The Oil Drum

Ukraine starts reducing gas consumption

Ukraine has started reducing its consumption of natural gas supplied to the country by Gazprom, the Russian energy giant said Thursday.

Debunking auto industry myths

I hesitate to pick a fight with a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner like New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. On the critical issue of developing a national energy policy to lessen our consumption of imported oil, he's been early, smart, and right.

But Friedman whiffed in his Times column yesterday, called "Et Tu, Toyota," by hauling out one of the hoariest of urban myths: That forcing higher fuel economy standards on American car buyers is what's needed to encourage more energy-efficient vehicles and make Detroit more competitive with its import competitors.

Meeting the Challenge – Transport Expert Todd Litman: Alter Car Insurance & Save Oil, Lives, Environment

Litman calls it “Pay-As-You-Drive” pricing (PAYD). Simply put, the fewer miles you drive in a year’s time, the lower your annual car insurance premium. Litman argues that by making it pay – literally – for motorists to combine shopping trips, to carpool, and so on, the more likely it is that the family SUV stays in the garage, thereby not just reducing gasoline consumption but also air pollution and auto-related fatalities.

(See also: Get Paid for NOT Driving To Work (Part 2 of 3) and 'Congestion Pricing' to Include Entire Regions (Part 3 of 3))

Gazprom, Ukraine agree on payment of gas debt by Nov 1

OAO Gazprom said chief executive Alexei Miller and Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yury Boiko reached an agreement under which Ukraine's gas debts will be paid by Nov 1, Interfax reported.

Alaska Oil Tax Draft Released

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has released a bill proposing to boost oil taxes for the second straight year, setting the stage for a battle with major petroleum producers.

Venezuela crude for Dominican Republic to reach 50,000 barrels daily

Property minister Vicente Bengoa yesterday said the Venezuelan government extended the facilities so the country can import 50,000 barrels of oil daily through the Petrocaribe Agreement, which sets a preferential price and in soft, long term financing.

S.F. moving to catch up with European bike-share programs

San Francisco is one push of the pedal closer to offering residents and visitors a bike-sharing program in an effort to ease traffic congestion and to promote health through exercise.

ASES National Solar Tour Saturday, October 6, 2007

The National Solar Tour highlights energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and methods that are working and available right now, in real places for real people. These sustainable energy choices help the owners reduce operating costs and improve comfort and health while investing in local communities.

Tours show attendees how home and building owners provide for their power needs from the sun, wind and other renewable sources. An increasing focus of tours is on saving energy through building design, energy-efficient appliances and building materials.

For solar power, the future looks bright

Solar energy is now very real. And at hot companies like SunPower, the 'green' that matters is money - by the billions.

Fuel Assistance program gets boost

According to a press release from the State Housing Authority, the federal Energy Information Administration projects that oil prices will increase by nearly 28 percent over last year, bringing the anticipated cost oil of heating oil to over $3 a gallon. At that cost, the average benefit buys roughly 193 gallons, less than the full capacity of most oil tanks.

Oil headed for era of price chaos

OIL PRICE VOLATILITY will be the least of our worries if one scenario Simon Ratcliffe paints has any weight. Ratcliffe is chairman of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil South Africa (Aspo), which has been studying the effects should a peak in oil production occur. He suggests peak oil production began this year, the implication of which is an interminable decline in supply followed by societal and economic disintegration.

And the much-vaunted solution – discovering and developing alternative energy sources – is but a mild palliative, says Ratcliffe. German organisation The Energy Watchgroup believes global coal resources will start to deplete by 2025, while uranium, one of the most commonly found minerals in the world, will reach peak production in 2013.

Peak oil educator to visit New Zealand

Richard Heinberg, one of the world's foremost Peak Oil educators and Research Fellow of Post Carbon Institute, is coming to New Zealand in October hosted by the Green Party and the Eco Show to give talks in Auckland, Wellington and Taupo.

"The end of cheap oil is a problem the world will have to face, and I am honoured to be able to host Richard Heinberg here at Parliament for a briefing to all MPs on this topic," Green Party Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons says.

Crude awakening

Why aren't more people talking about the imminent oil supply crisis?

EU Gas Experts to Hold Emergency Meeting on Gazprom-Ukraine Row

The European Union is to hold an extraordinary meeting of national gas experts to discuss the dispute between Ukraine and Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, officials said Wednesday.

Ukraine Denies Gas Debt to Gazprom

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko says Ukraine does not owe money to Russia's state-owned natural gas company Gazprom.

Pakistan: No more increase in LPG price, govt directs OGRA

To provide relief to common man in the holy month of Ramazan, the government has directed the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to maintain the current LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) price despite the fact that internationally the prices of LPG have increased by 15 percent.

Pakistan: Capped LPG rate irks some, amuses others

As a Pakistan dominated association of LPG marketing companies on Wednesday hailed government for not passing on the international fuel hike to consumers, Shell Gas said such a swift policy shift could jeopardize its future investment plan. The decision to continue September’s Saudi Aramco Contact Price (CP) into October can not be sustained over a longer period of time, Fauzia Kazmi, CEO Shell Gas told The News.

ConocoPhillips: Yanbu Refinery Study Seen Done By Early '08

ConocoPhillips (COP) said Wednesday it expects a detailed evaluation of the proposed development of a refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, to be completed by early next year.

Australia 'falling behind' on renewable energy

Australia is falling behind countries like Germany and China, and the US state of California in terms of the proportion of electricity it generates from renewable energy, the Australian Conservation Foundation said yesterday.

"Surely we can do so much better with solar power here. It just makes common sense, but we need government leadership," ACF executive director Don Henry said in Brisbane.

Huge wind farm spinning in Colorado

One of the largest wind farms in the country has begun operating in north-central Weld County. The $500 million project in Grover is expected to generate enough electricity to serve 90,000 houses.

