World Oil Outlook: Markets Tighten, Continued Growth In Demand

World oil markets are projected to tighten this summer due to continued growth in oil demand and production restraint by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Despite the recent increases in world oil prices, global oil consumption is projected to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2007 and by 1.6 million bbl/d in 2008. About one-half of the projected growth will come from China and the United States.

Iraq oil workers set to strike over law

Most of Iraq's oil production and all of its exports are likely to stop Thursday as its oil union threatens to strike in protest of the draft oil law.

Geopolitics and oil supply disruption: Is India prepared?

What do we do when crude price touches $250 a barrel? Even with high foreign exchange reserves, India will have a very hard time to absorb such a high price. We could dismiss this as Doom's Day scare mongering at our peril. But then a study done last year by one of the international banks projects such three-figure oil price-line as bottom line case scenario, given the volatile potential for oil supply situation; given the potential for Iran-US confrontation getting a lot worse before it gets better.

Good Question: Why Not Build More Oil Refineries?

A new refinery would cost $2 billion to $3 billion. Today's environmental regulations help keep our air clean but also make it much more expensive to run a refinery. Finding land is tough because nobody wants to live near a refinery.

Driving Michelin's Zero-Pollution Car

Working in a skunkworks in Switzerland, researchers have developed the Hy-Light, a fuel-cell car that drives 80 mph and refuels at a solar-powered pump.

31 U.S. states form registry to cut carbon emissions

With pressure growing on the U.S. government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, 31 U.S. states will start a registry next year to track those emissions with an eye toward reducing them.

Govs want more time on oil shale

The governors of Wyoming and Colorado want federal officials to allow more than the allotted two weeks for the states to study and comment on a draft environmental review of commercial-scale oil shale development proposed in the region.

Japan to seek 50% global emissions cut at G-8 meet

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will propose global steps aimed at halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 from current levels during next month's Group of Eight summit, and has already gotten U.S. President George W. Bush's promise to cooperate, sources said Tuesday.

Senate panel OKs bill to boost fuel efficiency standard

In a sign of congressional concern over near record-high gasoline prices and global warming, a Senate committee Tuesday approved legislation calling for the most significant increase in vehicle fuel efficiency in decades.

The measure would boost the fleetwide average fuel economy standards to 35 mpg by 2020, up from 25. It now goes to the Senate, where a similar measure was defeated two years ago after heavy lobbying by automakers.

Oil markets ‘over-supplied, refineries are the problem’

World crude-oil markets are “over-supplied,” and high gasoline prices are the result of few available refineries, Qatar’s deputy premier and energy minister has said.

“The problem is not the shortage of crude oil,” HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah told reporters at a news conference in Washington yesterday.

“The problem the whole world is facing today is the limitation of refineries.”

4 U.S. oil workers reportedly seized in Nigeria

Heavily armed gunmen kidnapped four U.S. oil workers from a barge off the Nigerian coast near Chevron's Escravos oil export terminal, said security sources.

Moving New York City toward Sustainable Energy Independence

How creation of an Energy Shortage Plan will prepare the City for energy price volatility and accelerate the long-term transition to energy sustainability

Shop until the planet drops

A specter is haunting the world, but it is not a well-defined ideology, like capitalism or communism. And yet, since World War II, it has been responsible for more destruction than these ideologies, creating a civilization that is copied the world over, one that specializes in using up as much oil and coal, forests and land as possible. It is the specter of suburbanism, the idea that it is everybody’s God-given right to live as far away from work, shopping, recreation and friends and relatives as one wants to. Now that we are confronted with a virtually intractable set of global problems, what is the recommended path to global safety that seems to emanate from this “non-negotiable lifestyle”? Shopping, of course!

Bangladesh to import oil from India

Bangladesh has decided to import diesel from the Numaligarh Refinery in East India's Assam region following acute shortage of fuel, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported Tuesday.

"Bangladesh would import 120,000 tons of diesel per annum from the Numaligarh Refinery due shortage of vehicular fuel," IANS quoted Pinak Ranjan Chakraborty, Indian high commissioner in Dhaka, as saying in Agarthala in Tripura region in East India.

Light-rail system would mean smoother travel for everyone

I propose that a regional, light-rail system coordinated with connecting Chatham Area Transit service and suburban park-and-ride lots might just be the pro-active solution for Savannah's parking problems. There are many cities that have proven that rail-based commuter systems are successful in getting large number of people into a metropolitan area with limited parking (New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, to name a few).

Jilin To Open First Clean Fuel Plant

"With a total investment of RMB509 million and covering 8 hectares, the plant will convert 300,000 tons of stalks into 300 million kilowatts of electric power annually," said Wang Lingfang, chairman of the board of Shandong Luneng Construction Group.

Statistics show China produces 350 million tons of vegetable stalks every year, 24% of which is used as livestock feed, 15% as fertilizers, 40% as fuel, and 18.7% is discarded. The country has abundant biological resources, and together with its stalks production, it exceeds 720 million tons, of which 604 million tons can be used as energy.

India misses import target for gas by 67%

India was able to import only a third of the gas it wanted to ship into the country in 2006-07, owing to uncertainties in the global gas trade and inadequate infrastructure in the country to handle gas imports, resulting in a shortage of the fuel that affected several companies, including power utilities and fertilizer manufacturers.

The country had originally planned to import 15 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of gas, but ended up importing a third of that amount, according to a senior official at the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, who did not wish to be identified.

Geothermal heating a hot topic

Geothermally heated homes may be a rarity in Edmonton, but the Alberta Geothermal Energy Association hopes to change that.

Consumers who are more aware of declining natural gas reserves and fixed income seniors facing out-of-control energy costs are sparking an interest in the industry, vice-chairman Don MacIntyre says.

