Jordan to opt for nuclear energy

Jordan predicted it would become an energy exporter, once the Hashemite Kingdom adopts nuclear energy.

Sri Lanka to adjust gas prices on bi-monthly formula

Sri Lanka's liquid petroleum gas (LPG) prices are to be adjusted every two months on a price formula agreed with the island's consumer authority, Shell Gas Lanka said.

Stuck in guzzlers on road to nowhere

Asking Australians to give up four-wheel-drives would be contentious. In the United States it could be political suicide.

In the US, cars - and big cars - are deeply ingrained in the lifestyle. This is the home of the road movie, where an entire two hours can be filled with a tale of crossing wide open spaces. People in American cities think nothing of a two-hour drive each way to work as their cities continue to expand.

Myanmar Dissidents Dodge Arrest

Anti-government protesters scattered into hiding Friday to dodge arrest after a wave of protests over higher prices.

Consumption of natural gas in Belarus down 5%, Energy Minister Alexander Ozerets says

The Belarusian Prime Minister has tasked the Energy Minister to see to it that the work on increasing the share of local fuels in the Belarusian fuel consumption mix should be accelerated. As an example Sergei Sidorsky cited Germany which reduced the consumption of natural gas by 37% over the seven months this year.

“Now we have to work in the absolutely different environment with respect to oil and gas prices. This is $2 billion more that we have to take out from our economy,” Sergei Sidorsky noted.

Drive your car to death, save $31,000

By keeping your car for 15 years, or 225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to Consumer Reports magazine. That's compared to the cost of buying an identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which most car owners trade in their vehicles.

Buying an eco-friendly home

EcoBroker real estate agents help buyers in search of houses where everything is greener on the other side.

Pipeline Work Choking Off Fuel Supplies to Midwest

Regional refinery work and pipeline repairs are choking off fuel supplies to the U.S. Midwest, triggering a spike in gasoline prices, traders and fuel dealers said Thursday.

The latest disruption came from the Explorer Pipeline, which traders said was cutting fuel throughput rates by up to 8 percent to the Midwest for several months due to maintenance.

Pressure at the pump

Todd Jacobson wouldn’t be surprised if gas stations start putting up signs that say “Out of gas.”

The West Fargo Sooper Stop owner said there’s such a “massive shortage” of gas that he’s “walking on eggshells right now.”

“I’ve been down to 100 gallons of gasoline and not sure when I’m going to get my next load,” Jacobson said. “It has not been a good couple of months.”

Crude Oil Futures Gain on Concern Over Potential Atlantic Storm

Crude oil rose close to a four-week high on concern a developing storm in the Atlantic Ocean may intensify and threaten rigs and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico.

A weather system east of the Windward Islands, is "well organized" and may become the sixth tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season later today, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said on its Web site. Oil prices surged after hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated Gulf of Mexico oil platforms and pipelines in 2005.

The weather disturbance "has the potential of turning into a hurricane in a few more days," said Paul Tossetti, director of oil market analysis at PFC Energy in Washington. "Memories of Rita and Katrina are still pretty fresh in peoples' minds."

Beer Shortage Highlights Decline - Harare residents say absence of commodity that's hardly ever in short supply is clear sign of how bad things have become.

“Everything has become abnormal in this country but the funny thing is that we have accepted…the.. situation. People are burning millions of dollars worth of scarce fuel driving around looking for beers. We are drinking anything that is available. You tell me, what is normal about that? To me, this shortage of beers is just a sign that everything around us is crumbling."

Gas from Myanmar - Crisis call

Myanmar is exporting energy to Thailand and is contemplating energy export to China, India and Bangladesh. Yet most of the countries do not have access to power and many basic amenities of life. The economic sanction imposed by United States and EU have impoverished the nation. Now it desires to be a major supplier of oil and gas to energy hungry China and India.

Pilot Training Is Out of Gas

The rapid increase in oil prices over the last five years has forced air forces everywhere to cut back on flight training for their pilots. That could have some interesting consequences. Over the last half century, it's been found that combat pilots need about 200 hours in the air each year, to build and maintain their combat skills. So it's with great reluctance that some nations cut back on those flying hours.

