"Every Breath You Take"

Enjoy!!! LOL

(A very Funny Clip from columbia business school)

Perfect Energy Storm

(Download mp3)

This bull run is different

A gold price above $580 is a rich nostalgia trip. It takes one back to the early 1980s, when a rand was worth more than a dollar – yes, that’s right, $1,35 compared to the current $0,17.

I seem to recall that the chairman of Nedbank, Frans Cronje, wrote in the 1980 annual report that, in the wake of the second oil crisis in 1979, the world economy had dealt (apartheid) South Africa “a permanently better hand of cards”.

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Quick Fixes Won't Solve Looming Oil Crisis, Scientists Say

With the cost of oil at or near record territory and gasoline prices hovering around $3 a gallon, the government is advocating new measures to sooth growing public concern over rising prices at the pumps.

( Full story here )

Experts: Global Oil Production May Peak Soon

With the cost of oil at or near record levels and gasoline prices hovering around $3 a gallon, the government is advocating new measures to soothe growing public concern over rising prices at the pumps.

( Full story here )

THE PARADIGM IS THE ENEMY: The State of the Peak Oil Movement at the Cusp of Collapse

As a matter of necessity, in the course of a turbulent and often very difficult life, I have developed a pretty warped sense of humor. As most police officers, nurses, ER doctors, paramedics, and military combat veterans know, the best time to find humor is when things are at their worst. Sometimes the humor that emerges from these situations is strange, to say the least. And yet sometimes it remains the most memorable humor of a lifetime—humor that can actually sustain you in tough times. Humor is energy.

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"Where" depends on "What"

I won't argue that deciding to locate the aerotropolis cluster around the airport was poor economic planning - quite the opposite, in fact. The city report that recommended aerotropolis quite rightly argued that if Hamilton is going to grow its jobs base through airport-related development, then it makes sense to locate that development around the airport.

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Gas madness in Congress

The battle to see which U.S. political party can out- pander the other on the subject of gasoline prices is embarrassing. If American consumers are having sticker shock at the pumps, it's because of a series of policy failures that stretch back decades. The last thing the United States needs now is another irresponsible quick fix.

( Full story here )

Thanks to China, this oil shock really is different

SO it really is all about oil. The black sludge seems to sit, or rather ooze, at the centre of just about every aspect of geopolitics, ordinary politics, business, investments, the economy more broadly, indeed any and every facet of human interaction.

( Full story here )

Apocalypse soon

Consider this future for Hamilton. Within 10 years gas prices will be four times the current $1.06 per litre cost. The ramifications are extensive, from more expensive strawberries in winter, to the consolidation of the packaging industries, to a future divide between the rich and poor.

( Full story here )

If Mr. Hubbert is right

If M. King Hubbert's calculations are correct, the gas-guzzling world is going to be in for one heck of a shock very soon.

If the educated nations of the world don't begin to act soon, the consequences of ignoring Hubbert could far exceed this week's shock of seeing gas prices near the $3-per-gallon mark.

( Full story here )

Petrol hits new highs - but no one knows why

We should brace ourselves for £1-a-litre-petrol, according to Lord Browne, head of oil giant BP. But he has little more idea than the rest of us as to exactly what is driving oil prices to new highs - last week, Brent Crude was trading above $74 a barrel. Stocks, he points out, are actually rising and while last year's hurricanes caused some disruption to production, that is being remedied.

( Full story here )

Houston author to discuss looming oil shock

Houston resident Matthew Simmons will, in essence, bring his book tour, "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy" to Midland Wednesday, May 3.


( Full story here )

What the Price of Gold is Telling Us

The financial press, and even the network news shows, have begun reporting the price of gold regularly. For twenty years, between 1980 and 2000, the price of gold was rarely mentioned. There was little interest, and the price was either falling or remaining steady.

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Cash is Trash

THE PICTURE - Your wealth is being stolen due to inflation, period. Whether you like it or not, central banks continue to churn out a ridiculous amount of paper currencies thereby robbing you of your savings. This is a crucial issue which you must understand if you want to survive and prosper over the coming years.

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Stop This 'Addicted to Oil' Nonsense, Mr. President

Ronald Reagan once said, “It is no program to say use less energy.” It is also no energy policy to say use bio-fuel or to insist that we drive hydrogen cars.

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It ain't just the oil you use, it's the way that you use it

SINCE commercial drilling began in the mid-19th century, oil has become the most important fossil fuel in the global economy. Everything from motoring to plastic bags are to a greater or lesser degree dependent on oil. Australia, with its heavy reliance on the car, is more vulnerable than most to oil price spikes.

(Full story here )

None so blind

Imagine wrapping a blindfold around your eyes, stuffing plugs into your ears, and then attempting to pull a wagon full of people down a busy street. Your passengers try to warn you that you're about to stagger in front of a moving car, but you ignore their warnings, insisting that they're being alarmist and defeatist and that you know what's best.

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National energy conversation getting louder

That’s conversation, not conservation. We’ll get the latter only if (1) we have the real conversation or (2) we get hit over the head with heavy pre-petrocollapse warnings. I’m glad to say that it’s not just the second factor shaping up.

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A Tankful of Technology

A frequent rejoinder to anyone who tries to make peak oil a planning priority is this pervasive notion that somehow "technology" will address the energy shortfall.

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Rising gas prices, sporadic shortages are signs of the impending Tucson apocalypse

Stuck in traffic on a bridge over the Rillito River, I noticed dust trailing from three horses in the riverbed. My first thought: Where's the fourth? I was swept along in traffic before I could determine which of the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was missing. Was it War, Death, Famine or Pestilence?

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The politics of oil: the discourse must change

Leaders of both political parties are expressing concern about the high price of gasoline. President George Bush announced yesterday that he was suspending deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to make more oil available to consumers as well as putting on hold the traditional regulations requiring additives to make fuel burn cleaner during the summer driving season.

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The Bourse Conspiracy

For an administration that shrouds itself in the sophomoric secrecy of the Skull and Bones Club, its surprising how its plan to invade Iraq could be read like a book. With Iran though it's got the drapes closed and the shades drawn. In fact, guessing the administration's intentions has become a favorite parlor game the world over.

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The biggest gas station on earth

Oil finished at $72.35 at the close of the market on Tuesday.

The current price per barrel is just one more damning bit of evidence that the Iraq war was waged on a mountain of lies. The oil industry is built on projections; they pride themselves on knowing where every drop of petroleum is located across the planet. They knew this day was coming. They knew that the world was facing shortages and that they’d have to hoodwink the American people into a war.

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Peak Oil Panic

The Princeton geologist Ken Deffeyes warns that the imminent peak of global oil production will result in “war, famine, pestilence and death.” Deffeyes, author of 2001’s Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage and 2005’s Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert’s Peak, predicted that the peak of global oil production would occur this past Thanksgiving.

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Shortages Ahead ?

Driving down the New Jersey Turnpike last Sunday, I encountered an unmistakable sign that gasoline problems are close. Every service plaza we passed from New York to Delaware had 100 or more cars waiting in line for gas. Now these lines might have been a simple case of economic theory in action. For some unfathomable reason, the New Jersey Turnpike plazas were selling gasoline for 25 to 30 cents per gallon cheaper than surrounding states. As this comes out to something like $6 per tank full, it is possible that there was no real shortage and a lot of motorists decided that a 100-car line was worth the savings.

