Venezuela Orinoco Companies Fear Voucher Compensation

Six of the world's largest oil companies caught in Venezuela's continuing oil nationalization are bracing for an unfavorable compensation scheme for many billions of dollars in investment. The idea involves paper investment vouchers.

Troubles for the Iraq Oil Deal

Barely two days have passed since Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed the country's new petroleum law as a "solid base for unity of all Iraqis" -- a rare boast these days. President Bush has also trumpeted it as proof that Iraq has a viable future. But parliamentarians and Iraq's oil unions have already begun mobilizing against the draft legislation, arguing that it is a desperate attempt by al-Maliki's government to satisfy Western demands, which could damage Iraq's economic future and speed the country's ultimate disintegration.

Sign Your Country on the Dotted Line

Old research habits die hard. Actually, it's my belief that knowledge should not be compartmentalized - you know what you know, and latent awareness can only help. Now, why does my linguistic training apply to fossil fuel?

I can read the new Iraqi oil law in its original form.

Zimbabwe: Fuel price hike sounds death knell

The sharp hike in fuel prices is likely to sound the death knell for most companies, already weighed down by an acute shortage of foreign exchange and key inputs, top economists warned this week Economic experts spoke as the pump price of a litre of petrol rose to a staggering Z$6,500, inflation shot to almost 1,600 percent, and the country electricity shortages woes intensified.

Cambodia Eyes Benefits from Offshore Resources

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday his country will begin seeing benefits from exploitation of its offshore oil and gas resources by 2010 at the latest, vowing to use the income to improve education and health.

EU green targets 'too expensive,' OECD energy official warns

Claude Mandil, head of the 26-member International Energy Agency, said the aim could be very costly unless environmentally friendly energy production costs become significantly reduced.

China expands oil target list

China has added nine oil and gas producers in North Africa, South America and the Middle East to a list of countries that it wants major Chinese companies to invest in.

Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Morocco, Libya, Niger, Norway, Ecuador and Bolivia are now on the list, which builds on previous ones issued in 2004 and 2005, the National Development and Reform Commission said on Thursday.

Oil Free by 2050

The US military needs oil -- about 300,000 barrels a day -- to fight.

...It should come as no surprise then that the Department of Defense is giving very serious thought to oil independence. The notion is that the nation -- and particularly the military -- must have assured access to energy, and oil isn't such a safe bet any more.

Australia: 'Wind drought' causing farm water woes

Pastoralists in Western Australia's mid-west say a 'wind drought' is causing major problems on their properties.

Windmills are not catching enough wind to pump ground water to fill storage tanks.

Creative uses for CO2

For more than a decade, Stefan Bachu, a senior advisor with Alberta's energy regulator, has been excavating through half a century's worth of geological data to find out how much of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions can be entombed in Western Canada's vacant oil and gas reservoirs. It has been a painstaking, unsung endeavour, but it could ultimately help relieve Canada's greenhouse guilt.

DOE Makes Draft Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle R&D Roadmap Available for Comment

The DOE Office of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies (FCVT) has developed a Draft Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle R&D Plan to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies critical for plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Barking up a new tree for renewable energy sources

Carbon-neutral and cheap, wood pellets look like a good fuel bet - as some schools and businesses are already discovering.

Saudi Arabia's crude oil production reaches 10.7m bpd in 2006

The President of Saudi Aramco stated that Saudi Arabia's production of crude oil has increased to 10.7 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2006, Arab News reported.

He pointed out that during the past year, Aramco has upgraded the optimization of its upstream operations and development and depletion strategies in order the rising demand of crude oil worldwide.

Saudi Aramco Found More Oil Than It Produced In 2006

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world's largest oil company by production, discovered 3.6 billion barrels of crude oil reserves last year, 6% more than it produced, the Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday

Dredging contract for Manifa field signals a start on extensive works at the facility

When completed Manifa will include a central processing facility, water injection facility and offshore platforms, as well as pipelines and an upgrade of the Khursaniyah Gas Plant - to cope with the extra gas flow.

Protests Suspend Maintenance, Gas Restrictions Extended

Maintenance work on the Canadon Alfa field in Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province was suspended on February 24, extending the duration of gas cuts to Chile's region XII, the latter country's energy regulator CNE said in a statement.

The works were suspended due to security concerns as a result of union protests related to salary issues.