Argentina Upgrades Import Tax-Free Quota For Diesel Amid Shortage

The Argentine government on Friday increased the quota for non-taxed diesel imports, as the nation's refineries, operating at maximum capacity, struggle to meet demand amid government pump price controls.

Contemplating Loss of a Gas Field: Chattak (Bangladesh) Case Study

It now appears that the Chattak (also known as Tengratila) gas field of Bangladesh has embraced a premature death. It did so at the hands of a wicked gang comprising foreign and local associates. This may form an example of a textbook case study as to how a promising resource base of an impoverished nation can be plundered for the sake of personal gain of few high-ups in government machinery.

New IEA Head to Meet OPEC Secretary General on Wednesday

The new executive director of the International Energy Agency will meet with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' secretary general on Wednesday, less than a week before OPEC ministers gather to review oil output policy, a person familiar with the talks said Thursday.

Economic Warfare in the Final Phase

This week the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, warned against Russia’s use of energy as an instrument of foreign policy. Speaking before his ambassadors, the French President said: “Russia is imposing its return [as a great power] on the world scene by employing its assets, notably oil and gas, with a certain brutality.” A great power ought to be gentle in its economic or political superiority. The Russians, however, are accustomed to a more cynical use of their advantages. The language of the Russian president includes mockery, condescension and threats. The West cringes, the East advances. Who cares what the weak countries think? Their feelings are without consequence.

Albania: The Heart of Darkness

If you live in Albania, chances are you cannot read this.

To read an Internet journal requires electricity, and Albanians are in the throes of an energy shortage that threatens glimmers of economic and political progress in Europe’s second poorest country.

Nigerian Government Reshuffles Oil Sector

Nigeria's federal government dissected its state-owned oil firm into five splinter companies and constituted a National Energy Council to reorganize the energy sector of the economy, the country's state-run media reported here on Wednesday.

Shell Oil energy tour at UA

The United States must find better ways for meeting future energy needs and improving sustainable energy sources, a senior oil company executive told a Tucson audience yesterday.

"We have an energy crisis, an energy dilemma and an energy insecurity," said John Hofmei-ster, the president of Shell Oil Co., at a meeting Thursday with University of Arizona faculty and students.

Sun power

Swiss adventurer and travel editor Louis Palmer has set out on a pioneering journey around the world in a solar-powered vehicle to draw attention to this abundant and under-exploited source of energy. His odyssey will bring him to Abu Dhabi and Dubai soon. He speaks about his mission exclusively to Weekend during his sojourns in Turkey, Syria and Amman.

Nantucket Sound – beautiful, but not pristine

One of the most specious and hypocritical arguments the opponents of Cape Wind have made is that Nantucket Sound is simply too "pristine" for anything so unsightly as 130 non-polluting, renewable-energy-producing wind turbines.

Australia: Citizens in the dark on NSW power inquiry

The New South Wales Government will today receive a blueprint for keeping the state powering ahead, but the report on the state's future electricity needs could stay under wraps until after the federal election.

Oil: Could This Be The End For Suburbia

Is Americas middle class getting stuck up a suburban cul-de-sac, surrounded by for quick sale signs, with a rusting commuter tank in the drive without a fill- up? Not quite, at least not yet, thanks to a robust global economy. True suburban property prices are falling, foreclosures and distressed selling are on a sharp rise - albeit from low bases - and there are rising concerns about petrol and heating costs. But the suburban beat goes on. At most, 10% of suburban households face incipient crisis in the short-term.

United States, China Clash over Peak Oil May Endanger World Peace

Peak Oil may have put the United States on a collision course with China as the two nations compete for African oil reserves. "Peak Oil" refers to the fact that worldwide, per capita petroleum production peaked in 1979. Owing to population growth, even though more actual barrels of oil per day are extracted, the amount of oil pumped per person continues to drop.

Venezuela is well-advised to build up the strength of the national militia that offers the hope of a defense of the revolutionary gains won since 1992

The real problem is rather that these elites can see no future for themselves without the plundering of resources from other nations.