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Ethanol: A tragedy in 3 acts

During the comment period for the RFG (reformulated gas) program, supporters of ethanol had argued that the volatile organic compound (VOC) emission standards in the program -- 42 U. S. C. 7545 (k) (3) (B) (i) -- would preclude the use of ethanol in RFG because adding ethanol to gasoline increases its volatility and raises VOC emissions, especially in the summertime.

( Full story here )

Out of Gas

Not everyone will be making the three-hour drive from L.A. to the fabulous Coachella fest this weekend. And some of us will have a new reason to skip this and other fine amusements this year: skyrocketing gas prices. Get ready for a long and expensive summer.

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Pinch at pump becomes a pain

The price of energy is beginning to pinch the economy.
As gas prices hit a record $3.14 a gallon in California on Tuesday, evidence mounted that the latest oil shock is hurting farmers, plastics manufacturers, construction managers and anyone who runs a fleet of vehicles - or struggles to keep just one car going.

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Fuelling the uncertainty

BP's chief executive Lord Browne is entitled to feel a bit puzzled about the current rise in oil prices and the consequent high price of petrol at the pumps. The prevailing explanation for high prices in 2004, the dramatic increase in Chinese demand for oil, is hard to square with China's much lower increases in demand last year and this. But if increased demand is not the immediate cause of the current price spike, then it is hard to say that lack of supply is at its root either, since there is spare production capacity in many oil-exporting nations and some reserves are currently rising not falling.

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Iran, IAEA hold last-ditch talks ahead of UN deadline

The chief of Iran's nuclear agency Gholam Reza Aghazadeh held a two-hour last-ditch meeting on Wednesday with a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) here ahead of a UN deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities.

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US House of Representatives gets tough on Iran

The US House of Representatives passed a bill calling for harsher sanctions against Tehran, which is engaged in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program, to make it "pay for its irresponsible behavior", AFP said.

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Chavez targets oil companies

For Venezuela's firebrand leader Hugo Chavez, oil is the indispensable crutch that props up his regime. Mr. Chavez's recent moves to bring Venezuelan oil assets under control of the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), while not surprising, are another reason Washington should be concerned

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How long will markets tolerate rising oil prices?

--IT should have been a week that sent stock markets reeling across the world. Almost every day brought news of oil surging to new highs -- and other key commodity prices with it. But have we developed a new tolerance for dearer oil?

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‘Gold may rise 10-fold if Dow triples’

Marc Faber, who told investors to bail out of US stocks a week before the 1987 Black Monday crash and began recommending commodities at the end of 2001, said gold may rise 10-fold in the next 10 years.

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Launch of Barclays' Silver ETF Imminent

It’s been more than a month since Barclays’ silver ETF iShares Silver Trust “cleared the last regulatory hurdle” at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prior to final approval. But with yesterday’s public statement by the SEC, it now appears the announcement of a launch date is imminent.

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GOP doesn't mean 'God's Own Party'

Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history.

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DE-SALINATED WHISKY & WILD WILD WINDS

We live our everyday lives as though the Earth will continue on its orbit, much as always, indifferent to our aspirations and plots. Despite all kinds of upheavals, whether in bedrooms or on battlefields, there is expectation at dawn of solid ground, a jug of water and the rising sun. We lick our wounds and dream. Optimism kicks in, firing the imagination. Long ago we tilted at windmills, now we put them on our roof -

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World May Turn Back Clock for Liquid Coal Future

SINGAPORE - Imagine a world where oil is running out and prices are spiralling out of control.


Governments are pouring money into potential solutions such as hydrogen fuel cells or new generation nuclear plants to offset the risk for a future energy crisis, but it may be more realistic long-term to turn huge coal reserves into gas and then oil.

( Full story here )

Peak Oil and Peak Gold

As someone who has kept track of the "Peak Oil" movement for a few years now, it comes as no surprise that oil prices have risen nearly six fold since they hit rock bottom in the late 1990s. Does this mean Peak Oil has already arrived? Not necessarily, but we note that a final peak in global oil production needs to be preceded by a continual decrease in excess crude oil production capacity. When capacity reaches zero, then Peak Oil arrives. That capacity has been dropping now for several years.

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Oil shock: what's in store?

Petrol at more than a $1.40 a litre is going to hurt more than the hip pocket, reports Richard Webb.

JUST as we were starting to get used to petrol around $1.15, escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear intentions have pushed crude oil to a record $US73.67 a barrel and we are suddenly looking at petrol up to $1.45 a litre this week.

( Full story here )

NZ Prime Minister out of the closet on Peak Oil

As the price of oil hangs at record heights, unmoving, like a pall threatening to choke economies and festering the sore that is inflation (October delivery contracts on the NYMEX are over US$75 a barrel), the cattle-class as well as the impotent media transfixed by daily trivialities and titillations by and large continue to remain clueless as to why we are paying almost $1.80 a litre at the pump.

( Full story here )

Energy Stars

When everyone on the planet finally realizes that peak oil is already here or just around the corner, they can look to the server industry as one business that got the big picture early on. Of course, this isn't entirely out of altruism (although server manufacturers will be happy to tout that side of the equation, and with no complaints from me). Rather, in the data center, energy efficiency and savings are simply a matter of good business -- and sooner than later, all businesses are going to have to realize that.

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Peak Oil Passnotes: It's All About OPEC Stupid, Not

Next week we will see the 10th meeting of the International Energy Forum (IEF) in Doha. It is another one of those interminable political groupings that gets together now and again to tell us how good/bad it all is. Of course you can tell what the main topic of conversation will be, $70-plus oil.

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Changing our habits could ease peak oil problems

Only a year or two ago, we were told that if crude oil reached $40 per barrel, the country would face economic difficulties. By April 12 crude oil futures were just a few cents short of $70 per barrel. Oil has been in the range of $60 per barrel for a long time now; its cost appears to be rising inexorably.

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Petrol prices signal the need to prepare for change

Governments can't do much about the oil price. Politicians and the public can do much more to modify policies and behaviour to prepare for a new era of energy use.

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A Last Desperate Act?

I heard from a very reliable source yesterday (April 19th) that the COMEX was meeting in emergency session. Knowing the reputation of this organization, I imagined that it certainly had to do with the current goings on in the precious metals market…especially silver.

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Black Gold and 21st Century Monetary

Late 20th and early 21st century monetarism played gold-averse for quite a while; from about 1985-2005 almost any finance minister of the international community, those hands-on former business chiefs or party hack politicians who have become the nation's Mr.Money, would go out of their way to say that gold was fading away.

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Time to be bold when it comes to oil

I’m tired about hearing how the United States is addicted to oil. I’m tired of hearing about possible oil gouging and $400 million golden parachutes for oil executives.

I’ve had it up to here with people whining about the energy of tomorrow, peak oil and the coming armageddon for the polar bears.

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Lester Brown: Earth Day 2006: Saving the Future By Looking to the Past

Tomorrow is the 36th anniversary of Earth Day. While some celebrate this day planting trees or collecting trash, our world leaders must rapidly confront a dangerous reality: our early twenty-first century civilization is on an economic path that is destroying and disrupting the natural systems on which it depends, consuming renewable resources faster than they can regenerate. Forests, grasslands, soils, water tables, and fisheries are disappearing. And we are using up oil at a pace that leaves little time to plan beyond peak oil, discharging greenhouse gases into the atmosphere faster than nature can absorb them.

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PEAK OIL AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF TERRORISM

Crude oil has breached the $70 psychological barrier again. This time, however, it will not be a one-day seduction by the stormy Katrina.

The causative culprits are aplenty.

