The Oil Drum

Wartime mentality needed

THE world is not about to run out of oil, according to Queensland's new Minister for Sustainability Andrew McNamara.

"But it is about to run out of cheap oil," he said. "The degree of social dislocation, the degree of pain, will depend on how urgently we respond . . . in the end we will have to adopt a kind of wartime mentality (to oil use)."

He said the report commissioned by the Government on the looming peak oil crisis warns that rising oil prices will continue to fuel inflation and interest rates, placing further pressure on so-called "mortgage belt" families in outlying suburbs.

Statoil & Petrobras Sign Long Term Cooperation Agreement

Statoil and the Brazilian oil company Petrobras have signed a long-term strategic collaboration agreement for exploration and production as well as biofuels.

Analysis: Solar energy in Uzbekistan

The technical potential of solar energy in Uzbekistan is immense and is estimated to exceed by 400 percent the country’s annual energy needs of 65 million tons of oil equivalent. The problem for Uzbekistan, as with many alternative energy sources, is the relatively high start-up costs.

Delmarva continues to balk at wind farm

Delmarva Power said a proposed 150-turbine wind farm poses extra costs and risks for its customers, setting the stage for a potentially contentious review by state officials who had hoped to move quickly toward a final contract.

Pioneers Can Secure Our Future

Russia, Canada, and the United States are rushing to the North Pole in a pioneer-like land grab for an estimated 25 percent of the world's unknown oil and gas reserves. One wonders when we will learn. Oil and gas are not forever. We need to change course and save some to ensure a secure energy future.

BP all but leaving South Dakota

There will soon be a lot fewer of those green BP signs at gas stations in South Dakota.

That's because BP America says it's leaving most of South Dakota and all of North Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana and Texas. The company has decided to focus on areas closer to its refineries.

S. Dakotans face more pain at pump than most

Gasoline prices, which had fallen well below $3 per gallon in August, spiked this month in South Dakota and now are among the highest in the country, baffling consumers and frustrating analysts who say a vulnerable economy could weaken on a surge in prices at the pump.

Water needs for potential oil shale industry could complicate things

America's thirst for oil is threatening to add to the thirst for water in the West.

Meeting the nation's energy needs also is threatening water quality in the region, speakers said Friday at a seminar in Grand Junction on energy development's impacts on water.

Ruling May Disperse Shell's Alaskan Exploration Fleet

Shell will start releasing contract workers and soon could disband its offshore drilling fleet due to a federal court order blocking the oil company's plans to drill exploratory wells this fall in the Beaufort Sea.

UK: Pumping up the high cost of driving

Roads bosses are pushing ahead with Aberdeen's bypass, which they aim to complete by 2012.

But you can't help wondering if people will still be able to afford to drive by then.

Analysis: Mideast turns to nukes for water

The idea of using nuclear-powered desalination plants is becoming popular in the Middle East and North Africa, where tension over water rights has gone on for millennia, but it is controversial, and without significant foreign assistance it may turn out to be a mirage.

Mexico and Oil - A Double Whammy for U.S. Economy?

With the sub-prime mortgage mess grabbing all the headlines, it is easy to take your eye off the ball and miss some other important investment themes lurking underneath the surface.

One of these themes could provide investors with a great opportunity while at the same time, add to U.S. economic woes for 2008. The theme is Mexico and, specifically, Mexican crude oil production.

Pemex tax break to cushion Mexico's oil woes

A new tax break for Mexico's Pemex will be no quick fix for the oil titan's woes, but it should spur some fresh production to cushion the blow from declining yields at the Cantarell oil field.

Bill Letting Kazakh Govt Quit Oil Contracts Seen Passed in September

An amendment that will give the Kazakh government the right to pull out of natural resources contracts if there is a threat to national security and national economic interests is to be adopted in the next two weeks, a Kazakh lawmaker told Dow Jones Newswires.

Valeriy Kotovich, one of the lawmakers who initiated the amendment, said the government has already expressed its support for the amendment which also aims to help Kazakhstan in its dispute with the Eni SpA-led (E) consortium over delays and rising costs at the giant Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea.

Asian naphtha buyers cool to Saudi term offer

Asian naphtha buyers are cool towards Saudi Aramco's unusual term offers for October 2007-March 2008 supplies, as the premium levels were deemed too high in the current bearish market, industry sources said.

Russia eases Turkey gas shortfall

Russia's Gazprom said Friday it supplied Turkey with an extra 35 million cubic meters of gas after a pipeline blast hit supplies.

Nigerian gunships attack oil delta gang

The Nigerian army attacked a suspected criminal hide-out in the anarchic oil-producing Niger Delta on Friday using helicopter gunships and ground troops, an army spokesman said.

China's Coal Prices May Increase on Environmental, Safety Costs

Coal prices in China, the world's largest producer and consumer of the fuel, are likely to rise as authorities strengthen regulations to improve environmental and safety standards at mines, a government official said.

