Oil Rallies Towards $80

It was only a week ago that OPEC and Non-OPEC agreed to add 1 million barrels per day (mb/d) to the market, but it already feels like a distant memory with the oil bulls back on the march (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to […]

Natural Gas Execs See ‘Century Of Supply’ In US Shale

Natural gas production from U.S. shale fields can keep growing for decades, giving Washington a powerful diplomatic tool to counter the geopolitical influence of other energy exporters such as Russia, industry executives and government officials said at a conference here. Already the world’s largest gas producer, the United States can expand shale gas output another […]

How Energy Looks in 2043

Twenty-five years can bring a world of change. In celebration of The Motley Fool’s 25th birthday, the Industry Focus team is diving into what 25 years have meant and could mean for their industries. In this week’s Energy show, host Sarah Priestley and Motley Fool contributor Taylor Muckerman explain what future of energy is shaping […]

BP CFO: Preparing for war

Preparing for War is the title of the book perched on the desk of BP CFO Brian Gilvary that he says he is intending to read next. It’s an apt title given the war footing he has found himself in over the years and is in keeping with a combative nature that belies his old-school […]

Site C: A Shakespearean Tragedy of BC Politics

Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand Against Big Hydro Sarah Cox UBC Press (2018) If Shakespeare had been a Canadian, he would have written plays about the tragedy of dams and their power-crazed political proponents. King Lear, for example, would have championed the nasty works of his engineering offspring while […]

Economic Advisor Warns British Defense Planners Growth Is Ending

Economic growth isn’t coming back. While some level of growth might continue in coming decades, the boom era of seemingly unlimited material throughput we became accustomed to in the middle of the twentieth century is unlikely to ever return again as we enter a fundamentally new age of diminishing returns These are the conclusions of […]

Michael Lynch: What Ever Happened To Peak Oil?

A decade ago, the media was filled with stories about peak oil, numerous books were published on the subject (such as Half Gone and $20 a Gallon!), and even the Simpsons mentioned it in an episode about doomsday preppers.  Now, the topic is largely forgotten and the flavor of the month is peak oil demand.  […]

Nuclear Fusion Power Could Be Here by 2030

A private nuclear-fusion company has heated a plasma of hydrogen to 27 million degrees Fahrenheit  (15 million degrees Celsius)  in a new reactor for the first time — hotter than the core of the sun. UK-based Tokamak Energy says the plasma test is a milestone on its quest to be the first in the world […]

The Saudis Won’t Prevent The Next Oil Shock

Saudi Arabia is starting to panic, and is growing concerned that the growing number of supply disruptions around the world could cause oil prices to spike. Saudi Arabia is moving quickly to head off a supply crunch, aiming to dramatically ramp up production to a record high 11 million barrels per day in July, according […]

World Energy 2018-2050: World Energy Annual Report (Part 1)

Guest Post by Dr. Minqi Li, Professor Department of Economics, University of Utah E-mail: [email protected] June 2018 This is Part 1 of the World Energy Annual Report in 2018. This author has developed world energy annual reports that have been posted at Peak Oil Barrel since 2014. The purpose of this Annual Report is to […]

Zombie policy ideas: anti-immigration/zero population growth edition

Some bad public policy ideas have remarkable staying power, such as “tax cuts pay themselves” or “deficits don’t matter” or “end the Fed.” Then there are those you think are dead but turn out are only “mostly dead.” You can put “protectionism brings prosperity” in that category. Also, surprisingly, “a growing population is a bad […]

Will US-China Rivalry Hasten the Energy Transition?

The energy world changes rapidly. Technology, social and economic patterns, emergence of new sources, and depletion of old ones can occur within a decade. But it is geopolitics that renders the energy world truly unpredictable. Geopolitical risk is new neither to CEOs making decisions about investments in foreign markets nor to energy analysts. But because […]

Oil Spikes to Highest Price in Four Years

Oil prices rallied Wednesday, with the U.S. benchmark settling at its highest since 2014 as domestic crude supplies notched their biggest weekly drop of the year so far. Traders also showed concerns over U.S. threats to sanction countries that don’t stop importing oil from Iran by Nov. 4. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August […]

Future of Big Oil Increasingly Shaped by Fate of Global Gas

Big Oil’s fortunes are becoming tied more closely to natural gas than ever before. Majors including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc have boosted their proportion of gas output in recent years, helping them trim Exxon Mobil Corp.’s lead as the world’s most valuable oil company. Meanwhile Chevron Corp. added two giant Australian liquefied […]

Meanwhile, In The Arctic…

In a development that could further advantage OPEC members as they step up production to compensate for falling exports out of Venezuela and (potentially) Iran, the Barents Observer is reporting that two of Russia’s largest Arctic out-shipment points for oil and LNG have become “packed with ice” leaving tankers and carriers stranded in the “paralyzed” […]

Energy: A Human History – a Slim Slice of History and Science

“The population of the earth has increased more than sevenfold since 1850 – from one billion to seven and a half billion – primarily because of science and technology,” Richard Rhodes concludes at the end of his new book Energy: A Human History. “Far from threatening civilization, science, technology, and the prosperity they create will sustain […]

Well Gosh…….