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Financial War Games

BEFORE GETTING TO "war games," let's recap some past wisdom from the man formerly behind the curtain:
1996 - Greenspan warns about irrational exuberance in the stock market
2000 - Greenspan embraces the "productivity miracle" and says there is no stock market bubble
2001 - Greenspan said bubbles can only be detected in hindsight2004 - Greenspan says there is no housing bubble
2005 - Greenspan says there is no national housing bubble, even though he admits we have "froth."

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The Oil Crisis and Indian Demand

Gold has now firmly broken through the $600 level and set to rise much higher.

The Oil Crisis

Perhaps this title is an understatement, because we are facing far more than simply an oil crisis. The difference between the price of Brent Crude and West Texas is disappearing as supplies are rapidly being overtaken by demand.

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Jim Rogers Says Gold Will Reach $1,000 as Commodity Prices Soar

Jim Rogers, the former George Soros partner who foresaw the start of a commodity rally in 1999, said the boom in energy and raw material prices will endure, driving gold to a record $1,000 an ounce.

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Politics after the peak

There is little doubt the effects of peak oil will someday soon radically change the political landscape in America—and nearly everywhere else for that matter. It is still a little too early to say when oil depletion will start appearing in political equations. If we have a particularly bad summer as some suggest, then "gas prices" could feature prominently in our November 2006 mid-term elections. If predictions of peaking within the next couple of years are correct, then energy policy likely will be a major factor in the 2008 presidential election. If peaking slips a bit then it is almost certain that the 2012 and 2016 elections will be fought over nothing else.

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Lacking in foresight

Reports from the CSIRO warning of an oil shortfall in Australia by 2012 aren’t surprising. Of course, such predictions have been made before, but this is no longer just a pet issue of environmentalists. Peak oil is a reality and one that our government isn’t preparing us for.

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What is driving oil prices so high?

Crude oil prices have risen once more to levels above $71 a barrel - a rise of 25% so far in 2006, and a threefold gain over the past three years.

( Full story here )

We Have A Lot More Inflation Coming Down The Pipe

You think inflation is worse than the ridiculous official figures? You have seen nothing yet. The Central Banks are well into a synchronised hyperinflation mode and have been since June/July of 2005.

( Full story here )

Oil: the party is over

Welcome to the world of US$70-per-barrel oil. That's if there is no crisis in the Gulf over Iran's nuclear ambitions. If there is, then get ready for US$140 a barrel. Oil briefly breached the US$70 barrier eight months ago, but this time it is going up for good.

( Full story here )

More uranium: when and from where?

With uranium prices at their current level, can we expect to see significant increases in production? If so, where will it come from – and when?

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The US, Iran and the End of the International Order

According to a recent article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker, the US military has moved from contingency to operational planning to prepare for an attack on Iran. Former US intelligence operative William Arkin has revealed in the Washington Post that the Bush Administration actually started preparing for a war against Iran as early as 2002. While the Administration officially claims to be looking for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, it is feared the decision to go to war was made a long time ago and will not be reconsidered. What are the real reasons behind this belligerence?

( Full story here )

The US, Iran and the End of the International Order

According to a recent article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker, the US military has moved from contingency to operational planning to prepare for an attack on Iran. Former US intelligence operative William Arkin has revealed in the Washington Post that the Bush Administration actually started preparing for a war against Iran as early as 2002. While the Administration officially claims to be looking for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, it is feared the decision to go to war was made a long time ago and will not be reconsidered. What are the real reasons behind this belligerence?

( Full story here )

Why metals stocks haven't peaked

Call the theory Peak Metal. The price of gold and other metals, and related stocks, will keep rising as finding new sources gets harder and more expensive.

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Concerns over oil future

With petrol prices across the Manning following statewide trends and escalating to $1.30 a litre pre-Easter, there is also concern locally over the world's peak oil production, simply called 'peak oil'.
Climate Change Australia spokesperson, local resident Tony Doherty, said concern for longer-range production of oil from the earth's diminishing resources is gathering momentum.

( full story here )

Full text of San Franciso peak oil resolution

Resolution acknowledging the challenge of Peak Oil and the need for San Francisco to prepare a plan of response and preparation


WHEREAS, World oil production is nearing its point of maximum production ("Peak Oil") and will enter a prolonged period of irreversible decline leading to ever-increasing prices; and

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Avoiding Uncomfortable Oil Truths in Paris

Report from the 7th International Oil Summit in Paris by Uppsala University and President of European Association for the Study of Peak Oil


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WHEN BULL MARKETS COLLIDE

Back in the 1950s when gold, silver and oil were far less interesting subjects, Hollywood produced one of its better science fiction B-movies called "When Worlds Collide". The basic story involved a star on a collision course with the Earth. The lucky few rocketed off to its companion planet before the star incinerated the Earth to a cinder.

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Sustainable Energy Forum 2006 Brings Together Leading Scientists and Policymakers to Discuss the Realities of Breaking America's Addiction to Oil

The University of Maryland's Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development Program will host Sustainable Energy Forum 2006, May 7-9 at the Marvin Center in Washington, DC, on the implications of global oil production constraints for climate and economic stability. The Marvin Center is located at 800 21st Street NW. Sustainable Energy Forum 2006 will bring together the world's leading sustainability thinkers for a discussion of the environmental and social ramifications of tomorrow's energy options.

( Full story here )

The shape of things to come

If you knew you were going to lose your job within the next five years, you might just go looking for another one today, not waiting to see exactly when you would be let go. But, if your job were very lucrative, and all you knew was that after five years your pay could be reduced each year, you might want to weigh that against the uncertain prospects of getting a new job that may or may not match your old one.

( Full story here )

Peak Oil and the Passion of Christ

Essay by Neal Brandvik sees 'Satan in the Drivers Seat' as the world careens towards a collision with peak oil.

( Full story here )

Inflation may fuel ECB rate increases

Otmar Issing, a top official at the European Central Bank, acknowledged that inflation among the 12 nations that use the euro may rise more quickly than the bank suspected only three months ago, a development that bank watchers said could make a rate rise even more likely in June and one that raises the possibility of more to come later this year

( full story here )

Oil woes bad as 1970s: Costello

TREASURER Peter Costello has warned an oil-price induced bout of inflation could force an interest hike amid signs consumer spending may soon start to wane.

With oil breaking the $US71 ($A95.77) a barrel mark this week, there is growing concern that it will feed through to higher prices for everything from food to imported plastics.

( Full story here )

Canadian Natural Gas May Rise on Increased Industrial Demand

Canadian natural-gas prices may rise as record oil prices increase the cost of competing oil-based fuels, prompting some factories to switch to gas.

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Iran Will Disrupt Oil Supplies to The World If Attacked.

The unwise belligerent statements emanating from Tehran indicate a high degree of anxiety and fear that it might be the target of attacks by US and Israel. The objective is two-fold the first is to mobilise the Iranian public against any possible external aggression and the second is to warn potential aggressors that Iran has something up its sleeve.

( Full story here )

Gold Reaches 25-Year High, Silver Surges on Inflation Concern

Gold rose to a 25-year high and silver topped $14 an ounce for the first time since 1983 as investors snapped up precious metals to hedge against inflation.


( Full story here )

Venezuela: We Are Not Afraid!

Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel discarded US attempts to intimidate his country on Wednesday, and described such a venture as ultimately unsuccessful and "senseless".

( Full story here )

Chavez says US warships threaten Venezuela, Cuba

President Hugo Chavez, who accuses Washington of planning to invade Venezuela, said on Tuesday recent deployment of U.S. warships in the Caribbean Sea threatened his country and its ally Cuba.