Iraq Oil Draft Law Collapses

A carefully constructed compromise on a draft law governing Iraq's rich oil fields, agreed to in February among the various political groups, appears to have collapsed, The New York Times reported from Baghdad.

Water crisis squeezes California's economy

California farmers, who produce half the nation's fruits and vegetables, say they will idle fields and cut back on planting lettuce, cotton, rice, and more.

Silicon Valley computer-chip makers and other industrial/commercial users say they will rethink manufacturing processes that use water, or dramatically raise the price of products they sell.

Environmental awareness taking root in conservative Christian churches

Environmentalist are often envisioned as tree-hugging, granola-munching types whose politics lean far to the left.

But environmental awareness is also spreading into the pews and pulpits of conservative Christian churches.

Arctic ice loss: Northwest Passage now open, says space agency

The Northwest Passage, the dreamed-of yet historically impassable maritime shortcut between Europe and Asia, has now fully opened up due to record shrinkage of Arctic sea ice, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Friday.

It released a mosaic of images, taken in early September by a radar aboard its Envisat satellite, which showed that ice retreat in the Arctic had reached record levels since satellite monitoring began in 1978.

Bush aide says warming man-made

The US chief scientist has told the BBC that climate change is now a fact.

Professor John Marburger, who advises President Bush, said it was more than 90% certain that greenhouse gas emissions from mankind are to blame.

The Earth may become "unliveable" without cuts in CO2 output, he said, but he labelled targets for curbing temperature rise as "arbitrary".

Panel Faults Emphasis of U.S. Climate Program

An effort by the Bush administration to improve federal climate research has answered some questions but lacks a focus on impacts of changing conditions and informing those who would be most affected, a panel of experts has found.

Financial issues obstacle as UN desertification meeting winds down

Despite agreeing that climate change and desert spread must be tackled together, a UN conference on desertification threatened to end without a concrete outcome on Friday as participants struggled to agree on funding, a spokeswoman said.

Greenland sees bright side of warming

Top scientist Professor Minik Rosing was stunned to hear the news from his native Greenland a few days ago.

The main weekly newspaper, Sermitsiaq, was highlighting a quarrel between shop owners and farmers about the price of potatoes.

"The price of potatoes was a headline," says Professor Rosing. "That would have been a hilarious joke in Greenland a few years ago."

Climate change fuelling appeals for humanitarian aid: UN

The United Nations said Friday it had launched a record number of appeals for humanitarian crisis aid this year due to a growing number of catastrophes linked to climate change.

States are closer to trimming autos' CO2 emissions

When historians finally take stock, Vermont may look like the mouse that roared – the tiny state that brought the nation's mighty auto industry to heel by requiring cars that emit fewer greenhouse gases.

Brown strikes green deal for state's benefit

THE ENVIRONMENTAL agreement between Attorney General Jerry Brown and ConocoPhillips is a clear demonstration of Brown's ability to use the threat of litigation for a public purpose.

Brown persuaded the oil company to pay the state $10 million to offset greenhouse gas emissions from the expansion of its Rodeo plant.

Al Gore heads to Emmy red carpet for Current TV

Six months after achieving Oscar glory for his climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," former Vice President Al Gore is headed back to the red carpet for the Emmys, U.S. television's highest honors.

Gaz de France wants to join Nabucco pipeline project

French utility Gaz de France wants to join the European Union's flagship Nabucco gas pipeline, the French gas giant's chief operating officer Jean-Marie Dauger said here Friday.

Officials tour refinery

ConocoPhillips and EnCana have teamed up to develop facilities to refine heavy sour crude, oil so thick it has to be melted with steam and mixed with lighter oil to flow through pipelines. The pairing is an equal partnership called WRB Refining and is now processing the heavy oil that comes from Alberta, Canada.

Negotiations on importing gas from Iran progressing - Bahrain

The talks were preparatory and focused on the means to transport gas from Iran to Bahrain, indicated the minister, revealing that one of the ideas was to use sea pipelines to transport gas.

Iran to privatize 3 drilling companies

Three drilling companies will be privatized, said a National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) official, MNA reported.

Rig Workers Reject Pay Offer

Hundreds of North Sea drilling workers involved in a wage dispute have rejected an improved pay deal.

More than half of the 2000 workers voted not to accept the 5-per cent rise offered by the United Kingdom Drilling Contractors Association.

End of the Oil Age is near

IT'S not Doomsday yet, but if we don't act now it soon will be.

That's the message from mounting evidence about the looming oil crisis confronting Australia.

The bottom line is that the world's oil production is close to peaking, with demand for the product soon to outstrip supply.

Report warns of petrol chaos

QUEENSLAND is heading for an oil shock. And it is not a matter of if, but when.

As crude oil prices hit a record high yesterday, an as-yet unreleased Queensland Government report warns of massive social dislocation, rising food prices and infrastructure headaches because of rising oil costs.