The Oil Drum

The Rising and Falling Power of Hydrocarbon States

The fast rising demand for oil by China and India, sharply declining fresh discoveries, and high prices are empowering the countries with large reserves of black gold as never before. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez provides a striking example of how petroleum has emboldened leaders of oil-rich states to thumb their noses at the giant neighbor in the north - the US.

Lawsuit against Honda challenges hybrid mileage claims

A lawsuit claims Honda is misleading consumers about the expected fuel efficiency of its Civic Hybrid.

The car that ran on water

Today, Stanley Meyer is featured on numerous Internet sites. A significant portion of the 1995 documentary It Runs on Water, narrated by science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and aired on the BBC, focuses on his "water fuel cell" invention.

...As many of his more than 20 patents expire this year, and gasoline prices hover around $3 per gallon, there is growing interest in his inventions. But it remains unclear how much was true science and how much was science fiction.

Ohio: Price of electricity poised to increase

So far, the electricity companies are the ones who have to pay extra for all the power we use during summer heat waves. But when a rate freeze expires in a year and a half, we, too, could be paying premium prices to run the dishwasher when demand is at its peak.

"It can be as much as 10 times more than what you pay on average," said Dan Johnson, policy and market analysis chief for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

The agency is examining advanced meters that let people see the most-recent price of the electricity they're using. They are among the newest ideas to attack the nation's summertime energy crises

Energy savings plan could be pioneer

The Sustainable Energy Utility, the entity approved in the closing days of the General Assembly, will work to drive down the prices of energy-efficient appliances, buildings and motor vehicles for consumers and businesses.

The measure could yield big savings for residents and cut Delaware's carbon dioxide emissions by more than 30 percent by 2020.

A fair way to reduce carbon emissions

It would be grossly unfair if we were forced by the federal government to pay to clean up other regions of the country that have enjoyed the lower prices associated with cheaper traditional coal plants and inefficient generation, and consequently much higher emissions.

California's 'green' fleet runs on plain ol' gas

So far, the 1,138 "flex-fuel" vehicles have traveled a collective 10 million miles and burned more than 413,202 gallons of gas.

But not one drop has been high-grade ethanol — the fuel that promised to turn the passenger fleet into clean driving machines.

That's because the vehicles have no access to ethanol pumping stations. There were none when the Chevrolet Impala sedans and Silverado trucks were purchased and none are scheduled to open until December 2009. That's four years after the vehicles first hit the road.

Green PR suffers blowback

This is why the environmental groups and their PR representatives continue to spend millions to influence legislators to regulate, regulate, and regulate every single aspect of our lives. Based on bogus environmental claims, the intent is to deny people the right to make market-based decisions.

The result is policies that drive up the cost of basic commodities that include food, energy, and housing. Policies based on "global warming" or "climate change" have no real basis in science. They are based on the hatred of free enterprise and, indeed, the hatred of humanity that is endemic to environmentalism.

Boaters make do with high fuel costs

High fuel prices have altered some people's boating habits, but they haven't stopped them from getting out on the water.

Parts makers feel the pinch as U.S. market shrinks

As Detroit automakers lose market share to competitors like Toyota and Honda, they're making fewer vehicles, so they need fewer parts. And they're pressuring suppliers to charge less for those parts.

But at the same time, the cost of doing business keeps going up. Plastics, steel, electricity and health care are all getting more expensive. And many suppliers are burdened with lots of debt, which has become more costly to carry as interest rates rise.

Rising costs and falling demand make a brutal combination.

U.S. oil's global influence wanes

Though the United States is still the world's leading oil consumer, its might in the global petroleum business is dwindling.

Developing countries are locking up a bigger share of the world's oil and gas resources to profit from high prices and fuel industrial growth.

Some experts view the shift as an emerging threat to the U.S. economy, while others see benefits for consumers and say that an expanding list of suppliers diminishes the impact of any single disruption.

Black gold's tarnish seen in Canada

Almost half of Canada's oil production comes from the oil sands — and the energy industry estimates that enough oil can be economically extracted to fill the country's needs for three centuries.

The vast majority of Canadian oil exports goes to the United States, and the Bush administration sees the remaining resources as America's best hope for reducing dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

"No single thing can do more to help us reach that goal than realizing the potential of the oil sands," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said during a visit last July.

The benefits may be great, but the toll on other natural resources is also enormous.

Algeria, KBR sign $2.88 billion gas deal

Algeria's state oil and gas company and KBR Inc., a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary, signed a $2.88 billion deal Saturday for a liquefied natural gas plant.

Gold Stocks vs. Oil Stocks

“I'm a believer in the Commodity Super-cycle and in Peak Oil but gosh, just tell me what (and when) I should be buying!”

For us the question really boils down to allocating between Precious Metals, Energy and Industrial Metals. In this article I want to explore the Gold Stock vs. Oil Stock relationship to see how we should position ourselves for the remainder of the year and what (if any) inferences we can make on the general market.

Rep. Dingell floats 'carbon tax' plan

A House committee chairman is trying to show his Democratic colleagues that people in the U.S. are not ready to pay the full costs of fixing global warming.

Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, says he will propose a "carbon tax" on the burning of fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But he says he only is offering the plan to show how unpopular it would be.

Will the coming oil crisis be the end of suburbia?

Every semester I’ve shown “End of Suburbia” to my classes to mixed reviews to the message. I’ve warned them that it will be too expensive for most Americans to own big trucks or SUVs, especially at the current way they are made to consume gas.

This means our lives are going to change dramatically. Predicting social change can be difficult, especially for long-term future. The worst-case scenario is the total decline in our economy with a depression, social disorder and wars between states and communities for the remaining sources, much like the CBS TV action series “Jericho” in which residents of a small Kansas town are cut off from the rest of the world after major terrorist attacks.

Perpetual commotion - Irish firm is the latest to trumpet a `perpetual-motion machine'

According to Brian Baigrie, who teaches the history and philosophy of science at the University of Toronto, perpetual motion is an idea that gives some groups a way of defining themselves against accepted norms – much, he points out, like arguments for intelligent design.

"The interest in rational design as an account of the creation of species wasn't that high prior to Darwin, although most individuals (before then) would have described themselves as theists," he says, adding that perpetual motion saw a parallel rise in popularity after the laws of thermodynamics were established in the 1860s.

"The scientific community really celebrated the rise of the science of thermodynamics as a great achievement, and this in itself has been an incentive to eccentrics and inventors to find a way to violate it."

Germany to stay nuclear in Merkel U-turn

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, is preparing to perform a major U-turn by scrapping plans to abandon nuclear power.

We should explore low North Sea tax

After years of self--sufficiency, the UK is now a net oil importer. So rapid is the North Sea's depletion that, in three years' time, imports will account for 40 per cent of the oil we use, rising to 90 per cent by 2020.

Royal Dutch/Shell to start development of Arctic Ocean shelf

The European Union’s largest company Royal Dutch/Shell has embarked on the implementation of an ambitious programme aimed at the exploration of oil and gas on the Arctic Ocean shelf.