( Full story here )

Venezuela president says he'd blow up oilfields if U.S. attacked

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned Wednesday his government would blow up its own oilfields if the United States ever were to attack -- the latest in a series of warnings against Washington.

( Full story here )

Rice urges diplomatic solution to Iran N-crisis

According to AFP, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice expressed confidence that a diplomatic solution will be found to the Iranian nuclear crisis, but warned that military options remain on the table and that Washington will not necessarily wait for an international consensus.

( Full story here )

Iran's enemy lies within

Internal political divisions and economic weaknesses may present a bigger threat to the longevity of the Iranian government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than the US and Israeli air forces combined, a report published yesterday suggests.

( Full story here )

New Aggressive Uranium Play Has Tiny Market Capitalization

Ditem Explorations Inc. [TSXv:DIT] yesterday announced the acquisition of a significant uranium property package on the south eastern side of Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin.

( Full story here )

Iran 'not expected to meet uranium deadline'

Britain does not expect that Iran will comply with demands to cease uranium enrichment within a 30-day deadline set by the United Nations Security Council, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw acknowledged today.

( Full story here )

Planning Policy Strategy and Energy, Part III

In Parts I and II of this article, I discussed the concepts of planning, policy, and strategy and connected them with the phenomenon of Peak Oil. My goal was and is to promote thinking about what can be called a true "energy strategy." (As opposed to the "What, me worry?" strategy that presently dominates public policy.)

In outlining my arguments, I borrowed extensively from the political, policy, and strategic ideas of Karl von Clausewitz, set out in his historical study of policy and strategy, On War, published in 1832.

( full story here )

Sanctions against Iran

As the drumbeat for military action against Iran grows louder, some members of Congress are calling to expand the longstanding U.S. trade ban that bars American companies from investing in that nation. In fact, many war hawks in Washington are pushing for a comprehensive international embargo against Iran. The international response has been lukewarm, however, because the world needs Iranian oil. But we cannot underestimate the irrational, almost manic desire of some neoconservatives to attack Iran one way or another, even if it means crippling a major source of oil and destabilizing the worldwide economy.

(Full story here )

Energy Security, National Security, and Natural Gas

For the past four decades, discussions of energy security and the security implications of energy supplies have focused on oil. But, increasingly, this focus will appear to be too narrow. If current trends continue, the United States will face a similar set of problems with natural gas: growing demand, costly supplies, and governments who will use their control over gas reserves to enhance their geopolitical position in ways likely to complicate U.S. foreign policy. However, there are steps Washington and allied capitals can take--such as expanding domestic supplies, creating a global market in gas, and countering Russian efforts to create a dominant market position--which, if adopted, can significantly reduce the problems of energy security and national security associated with America’s growing dependence on natural gas.

( Full story here )

Rising Oil Price Threatens Growth, Tanigaki Says

Rising oil prices threaten global economic growth and the issue will be discussed when finance ministers and central bank governors next week meet in Washington, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said.

( Full story here )

Kuwaiti oil reserves doubt

The Kuwaiti Oil Company is under pressure from economists to confirm exact figures for its oil reserves, according to Arab News. Last May the KOC published estimates of 97.3bn barrels in reserve and earlier this year announced significant finds of natural gas and 10-13bn barrels of light crude in its northern fields. Concerns have been mounting following a report in the Petroleum Intelligence Weekly that, according to a leaked KOC memo, reserves are only about 48bn barrels.

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OPEC and the "Fair Price" of Oil

OPEC officials generally define the targeted oil price as being fair and just for both producers and consumers. Previously viewed as a mere rhetoric, this slogan is now enshrined in the recent "OPEC Long-Term Strategy," particularly on page 18 thereof, where OPEC stated, "There is a need to support fair and stable prices." In this sense, these prices must provide the producer with reasonable revenues, while safeguarding the consumers' interests.

( Full story here )

Chad threatens to halt oil output

Chad has threatened to stop oil production next week if it does not immediately receive several months' worth of oil revenues.
It wants the US-led consortium that runs Chad's pipeline to hand over $100m (£57m) it says it is owed by Tuesday.


( Full story here )

Oil prices likely to surge to new record highs

An influx of fresh fund buying and geopolitical worries will most likely push oil prices to new record highs soon, analysts said, while the most bullish predicted prices to eventually climb to $100 a barrel.

( Full story here )

Sticking It To Us at the Gas Pump Because of the Iran 'Crisis'

The price of oil is destroying the economy for the working folks of America. They have us good now. It would take a social, political, international upheaval to get the price of a gallon of gas to go below $2 again. They've been floating the prospect of $4 a gallon. They say prices may hit 80 or 90 dollars a barrel.

( Full story here )

Peak Oil Passnotes: From Iran to Chad, It's Really Bad

If the markets could behave like a rational entity we would already be at $80 oil, no problem. Of course we know markets do not behave rationally, instead they have a kind of menopausal myopia. Fixated on one topic one minute, hysterical about another the next.

Thus they have ignored a welter of events that theoretically should have pushed price way over $69. First, it appears very likely that one insane African leader, Obusanjo of Nigeria, is going after a third term in office. His front companies have not quite looted enough of the country's oil wealth for his manic greed, so another four years should set his family up nicely for the next 150 years or so. That is if he is able to pull it off.

( Full story here )

Gas prices soar for second week

For the second time in as many Mondays, gas prices will increase significantly. On the heels of last week’s 14-cent jump, the state Legislature announced that gas prices will rise another 13 cents for the week starting Monday, April 17.

As usual, Hawaiians will feel the pinch more than most.

( Full story here )

San Francisco Becomes First U.S. City to Pass Peak Oil Resolution

San Francisco on Tuesday became the first major U.S. city to pass a resolution acknowledging the threats posed by peak oil, urging the city to develop a comprehensive plan to respond to the emerging global energy crunch.

( Full story here )

Total Exec Says Oil Industry Can't Deliver Increasing Demand

Jerome a Paris reports on Times of London interview with Christophe de Margerie, who is the head of exploration and production and the likely next CEO of Total, the French oil major.
In an interview with the Times of London, Christophe de Margerie, who is the head of exploration and production and the likely next CEO of Total, the French oil major (which is the 4th or 5th biggest around, depending on the metrics), say the following:


( Full story here )

When Bull Markets Collide

Back in the 1950s when gold, silver and oil were far less interesting subjects, Hollywood produced one of its better science fiction B-movies called "When Worlds Collide". The basic story involved a star on a collision course with the Earth. The lucky few rocketed off to its companion planet before the star incinerated the Earth to a cinder.

( Full story here )

James Howard Kunstler

The good news is that we are all going to learn new skills: gardening, weaving, carpentry. The bad news is that we won’t have any choice. So explained James Howard Kunstler at a recent cold shower of a lecture at NYCAMS attended by students, architects, artists, urbanists and those merely curious about their mid- to long-term futures. Kunstler peers three decades hence and sees the withering of everything we thought of as fundamental rights. Suburbia and the interstate highway system? A bizarre 200-year anomaly in a 30,000-year history of human settlement patterns.

( Full story here )

Sustainability Author Says Energy Shortage Will Continue

In a recent interview, John Howe, a mechanical engineer and organic farming advocate, noted that we are living with the dangerous assumption that because oil has seemed to be increasingly plentiful during the past 100 years, it will continue to be so in the future.