Peak oil, the point in time when resources are surpassed by demand, is certainly upon us. We may argue that this moment occurred two years ago, or whether it is still two years in the future. But in the scale of even human events, let alone geographical history what the hell.

Axis of Arctic Oil

They all say it’s not a land grab. Really, it isn’t. It’s an oil grab.

The scramble for the oil and other natural resources at the top of the world intensified — quietly — this week, as Norway and Germany announced a new oil exploration partnership, the Daily Telegraph reported today, and Russia confirmed its state-controlled oil companies would do its business in the Arctic, Russian state media reported yesterday.

Alberta nuclear reactor isn't a done deal

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach says the jury is still out on whether a proposed $6.2-billion nuclear plant will be built in oil-rich northwestern Alberta.

"We first have to decide whether we're open to nuclear energy," he said Tuesday in Edmonton.

UK CATS Gas Pipe Repairs Done, Restart This Week

Divers have completed repair work on BP PLC's (BP) Central Area Transmission System, or CATS, pipeline ahead of schedule and a controlled restart will begin this later week, the company said in a statement Thursday.

Oil Sands Blockbuster

There are over a trillion barrels of oil estimated to be underneath the Canadian soil, which will be the solution to our racing demand for crude oil. And standing out of the crowd is one place.

FTC: Big Oil did not manipulate U.S. gasoline prices

Big oil companies did not conspire to raise U.S. gasoline prices last summer, as it was high crude oil costs and supply problems that caused the spike in pump prices, government investigators said on Thursday.

The Federal Trade Commission said that about 75 percent of the rise in gasoline prices was due to a seasonal increase in summer driving, higher oil costs and more expensive ethanol that was blended into gasoline.

The other 25 percent of the price increase stemmed from lower gasoline production as refiners moved to using ethanol as the main clean-burning fuel additive and lingering damage from hurricanes Katrina and Rita that reduced refining capacity.

Porter ties U.S. withdrawal from Iraq to $9 gasoline

Gasoline prices could rise to about $9 per gallon if the United States withdraws troops from Iraq prematurely, Rep. Jon Porter said he was told on a trip to Iraq that ended this week.

Rising sea threatens China's south

Over 1,100 square kilometres (440 square miles) of land in economically booming southern China will be inundated by rising sea-levels by 2050 due to global warming, state press said Thursday.

"The Pearl River Delta area, a leading manufacturing hub, will be hard hit by climate change in the coming decades," the China Daily quoted Du Raodong, an expert with the Guangdong provincial weather centre, as saying.

Food demand and climate straining soils

World food demand will surge this century with a leap in population, highlighting a need to protect soils under strain from climate change, experts said on Thursday.

Industrial nations shy away from stiff 2020 goals

Industrial nations were shying away from fixing stiff 2020 guidelines for greenhouse gases cuts at U.N. talks on Friday in what environmentalists said would be a vote for "dangerous" climate change.

Ice fjords, lifeblood for polar species, at risk in melting Arctic

The Svalbard archipelago near the North Pole is already seeing the dramatic effects of global warming: the mercury is rising twice as fast as elsewhere on the planet, posing a serious threat to the ecosystem.

The Arctic sea ice has never been as small as it is now. This year, it shrank to less than five million square kilometers (1.93 million square miles) -- a grim record for the planet.

Global Warming to Fuel More Severe Tornadoes and Thunderstorms

Global warming will make severe thunderstorms and tornadoes a more common feature of U.S. weather, NASA scientists said today.

Climate models have previously shown that Earth will see more heavy rainstorms as the atmosphere warms, but a new climate model developed by NASA researchers is the first to show the difference in strength between storms that occur over land and those over the ocean and how storms strengths will change in general.

China says one-child policy helps protect climate

China says its one-child policy has helped the fight against global warming by avoiding 300 million births, the equivalent of the population of the United States.

But delegates at U.N. climate change talks in Vienna said on Thursday birth control is unlikely to find favor as a major policy theme, partly because of opposition by the Catholic Church and some developing nations trying to increase their population.