: 2012 Is the Year for Peak Oil

I first want to make sure that we are on the same page as to what Peak Oil actually means. Here is the definition from Wikipedia which is basically how I understand it: Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of […]

Britain leads NATO effort to find Libya exit strategy

In one swoop, Britain has recognized Libya‘s rebel government, expelled the remaining London diplomatic staff of the Tripoli-based regime, and freed up millions in assets that can now be funneled to the cash-strapped rebel troops. Amid a weeks-long stalemate, diplomatic activity seems to have stepped up. This is likely partially because Ramadan begins next week, […]

Shell CEO: Oil Price Will Continue Long-Term Rise

Natural resources such as oil and gas will continue their long-term price rise, according to the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s biggest oil companies. “It’s getting more difficult to get resources out of the ground,” Peter Voser, chief executive of Shell, told CNBC. “We need a lot of technology and […]

New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hold In Global Warming

NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth’s atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models […]

Were the Japanese Engineers Who Built Fukushima Incompetent?

A news item in the June 2, 2011 issue of Nature, (page 10) which may be the most prestigious scientific journal in the world, reports that 2010 carbon emissions have reached a new record level, 30.9 billion metric tons per year, roughly 1,000 tons per second after the world’s miraculous “economic recovery.” Um, um, um… […]

Transitioning a Community

Join us on August 17 for a free informational online seminar with Paul and Sarah Edwards. We will explore how to enable small communities to prepare for the economic and environmental changes that many are already facing. Paul and Sarah have worked towards a sustainable future for their community, and they will share how you […]

Carbon…from Al Gore to Michael Bloomberg to enhanced oil recovery

Al Gore’s newly named Climate Reality Project (he’s not giving up!) wants everyone to make September 14-15 “24 Hours of Reality,” with people around the world sharing videos about climate change effects and local approaches to solutions. Coal’s role probably will be just one focus of the event, which aims at regular people, not so […]

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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