( Full story here )

Tax policy is energy policy

Study after study in many different nations and economies has shown, for example, that the best way to avoid having to scramble for new supply sources of oil is to control the growth of demand, if not outright to reduce absolute demand.

( full story here )

Satan in the driver's seat

Every Good Friday since 2004, I remember the crucifixion by watching Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ on DVD. Since becoming aware of Peak Oil, something about the movie really stands out. It’s the way Gibson portrays Satan. It’s totally different than Hollywood’s typical depiction of evil. Gibson’s interpretation of Satan isn’t a little girl with her head spinning around, hissing and vomiting pea soup, but an androgynous character who is attractive to both men and women. Gibson’s Satan doesn’t announce a demonic presence by the smell of brimstone or some gaudy, outlandish attire.

( Full story here )

Africa and the oil price trap

The rapid rise in oil prices over the last two years is unquestionably the biggest problem facing the international economy, more particularly those that can least afford them – the emerging countries. Inflation is rising as a result and threatening global economic growth: slowdowns are already apparent in Europe, USA and China. Africa’s hard-pressed financial resources are grappling with oil prices that have trebled in as many years.

( Full story here )

Planning, Policy, Strategy and Energy, Part II

IN PART I of this article, I discussed Karl von Clausewitz, and his important study of policy and strategy, On War, published in 1832. Clausewitz was reviewing the Napoleonic Wars through the lens of policy and strategy, but his ideas have broader scope than just the martial arena.

( Full story here )

Saudi Aramco boosts drilling efforts to offset declining fields

Saudi Aramco's mature crude oil fields are expected to decline at a gross
average rate of 8%/year without additional maintenance and drilling, a Saudi
Aramco spokesman said Tuesday.
But Saudi Aramco has taken a number of measures to offset a decline in
output from the country's aging oil fields, the spokesman added.

( Full story here )

Oil Major CEO talks about "the real problem of peak oil"

Oil Major CEO talks about "the real problem of peak oil"

I've been cut off the internet in the past two days, and I still have access only via a very slow dialup, (and I have some serious issues to solve) so I won't be around much for the rest of this week, but this is too big to pass up.

In an interview with the Times of London, Christophe de Margerie, who is the head of exploration and production and the likely next CEO of Total, the French oil major (which is the 4th or 5th biggest around, depending on the metrics), say the following:

( Full story here )

Lighten Up and Enjoy the Commodities Ride

Our rather pessimistic articles of late on the housing bubble, the ominous warnings from a long list of financial experts and their suggestions on how to best weather the impending financial hurricane have been refuted by none other than the well read author of our "Crazy Man" articles (see "A Crazy Man's Rant or Right On? You be the Judge" and "Crazy Man's Rant - He's Crazy Like a Fox!") who sees things completely differently. Who is right - the eternal optimist with a different take on the economic environment or the big bad bears? Below are his comments.

( Full story here )

Should we use net energy to measure global energy reserves?

Net energy is a simple concept really. Once you understand that it takes energy to get energy, the basic math is clear. To calculate the net energy available from an energy resource, you add up the energy used to find, extract, process and deliver that resource and then subtract that amount from the amount of energy the resource contains. But global reserves for finite energy resources such as coal, oil, natural gas and uranium are estimated using measures such as tons, barrels, cubic feet and pounds. These measures tell us little about the ultimate usable energy content of each type of resource.

( Full story here )

Reply to Cobb's article on net energy

Kurt Cobb's original article "Should we use net energy to measure global energy reserves?" is at Resource Insights

I am not sure what audience Kurt Cobb was writing his article for, but I think most Energy Bulletin readers would have found little difficulty in accepting the critical importance of what Cobb calls "net energy" to the world's energy future. However it should be noted that net energy is a notoriously difficult figure to pin down in many cases, and when it is pinned down, the interpretation of the information is not always so straightforward.

( Full story here )

Project Energy: Our Oil Addiction

When humans first harnessed energy, it was fire, and the fuel was wood.

Industry began to develop when man found coal. And the society we know today developed when we found oil.

Economical, accessible and seemingly endless – oil. But, it is not endless, and it now appears the unthinkable is happening. We are beginning to run out of conventional oil.

( Full story here )

It's time to start planning

Let's start with the completely obvious. We are no longer living in the 19th century. Seventy percent of Americans no longer live on farms as they did when the first oil well was drilled (it now is more like 2-3 percent). Very few have transportation pastured behind the house. Nor do many have a chicken coop, a wood lot, a vegetable garden or a place to hunt for food. Somewhere along the line, the 20th century with its abundance of oil got in the way of self-sufficiency and everything changed.

( Full story here )

Will America Face an Oil Crisis Soon?

Some believe that the world as we have known it is about to change.

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) is talking about what he thinks could be the biggest challenge in our nation's history.

"The world has never faced a problem like this," Bartlett said.

( Full story here )

Ethanol Investment Has Few Drawbacks

Government incentives combined with low prices make ethanol an attractive investment opportunity, supporters of the biofuel say.

"Investors should look at ethanol as a multibillion dollar market that can grow 30 percent for the next 10 years," Vinod Khosla, a founder of Sun Microsystems who is now a partner at California-based venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, told United Press International.

( Full story here )

Sweet deals: Behind the Iran 'crisis'

On reading the recent wave of stories concerning US readiness to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age unless it gives up efforts to produce nuclear weapons, my first reaction was to be "shocked and awed". But then a realization sank in. All this noise concerning Iranian nuclear preparations was, as William Shakespeare had it, "a tale ... full of sound and fury, signifying nothing".

( Full story here )

Oil geologists are hot commodities

At first blush, this week's meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists seems like a standard industry conference filled with talking heads and geek-speak.

But beneath the surface at the George R. Brown Convention Center, a veritable job fair has emerged for the scientists who ferret out oil and natural gas.

( Full story here )

Ready for another energy crisis?

Soaring demand is pumping gas prices sky-high and has left America poised for a major fuel crisis this summer, watchdogs said yesterday.

( Full story here )

China imports more oil in Q1

China's crude oil imports rose 25.3% in the first quarter of the year as vehicle sales also soared, official statistics showed yesterday, putting further pressure on world oil prices.

( full story here )

US shortfall sends oil price soaring

Oil prices are on the verge of a new record after a report revealed a large drop in US petrol stockpiles before the start ofthe summer driving season.

( Full story here )

Venezuela's state oil company to end SEC filings

Venezuela's state oil company said it will stop disclosing its finances to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after long protesting that the U.S. regulator should not have the authority to meddle in its affairs.

( Full story here )

Planning, Policy, Strategy and Energy, Part I

A COUPLE OF months ago, I wrote an article in Whiskey & Gunpowder entitled "Things Just Got Worse" (Jan. 25, 2006) concerning a major downward revision to the estimate of oil reserves in Kuwait. My sense of doom and gloom was prompted because if the downward revisions to the Kuwait numbers are true, the world's total proven oil reserves just decreased by around 50 billion barrels, or 5%.

( Full story here )

Toward a New Vision for Hamilton

(This is part one of a two-part series on Richard Gilbert's vision for Hamilton. Part one looks at the implications of peak oil and peak natural gas for Hamilton's growth strategy. Part two will discuss transportation, goods movement, and building energy use in more detail, focusing on Hamilton's opportunities in energy production and conservation.)

( Full story here )

Energy Philosophy For Entropic Times

If we are looking for an energy philosophy that might help us in troubled times, we can try out the multiple and disputed meanings of entropy. Warning: This has been tried before by many persons from many different angles. Some even jumped the gun, long ago, by disputing exactly how to state the Entropy Law, as it is called, while others rightly argued it is is fact a principle.