Chile studies nuclear, hydroelectric power to satisfy mining, domestic energy cravings

Responding to political pressure to solve a potential energy crisis, Chilean Energy Minister Karen Poniachik said the ministry will commence a technical study into the use of nuclear power in Chile.

Indonesia: Nuclear power plant gets a cold response

The government's plan to press ahead with construction of the country's first nuclear power plant in 2010 was met angrily by Jepara residents Wednesday.

The New and Improved TXU!

It appears that the promise to not build eight of TXU’s 11 proposed coal-fired power plants does not constitute a future ban on all coal plants. “We did not commit for any time period to a complete moratorium on coal plants,” said the private equity rep.

Oil Field Explosions in Oklahoma Leave Four Injured

South Africa presses the nuclear button

The government declarations in mid-February came simultaneously: one announced that work is to begin on a second nuclear power station, and the other proclaimed South Africa’s deposits of uranium as a strategic reserve.

Ontario gas pains continue

Imperial Oil resumed crude oil processing Wednesday at its refinery in Nanticoke, Ont., but production won't be back to normal for two more weeks, which will extend Ontario's fuel shortage.

Will green tech become the valley's new bubble?

Silicon Valley's shift toward green technology is in high gear. Will it create the same kind of bubble, bust and lasting change as the Internet itself? Are we going to party like it's 1999? Will we hear venture capitalists like John Doerr describe ``green tech'' the way they did the Internet boom in the 1990s as the ``largest legal creation of wealth in human history''?

Pickens: global oil production has reached its peak

Legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens sees today's stubbornly high oil price as evidence that daily global production capacity is at — or very near — its peak.

If demand for crude oil rises beyond the current global output of roughly 85 million barrels per day, Pickens told The Associated Press, prices will rise to compensate and alternative sources of energy will begin to replace petroleum.

"If I'm right, we're already at the peak," Pickens said earlier this week in Doha, on the sidelines of the Forbes magazine CEO conference. "The price will have to go up."

Oil prices rebound to two-month high

Oil prices rebounded to another two-month high Wednesday, as traders brushed off Tuesday’s stock market plunge and refocused on declining product inventories.

Key lawmakers skeptical of Bush fuel savings plan

Influential members of Congress expressed doubt on Wednesday about the White House goal of raising auto fuel efficiency by 4 percent next decade, convinced the target would harm U.S. manufacturers.

Inpex to Spend 200 Billion Yen a Year on Oil Fields

Inpex Holdings Inc., Japan's largest oil explorer, said it will spend more than 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) annually to search and develop oil and gas fields over the next three to four years.

Diversify sources, and don't expect positive changes in Russia, say energy experts

Europe is likely to be increasingly dependent on gas and oil imports, whose security it is less and less able to guarantee.

Tokyo ends first snowless winter

The Japanese capital Tokyo has ended winter without snow for the first time on record, the weather agency said Thursday, amid rising global concern about climate change.

Scientists watch polar areas for changes

Are we really heading for an ice-free Arctic? More than 50,000 researchers hope to find an answer during a massive study of how global warming and other phenomena are changing the coldest parts of the Earth — and what that means for the rest of it.

Inuits blame U.S. for climate change

The Inuits of Northern Canada and beyond are taking their case against the United States on Thursday to an international human rights commission. They have scant chance of a breakthrough but still hope to score moral and political points against the U.S. and its carbon spewers.

Germans tackle climate change riddle

But whatever the cause, Mr Fuchs says businesses are already thinking about how to adapt if these warm temperatures become the norm.

"We need water in the summer to cool our power stations, deep enough rivers to allow ships to navigate, enough wind for turbines," he says.

Iowa ethanol biorefinery gets $80 million grant

Broin Cos. will receive up to $80 million to build a biorefinery that would make fuel from corn cobs as well as corn kernels in Emmetsburg.

Nepal: Energy crisis brings industrial production down to 20%

The national industrial production has dropped down to around 20 percent of its total capacity after the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) started 40 hour a week load shedding a few weeks back.

What a Way To Go: Life at the End of Empire

“What A Way To Go” names Peak Oil, climate change, mass extinction, and population overshoot, as the four pivotal and daunting challenges that humans must address and resolve if any species are to remain on planet earth. Equally terrifying, in my opinion, are two symptomatic offshoots of these four: nuclear holocaust and global economic meltdown.