I just came out of a meeting with two ministers of Finland. One was the Director of Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland. We were to discuss how to develop the battery industry in Finland. They openly discussed concepts like peak oil, hyperinflation, EU currency reset, Break up of EU into something else […]

This Isn’t Your Father’s OPEC Anymore

Judging from its series of consequential meetings last week in Vienna, OPEC seems to have confirmed that the rumors of its death have been greatly exaggerated. The important thing to recognize is that it also has a new identity that may reshape oil geopolitics for years to come. Commentators have been writing OPEC’s obituary for […]

Why the world doesn’t make new countries anymore.

On Sept. 25, 2017, Iraqi Kurdistan held its long-awaited referendum on independence. The region had been semi-independent since the end of the first Gulf War but had long sought to become a full-fledged, internationally recognized state. The Kurds had attempted independence, and been thwarted in those attempts, numerous times before, from the aftermath of World […]

Tracking the dangers of air pollution

A sea of grass ripples in the wind, whilst occasional clumps of heather stand proud, refusing to bend. In the distance gullies on the Pentland Hills hold the remnants of winter snow. Sheep graze and lapwings sound their distinctive “peewit” call. If it weren’t for the cluster of boxes, tubes and metal rods, you’d be […]

Potential fossil fuel production could buy time for energy transition

Given their significance for the vital functions of industrial societies and their potential for climate change, future developments in fossil fuel production (petrol, natural gas, coal), will have to buy us time for energy transition. Energy transition will be the move from a society living off fossil fuels to a society forced to do without […]

China surpasses Japan as world’s largest natural gas importer

China has surpassed Japan to become world’s largest importer of natural gas, with China’s drive for a cleaner environment and a bluer sky on the increase, reports Bloomberg. China-Russia East-Route Natural Gas Pipeline in Heihe, Heilongjiang province, June 29, 2015. [File photo: IC] In order to meet President Xi Jinping’s goal of cutting pollution, many […]

The End Of the (Monetary) World As We Know It

The most significant event in monetary history since 1971 occurred a few weeks ago. An event that threatens to upend the global balance of power, the economy of the world, and your portfolio. To understand the significance of this event and the potential scale of its consequences, a little monetary history is in order. For at […]

Nuclear Power Won’t Survive Without A Government Handout

Once upon a time, if you were an American who didn’t like nuclear energy, you had to stage sit-ins and marches and chain yourself to various inanimate objects in hopes of closing the nation’s nuclear power plants. Today … all you have to do is sit back and wait. There are 99 nuclear reactors producing […]

Iran’s Rial Hits All-Time Low and Inflation Soars to 147%

Authored by Steve H. Hanke of the Johns Hopkins University. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Hanke. The Iranian rial just hit an all-time low (see chart below). The Islamic Republic of Iran remains in the ever-tightening grip of an economic death spiral. The economy is ever-vulnerable because of problems created by the last Shah, and added to […]

Oil producers face their ‘life or death’ question

Fear of an imminent peak in demand means companies are less likely to invest. So does that make shortages and a price rise inevitable? David Sheppard and Anjli Raval in London Asked last month by a frustrated investor if, “hand on heart”, Royal Dutch Shell was more concerned about “the sustainability of the company or […]

Peak Gold? Mining ‘At Tipping Point’

‘Cyclical drop’ due in gold mining, AI technology coming… GOLD MINING output will struggle to record a 10th consecutive year of growth in 2018 according to leading analysts, marking instead the start of a cyclical if not sustained drop from this decade’s new all-time peak. Global gold mining production may stand “at a tipping point,” […]

Unlike Peak Oil, Peaker Gas Has a Future

Like a bridge to the future. Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Europe Bloomberg New Energy Finance has just released its annual tome of forecasts. The short story is that wind and solar power are getting cheaper and we will all be using more of them — a lot more, and relatively soon: Rewired The world’s mix of electricity […]

Saudi Aramco CEO Says Has 2 Mln Barrels Per Day Of Spare Capacity

Oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Monday it has a spare capacity of 2 million barrels per day and can meet additional oil demand in case of any interruption in supplies. Aramco is currently producing 10 million barrels per day (mbpd) and has the ability to produce 12 mbpd, Amin Nasser, chief executive of Saudi […]

Deepwater Horizon led to new protections for US waters. Trump just repealed them.

The Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers. Gas erupted into a massive fireball, and then the rig gushed 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It soon became the largest and most expensive marine oil spill in history, with an estimated $17.2 billion in […]

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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’
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• 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