( Full story here )

The great game of global gas

THE colossi of the Gulf sea lanes are no longer Suezmax VLCC crude oil tankers but the huge refrigerated gas tanker ships with their distinctive domes, filled with superchilled LNG, the new black gold of Qatar or Abu Dhabi to the storage tanks and gasification plants of Europe or the Far East.

( Full story here )

Peak Oil Passnotes: Oil Prepares to Push On

If you are attached to the oil markets it is a great time to be plugged in. Very little is really making sense, after all if we really factored in Iran’s nukes, American strikes, Israeli strikes, French riots, Nigerian mayhem, Alaskan pipelines, Iraqi collapse, Repsol downgrades and Hugo Chavez we would already be at $100 and ready for more.

( Full story here )

Iran: The Next Neocon Target

It's been three years since the U.S. launched its war against Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction. Of course, now almost everybody knows there were no WMD and Saddam Hussein posed no threat to the United States. Though some of our soldiers serving in Iraq still believe they are there because Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, even the administration now acknowledges there was no connection. Indeed, no one can be absolutely certain why we invaded Iraq. The current excuse, also given for staying in Iraq, is to make it a democratic state, friendly to the United States. There are now fewer denials that securing oil supplies played a significant role in our decision to go into Iraq and stay there. That certainly would explain why U.S. taxpayers are paying such a price to build and maintain numerous huge, permanent military bases in Iraq. They're also funding a new billion dollar embassy – the largest in the world.

( Full story here )

Peak oil: catastrophic or merely unpleasant?

On EnergyBulletin, permaculture-guy Toby Hemenway does his part to cool off some of the more overheated peak oil apocaphilia. He doesn't deny the basic physical facts of peak oil, but he says for peak oil to be truly catastrophic, the following five propositions must be true:

( Full story here )

GUEST VIEW: Are we parked in a past era?

However invincible it seems to us now, the automobile age is coming to an end. The reasons are obvious to anyone who has been reading the news (as opposed to watching television, where the automobile struts about proclaiming itself the invincible guardian of American freedom).

There will soon be a massive realignment of our economy away from petroleum and toward more sustainable forms of energy. And not because a bunch of tree-huggers convinced us to be nice to Mother Earth, but because (1.) there will soon be no oil, and (2.) if we don’t stop putting carbon into the atmosphere, our children will face the Biblical-sounding catastrophes of plague, flood and starvation. The twin forces of peak oil and global warming are going to reshape our communities and our living patterns as the discovery of petroleum in Titusville, Penn., and the invention of the assembly line in Dearborn, Mich., did in the past century and a half. We are going to have to reinvent the way we live, work and play, and I would not bet on the parking lot as the great symbol of our 21st century urban life. And by the way, don’t assume we are going to just substitute ethanol for oil; it takes oil to grow the corn to make the ethanol.

( full story here )

High cost of driving to get higher

Summer is on the way, so, of course, gasoline prices are on the rise, but trying to figure how high they’ll go may be like playing darts blindfolded.

Gasoline prices are influenced by a variety of economic, political and social factors, but the relationship between supply and demand may be the most important.

( Full story here )

Perfect storm brewing

Conditions are right for gasoline to surpass $3 a gallon.

( Full story here )

Sustainability Author Predicts World Energy Shortage to Continue

Sees Summer Gas at $3 Per Gallon – $10 to $20 Per Gallon within Ten Years. Recommends strong central planning and top down rationing throughout the nation to secure fair access to future dwindling supplies.

( Full story here )

America Is Not Addicted To Oil

President Bush was wrong in his State of the Union address, but he wasn't lying. America is not addicted to oil; two thirds of American oil consumption is for transportation — as our population increases, and cities spread further apart, we use more and more oil. The reason we spread further and further out is often because city living is expensive; one is able to purchase a bigger home for the same amount of money by moving away from the city center. Most major central cities are no longer growing; the suburbs are already filled up, so now the "exurbs" are exploding. At this point, as people make the conscious choice in cities like Atlanta to drive one to two hours each way to get to work, we must acknowledge that America is addicted to using oil to get to and from its land. America is addicted to real estate.

( Full story here )

Russia keeps blending politics in its oil mix

Once a tent camp for oil geologists, this settlement of concrete slab houses, set among snowdrifts a two-day train ride north from Moscow, could be an important hub in the international oil trade. An export terminal on the Arctic Ocean a few hundred kilometers away, planned but never built, could deliver high-grade oil to the United States in nine days, far faster than supplies from the Middle East and Africa, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

( Full story here )

Addicted To Oil: Can The World Cope With The Coming Risks?

Tomorrow on CNBC's new series Global Players with Sabine Christiansen, leading oil experts discuss if the world is addicted to oil and if we can cope with the coming risk.

Kjell Aleklett, President of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO) thinks that the biggest risk is in Saudi Arabia. "If something big happens in Saudi Arabia, that is the real threat to the world."

( Full story here )

We're facing a worldwide energy crisis

Just ahead is not simply an oil crisis but a full scale global energy crisis. Your April 3 editorial and cartoon on the exceedingly modest increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards were right on the mark.

( Full story here )

LEAD: ASEM for vigilance over 'faster-than-expected' global rate hikes+

Finance ministers from Asia and Europe on Sunday called for vigilance over rising global interest rates, saying "faster than currently expected tightening of global financial conditions" poses a risk to an otherwise solid world economy.


( Full story here )

Cannibals, Cassandra and Oil Costing $200: Is a Crisis Brewing?

Why is Stephen Leeb, who manages $160 million for Leeb Capital Management, comparing himself to Cassandra and Jimmy Carter?

Both of them predicted disaster, one for Troy if it messed with the big horse, and one for the U.S. if it didn't wean itself off foreign oil. Leeb also has a vision.

He foresees an energy crisis that could spell the end of modern civilization -- though presumably not before he sells lots of copies of his latest book, ``The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel'' (Warner, 211 pages, $24.95).

(Full story here )

Gold & Oil - 1971 Until the Future - Part II

In the first part of this article we covered the history of gold from 1971 onwards. The discrediting of gold accompanied the rise of the $ to the almost sole global reserve currency. The Central Bank sales right up to the low point of the gold price, the “Brown Bottom” was followed by the turn around until today’s storming price rise a prelude to new highs eventually. The final part of this three part series will cover the Devaluation of the $ and the future of gold. But in this second part we cover the present and the future of the $ gold and in part oil.

( Full story here )

Gold & Oil - 1971 Until the Future - Part I

In 1971 Nixon closed the gold window on the $ and turned the European nations away from redeeming Eurodollars into gold at the price of $42.35, thus devaluing the U.S. $ by the extent the gold price rose. This was keenly felt in all the markets across the globe because it was a particularly visible blow for the $ and for the sterling as the "$ Premium" was imposed in the U.K. to prevent a wave of capital exiting the country. Shortly thereafter the oil price shot up to $35 a barrel from the $8 level it had happily sat at before. In those days, even with no gold standard, gold was considered the foundation on which paper money stood.

( Full story here )

Wind power warning as oil prices soar

The Government was tonight urged to put wind power top of the energy agenda after a state agency warned Ireland may need a nuclear power plant to its electricity demands.

The Irish Wind Energy Association called on authorities to prioritise renewable sources after Forfas warned Ireland was facing a liquid fuel crisis in the next 15 years.