Peak oil, peak of frustration

The matter at hand was what to do when there is no more crude oil. Peak Oil is when the extraction rate of petroleum reaches its maximum and can no longer meet demand.

"The alternatives cannot ramp fast enough," John Easton of Sustainable Indiana said.

Big Oil Ain’t No Dummy!

The mass media is back at it, trying to explain high prices at the pump to the average American. If their lack of understanding weren’t so scary, we could all have a laugh. This time its being blamed largely on problems at petroleum refineries. We Americans do like simple answers. If prices at the pump rise rapidly, we assume there must be an easy explanation. It couldn’t be a more comprehensive problem with the way we use energy and our reliance on a finite resource.

Nuclear power on the rise

Nuclear power is on the verge of, well, exploding. The U.S. has 103 working nuclear power plants, but plans for 30 more are in the works with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

To fully comprehend what a sea change this is, consider that the most recent construction permit was issued in 1978 – before Three Mile Island.

Credit this nuclear boom to large federal incentives, the soaring price of natural gas (often used to power electric plants), and ever-increasing demand for electricity.

Alternative Vehicle Trends as Gas Prices Rise

The next time you're on the road or in a parking lot, take a look around. What do you see? Despite the fact that gasoline prices are once again hovering near the $3.00/gallon mark, and our climate seems to be changing more rapidly than most of us can utter the phrase “global warming,” chances are that you don't see a disproportionate number of hybrid cars flitting in and out between monster trucks and SUVs large enough to have their own zip codes.

Don't fear the reaper

Ian Kuijt, professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, has written extensively on social change in Neolithic villages 8,000 years ago. Of particular interest is the phenomenon of collapse. What prompts a large population center to fall apart abruptly as the people abandon their life ways and decentralize? One compelling theory, advanced by Kuijt, proposes that there are two triggers: the external, environmental cause and, more importantly, the internal one, driven by members of society.

U.S.’s thirst for liquid natural gas growing

Energy companies have proposed 35 new U.S. terminals in 10 states and five offshore areas near the coast. Eighteen terminals have been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The majority of the projects are proposed for the Northeast, which has seen huge price increases for heating oil and public distrust of nuclear power; California, where natural gas is in high demand for power generation; and the Gulf Coast, where LNG processors can easily plug the finished gas product into interstate pipelines.

Natural-gas powered cars: Who even knows they exist?

Imagine paying as little as $1.25 a gallon to run your car.

Not for gasoline. Instead, you would pump a fuel that's readily available, North American-produced and virtually pollution-free. Many motorists could even fill up in their own garages every night just like they would power-up with one of the gas-electric plug-in hybrids still under development.

AP Moller Maersk believes oil production in North Sea has reached its peak

Management at AP Moller Maersk's Maersk Oil & Gas division believe oil production in the North Sea has reached its peak, daily Boersen reported.

'Production is, under all circumstances, expected to decline during coming years, but our task is to counteract this as far as possible,' Maersk Oil & Gas deputy director Anders Wurtzen said according to Boersen.

However, the Danish Energy authority expects new technology will help increase oil production in the North Sea, Boersen added.

U.S. uranium sales down as price soars

As the price of uranium surged another $7 over the past week, the U.S. Energy Department may scale back its inventory sale and open a strategic reserve.

Uranium prices hit $120 per pound Monday, the weekly pricing date, on the heels of expected growing demand and a new futures trading product offered by the New York Mercantile Exchange and uranium analyst Ux Consulting.

The price has jumped from $56 per pound last October. It was around $20 at the start of 2005.

Venezuela, Conoco spat continues

Just why ConocoPhillips remains a holdout remains a mystery. Officials at the company`s headquarters in Houston refused to speculate on the delay in negotiations when questioned by United Press International.

Oil discovery enough for 50 years extraction

"Density is the most important gauge of crude oil. The density of this oil field stands at 0.82 to 0.83 - a light to normal level. The reserve is not deep - at about 1800 to 2800 meters under the ground," says Jia Chengzao,Vice President of China National Petroleum Corporation.

Peak oil blindness

One way to interpret this presumed myopia is to treat it as the product of a system in a highly complex environment. At the macro-social level Luhmann’s General System Theory provides insight into why we might expect offices such as the GAO and other governmental bodies to be restrained in their communication to the public about the Peak Oil phenomenon.

Upstream Oil Project Cost Rise Slows, Could Plateau In '08

Capital costs for upstream oil and gas projects climbed 7% in the six months to March 31st, compared with the 13% increase seen in the previous six months, suggesting cost inflation could reach a peak next year, IHS and Cambridge Energy Research Associates said Tuesday.

Uganda: Govt Explores Dar Option to Solve Diesel Crisis

The Ugandan government has resolved to import additional fuel through Tanzania after problems with Kenya's Mombasa-Eldoret oil pipeline caused a diesel shortage and higher pump prices.

The decision comes after President Yoweri Museveni accused the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) of worsening the crisis by asking Ugandan oil firms to pay deposits on any fuel loads they collect from Mombasa.

State regulators order gas station to raise its prices

Despite soaring oil prices, Wisconsin has ordered a local gas station to raise its prices, saying it was breaking the "minimum markup" law by offering a discount to senior citizens and supporters of a youth sports league, according to the Wausau Daily Herald.

Texas: House OKs suspending gas tax

Relief from soaring gas prices may soon be on the way.

The Texas House tentatively adopted a measure Tuesday that would suspend the state's 20-cent gas tax through the summer.

That would mean an immediate 20-cent drop in the price per gallon.

"The more cars you have, the more relief you get," said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat who added the proposal to an omnibus tax collection bill.