( Full story here )

Think Globally, Eat Locally

This woman told a crowd in New Haven Tuesday to think about what they had for lunch -- and told them how that will change as oil production peaks.

New Haven has four farmers’ markets and 50 community gardens, and that’s a good thing, researcher Kim Stoner (in photo) explained to the crowd at the Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station. Her talk was entitled, “The Future of Food and Farming in Connecticut.” Peak oil figured prominently in that future.

( Full story here )

Ireland’s ‘Hirsch Report’ Released

Forfas, Ireland’s national policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation today releases its long-awaited study on the potential impacts of peak oil on the Irish economy A Baseline Assessment of Ireland’s Oil Dependence - key policy considerations. Forfas operates under the auspices of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Robert Hirsch collaborated on the study, so how adequately does it address the challenges that Ireland will face?

( Full story here )

Last Reflections On The World

The Polycentric World Social Forum was planned to be held simultaneously in Karachi, Pakistan, Caracas, Venezuela and Bamako, Mali, but Karachi had to be postponed following the disastrous October earthquake in northern Pakistan, while the other two went ahead. I've just returned home from this momentous gathering and my experience at the WSF Karachi is now melding together into a big blur, from which I can extract some overall impressions. The big blurry picture is of course, interspersed with a clearer myriad of details, many of which warm the heart and inspire. With a theme slogan of "Another World is Possible," energetic, exuberant, flamboyant, and celebratory are the predominant adjectives which come to mind to describe the event. It was a very joyous meeting. There was an overall impression of gender balance, and although there's no doubt that the event attracted the most progressive women in Pakistani society, there was also wide representation from rural and tribal women. Women spoke out freely and worked together with men. Men participated in women's forums, women and men marched together, and there was gender balance in the facilitation of meetings.

( Full story here )

George Clooney and Julia Roberts go green for Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair have got another star-studded cover next month - but this time the theme is a bit more worthwhile than “naked starlets”.

( Full story here )

A Plan for Preserving Civilization

Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. Lester R. Brown. xii + 365 pp. W. W. Norton, 2006. $16.96.

In his 1948 book, Our Plundered Planet, Fairfield Osborn warned that our exploitation of the Earth was threatening our very survival. Urging recognition of "the necessity of cooperating with nature," he said that if civilization is to continue, humankind "must temper [its] demands and use and conserve the living resources of this earth." In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, in a report titled Our Common Future, called for a "new charter" setting out the rights and responsibilities of citizens and the state with regard to the environment and development. This challenge led eventually to "The Earth Charter" (available online at http://www.earthcharter.org/files/charter/charter.pdf), which was approved by the commission in 2000. "The choice is ours," declares the charter: "form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living."

( Full story here )

Forget peak oil...what about peak democracy?

Senior Editor Joe Baker never ceases to amaze me. He is constantly on top of major news stories the corporate media habitually overlook. I am speaking specifically of his article (March 1-7, 2006) concerning the $385 million contract the Army Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root to build detention centers (read concentration camps) at locations in the U.S.

( Full story here )

The Right Way to Look at the Left: Black oxygen

Oil is the “black oxygen that the modern world depends on,” said Peter Maass in The New York Times Magazine. Unlike the actual oxygen we breathe, of which there is a virtually unlimited supply, oil is not so well off.

We have been extracting oil from the ground for 100 years, and until recently, we have not begun to think about what we would replace it with when it runs out.

( Full story here )

Peak oil and lifestyle: Ready for a transition?

An ongoing environmental concern regarding peak oil is that it will be used to justify getting more energy now regardless of human and environmental costs.

If a temporary surge in energy supplies and lower prices occurs and increases consumption, it will make the transition to a sustainable energy system all the more difficult.

( Full story here )

Looking Through Peak Oil Lenses

Once a person assimilates the idea that peak oil and its consequences are imminent, it radically changes one's world outlook. Nearly every issue one confronts will be affected by peak oil. In the last 100 years, oil has become so pervasive in our civilization that few issues or individuals will be immune to the reduced availability and much higher prices that will soon be upon us.

( Full story here )

Global oil demand: UN predicts 2.1% increase in 2006

Spurred by increased ownership of automobiles in many developing countries, global oil demand is to increase by 2.1% in 2006 to 86 million barrels per day (mbd), up from 84.2 mbd last year, a UN report predicts.

( Full story here )

Geopolitics, declining production raise fears about sources for oil

Oil prices inched Thursday toward last summer's record high amid concerns of supply disruptions, and energy forecasters think that volatile geopolitics and declining oil production will keep prices up for years.

Oil reached $67.15 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 70 cents to a two-month high, amid concerns over disruptions in Nigerian oil production and a possible political showdown over the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the second-biggest exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil cartel.

( Full story here )

Saudis struggle to cope with oil thirst

The world's only oil superpower boosted output last month, launching a pair of projects that are part of a massive $55 billion endeavor to keep pace with the world's ever-intensifying thirst for oil.
But demand for the world's premier source of energy is rising so fast — by around 2 million barrels per day each year — that even Saudi Arabia's vast resources will be unable to cope without drastic help, oil executives and analysts say.

( Full story here )

OPEC March oil output drops

OPEC oil output fell 180,000 barrels per day in March as attacks on Nigeria's oil industry left the members bound by formal supply limits pumping at the lowest rate this year and below their 28 million bpd ceiling.

Output from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries averaged 29.55 million bpd in March, down from 29.73 million bpd in February, according to a Reuters survey of consultants, shippers, industry and OPEC sources.

( Full story here )

Newmont Australia CEO sees high oil prices fuelling gold price rise

Newmont Mining Corp's head of Australian operations, Paul Dowd, said his group sees high oil prices as fuelling a rise in the gold price to near record levels

Dowd, chief executive of Newmont Australia Ltd, said the precious metal's role as a haven against inflation means the gold price is rising in almost every major currency for the first time

( Full story here )

Painting a 'perfect picture' for gold?

These are great days for gold -- and the gold bugs remain calmly confident.
One of the features of the gold rally that's been under way for most of this millennium is that the investment letters most identified with the precious metal haven't succumbed to hysterical enthusiasm ... yet.

( Full story here )

Gas prices likely to be high this summer

Spring has sprung, but predictions for gasoline prices during the summer driving season are already out. And based on the prices here in Los Angeles, it’s not looking good.

Gas prices are already 37 cents higher on average per gallon than they were a year ago, according to AAA, the not-for-profit automobile lobby and service organization.

( Full story here )

Senior China official urges cut in US debt holding

China should gradually reduce its holdings of U.S. debt and can stop buying dollar-denominated bonds, a Hong Kong newspaper on Tuesday quoted Cheng Siwei, a vice chief of China's parliament, as saying.

With China a leading financier of the U.S. current account deficit, Cheng's comments sent the dollar lower against the euro and yen and also pushed down prices of U.S. government bonds.

( full story here )

'If you don't like it, go do business somewhere else'

WITH his customary bravado, President Hugo Chávez thumbed his nose last week at the West’s oil multinationals, in particular, ExxonMobil. “Whoever doesn’t like this business, then go somewhere else. They didn’t like it? Go somewhere else,” he said.

( full story here )

Ecologist says oil-supply peak nearing

The world's supply of oil will peak in just a few years, plunging the world's economy into recession, ecologist Robert Heinberg told about 165 people at the Holiday Inn City Centre on Saturday.

( Full story here )

Peak sugar!

A mixture of free-trade politics, speculative flows of “hot” money and environmental concerns have also helped make sugar the best performing commodity this year.

(...) for once China does not appear to be the central driver of a dramatic reversal in the fortunes of a commodity market.

Instead it has been Brazil’s thirst for ethanol, derived from sugar cane, to power “flexfuel” cars that also run on petrol that has pushed sugar to a 25-year high.

( Full story here )

James Woolsey, hemp advocate

Industrial hemp has an unlikely new champion: former CIA director James Woolsey. Woolsey sees a link between the need to end America's oil addiction and hemp's potential as a source of renewable energy. He said so when he visited my hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan last weekend as part the 2006 Powershift National Tour. According to its website the tour is "a public education effort designed to engage decision-makers, youth, farmers, media and the general public on energy security."

( full story here )

Exxon Tops Wal-Mart on Fortune 500 List

Fortune Magazine said Monday that Exxon Mobil Corp. pushed aside Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to reclaim the top spot on the famed Fortune 500 list of biggest revenue makers.


The list, which ranks publicly traded companies, pegs Exxon Mobil's 2005 revenue at about $340 billion, with profits of $36 billion. Wal-Mart (WMT) earned about $11 billion on revenue of $316 billion.

( Full story here )

Foreboding About the Future in Yemen

Within days of Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Salih’s departure in January to Germany for medical care, the regime’s next most prominent personality, Sheikh Abdallah bin Hussein al-Ahmar, left for Saudi Arabia. At the Sanaa airport, al-Ahmar, speaker of the Yemeni parliament, head of Islah, the country’s most popular opposition party, and paramount sheikh of Yemen’s most influential tribal confederation, pointedly announced that he was “leaving [Yemen] to Ali Abdallah Salih and his sons,” according to a source close to his family. Al-Ahmar’s words signaled that the alliance between him and the president, the cornerstone of the political status quo for nearly three decades, is close to coming undone. “He is smart,” says one local analyst. “He sees the regime’s problems and knows when to start to move independently.”

( Full story here )

Politics of the global energy sector

Provides information to understand the shifting nature of the global oil and gas economy, and vital political and social issues in this sector

OIL - Politics, Poverty & The Planet: Toby Shelley; Zed Books, London & New York, Books for Change, 139, Richmond Road, Bangalore-560025. Rs. 450.

This book has two aims. The first is to provide the reader with a digest of information needed to understand the global structure of the oil and natural gas economy. The second is to highlight vital political and social issues inherent in the energy sector.

( Full review here )

The experts' analysis

Prof Paul Rogers, the author of the Oxford Research Group's report on Iran:
"There is a real probability of military conflict. The immediate consequence could do serious damage to Iran's nuclear programme, but that would be deceptive. The Americans do not have the troops for a regime change and an attack would strengthen the Iranian regime, spark another oil crisis and could encourage the Iranians to go hell for leather for nuclear weapons."

( Full story here )

This bull run is different

A gold price above $580 is a rich nostalgia trip. It takes one back to the early 1980s, when a rand was worth more than a dollar – yes, that’s right, $1,35 compared to the current $0,17.

I seem to recall that the chairman of Nedbank, Frans Cronje, wrote in the 1980 annual report that, in the wake of the second oil crisis in 1979, the world economy had dealt (apartheid) South Africa “a permanently better hand of cards”.

( Full story here )

Open letter to Texas newspapers about peak oil: 'Why aren’t you listening?'

Subject: What Are Two Texas Billionaires,
Richard Rainwater & T. Boone Pickens,
Saying About Peak Oil & Why Aren’t You Listening?

Gentlemen:

I realize that I don’t have to introduce Richard Rainwater and Boone Pickens to you two gentlemen, but for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with Messrs. Rainwater and Pickens, following are brief introductions.

( Full story here )

How will Ireland fare in a world without oil?

Fossil fuels are running out and few countries are so vulnerable to an oil shock as Ireland. With an unprecedented energy crisis on the horizon, a conference in Dublin will explore possible solutions. But is it too late?


( Full story here )
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No End in Sight to Commodities Bull Cycle

At the third annual American Stock Exchange Precious & Base Metals Investor Conference in New York today, Van Eck Global analyst Charl Malan gave a broad overview of the metals market. His synopsis: many more years to come in the commodities bull cycle.

Malan’s presentation focused on the supply and demand fundamentals of precious and base metals, and began by noting a lack of major discoveries in recent years as compared to the 1980s - but with increased exploration spending.

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Experts expect only hiccups from big crude-price spike

Oil prices appear headed back toward $70 US a barrel, a level not seen since hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf of Mexico coast and sporadic shortages sent gasoline at the pump above $3 a gallon U.S.-wide.

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How the GOP Became God's Own Party

Now that the GOP has been transformed by the rise of the South, the trauma of terrorism and George W. Bush's conviction that God wanted him to be president, a deeper conclusion can be drawn: The Republican Party has become the first religious party in U.S. history.

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Activists pessimistic on Nigeria oil crisis talks

A meeting called by President Olusegun Obasanjo with Niger Delta groups is unlikely to resolve a crisis that has cut a quarter of Nigeria's oil output because the talks have been poorly conceived, the groups said on Friday.

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Are biofuels the future?

Energy experts painted a bleak picture to a crowd of several dozen people Thursday night as they described the questionable future of oil for an oil-dependent society.

Then the outlook brightened.

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I feed me

The peak in global oil production will necessitate a relocaliztion concerning the things we need and use. It doesn’t get more local than your backyard so just how can you produce more of what you need at your very own home?

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LaDuke: Three Affiliated Tribes at a crossroads: Which energy path?

Tex Hall is eager to bring a synfuels refinery and other tribal energy resources into the market. ''The tribe is concerned about delays ... We really want to work with our senators and kick-start the regulatory and funding process to get the new Indian energy programs under way,'' Hall explained at an early October meeting with the Crow and Fort Peck tribes. At the meeting, Hall proposed the northern tribes consider a strategic formal alliance on energy and economic development. ''Our tribes are rich in energy resources,'' he said.

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Peak Oil Passnotes: Obasanjo's Oily Wand

It’s a crazy market. Last week we were looking forward to a week of normality. Then President Obasanjo of Nigeria called a meeting. That was all it took and we were off once again.

The 600,000 barrel per day shut-in from the Nigerian Delta is not helping the tight supply lines we are so used to. But as you have seen, the world has not collapsed as a result.

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Electrification of transportation as a response to peaking of world oil production

With this commentary, Light Rail Now initiates a series we're calling Electrification 101 – a discussion aimed at informing transportation professionals, decisionmakers, and the public at large of the value and advantages of electrifying transportation operations, and the electrification of public transport systems in particular. This commentary, the first article in our series, has been slightly adapted from a professional paper prepared by the author.

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Peak oil pundit visits Alaska

"Thirty years from now, oil will be little used as a source of energy," Kenneth Deffeyes told a crowd at the University of Alaska Fairbanks recently. "Our grandchildren will say, 'you burned it? All those beautiful molecules? You burned it?'"

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Peak Opportunity! Earth Liberation and the Oil Endgame

By now, all radical environmentalists—if not all humans—should be aware of the fatal ecological effects of civilization’s unsustainable energy binge. Yet many of us have been slow to grasp the true gravity of what our rapid depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels portends.

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Business and politics - A role for oil companies in setting climate policy?

As the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is reported to be its highest on record, oil companies appear to want to steal a policy march on governments and NGOs
Janus had planned to write this month about renewable energy. Two developments, however, have prompted a shift in focus to another public policy issue.

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