US trumps states over siting power lines

Huge transmission lines could soon skirt Civil War battlegrounds, historic districts, and the Appalachian Trail following a federal order that designates national corridors in two key regions of the United States with fast-growing electricity needs.

Will biofuel leave the poor hungry?

It is one of the most hotly debated environmental topics of the year - whether the drive to produce alternative so-called green fuels will take food from the mouths of the hungry.

Warning on danger of biofuels

ENVIRONMENTAL hopes for biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels are premature, if not misplaced, a scientist at the Greenhouse 2007 conference says.

Many of the plants being promoted as biofuel "miracle plants" were weeds that would create ecological devastation, said Tim Low, the co-author of a report released yesterday.

"This is just like the hype that went into cane toads in the 1930s," Mr Low said. "It doesn't have any proven value as an agricultural crop."

U.S. Economic Energy Intensity: Why $80 oil hasn't impacted our economy, but why $162 oil will

With oil north of $80 a barrel it seems appropriate to revisit another conundrum facing economists, which is why high energy prices have yet to derail the economy. Many economists and analysts have estimated that high oil prices would lead to demand destruction and dent economic activity. Back in 2005 oil jumped to $60 a barrel and then even over $70 a barrel with hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and yet the resilient U.S. economy continued chugging along.

The Peak Oil Crisis: On Contemplating $100 Oil

For the last few days, the press has been full of stories about the possibility of oil reaching $100 a barrel this winter. As prices have been bouncing around in the low $80s for the last couple of weeks, another $20 increase will do it. The theory behind the $100 forecast is that supply and demand is very tight and that China, India and oil-exporting countries are growing their domestic consumption so fast that even if the U.S. goes into a recession the situation will continue to tighten.

Throw in increased interest by speculators, the sagging dollar, soaring coal prices and $100 oil this winter is starting to look like a good bet — even without hurricanes or terrorist attacks. A couple of writers have even noticed that world oil production has not increased for over a year now while demand continues to grow.

Shell takes gas station from hospitalized Marina hunger striker

A gas station operator on a hunger strike for three months to protest high fuel prices learned from his hospital bed that the Shell Oil Co. took legal control of his station.

Mehdi Shahbazi, 65, was hospitalized last week after several months of a liquids-only diet designed to highlight what he sees as a viselike grip major oil companies have on U.S. and world economies.

Governor: Solar, wind too expensive, so Idaho should focus on nukes

Idaho should bolster its ties to the nuclear power industry to underpin economic growth and curb greenhouse gas emissions because alternative energy sources like solar or wind are too costly to meet the state's future needs, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter said Tuesday.

Analysis: Yemen, Jordan hope for nuclear

Deals to build nuclear power plants in Yemen and Jordan have come sooner than many expected, but a lack of funding and internal violence could derail those plans before they ever get off the ground.

Clean energy can't meet growing demand

Demand for renewable energy is outstripping supply, pushing up prices and raising the specter that some states may not meet clean-energy mandates.

Toyota's environmental image challenged

Environmental groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, are challenging Toyota Motor Corp.'s opposition to strict fuel economy standards pending in Congress, a position the Japanese company shares with General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.

Richard Heinberg: As the world burns

Maybe the best place to start is with a general comment. It’s getting pretty damn obvious that the world is sliding head-first into the abyss at an accelerating rate, with most Americans as oblivious as ever. The latest indication of impending doom is a festering credit crunch brought on by the inevitable puncturing of a bubble puffed up over the past few years through the issuance of thousands of patently idiotic subprime, adjustable-rate, and interest-only mortgage loans.

Slippery slope

More and more oil executives maintain that there are just a few years left before production reaches its peak, and that we are sleepwalking into economic catastrophe. David Strahan reports on dwindling global reserves.

Saudi oil exports may fall to $165 bn: Bank

Saudi oil exports this year may fall as much as 12 per cent from last year's record to $165 billion as the world's largest oil exporter restricts production as part of OPEC quotas, an HSBC Holdings Plc affiliate said.

Average production may fall as much as 6 percent to 8.65 million barrels per day, while the average price of Saudi crude could be $59 per barrel, close to last year's record of $60.50, Riyadh-based SABB bank said in a report on the Saudi economy.

Saudi slashes crude prices to Europe

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia slashed its November official crude selling prices to Europe, but raised them for Asian customers, traders said on Wednesday.

Persian Gulf Oil-Tanker Rates May Slip on OPEC Output Concern

The cost of shipping Middle East crude to Asia, the world's busiest market for supertankers, may fall for a sixth day, a sign some shipowners believe OPEC will renege on a pledge to boost crude oil production next month.

BP set to cut jobs in Asia: source

BP is set to cut jobs in Asia, an industry source said on Wednesday, as the oil giant braces for weak third quarter results.

Politics hurt Kuwait's progress to 2020 oil target

A political standoff in Kuwait has delayed progress on projects to boost oil output and left the world's seventh-largest oil exporter struggling to meet its 2020 output target of 4 million barrels per day (bpd).

The OPEC member's oil production capacity now stands at around 2.8 million bpd and is unlikely to be much more by the end of the next decade, analysts said.

Engineer shortage continues to hamper oil and gas production, report says

Even as energy demand skyrockets, the global production of oil and natural gas will be hampered in the coming years because of a shortage of engineers and other project managers, a new report says.

Big Oil not kidding about pulling out of Alberta

Canada's largest oil companies warned yesterday they are not making idle threats in the aftermath of public-opinion surveys showing Albertans think the sector is posturing when it says it will shift billions if the government imposes higher taxes and royalties.

Texas awards rights for offshore wind farm

A Louisiana company was awarded leases to four tracts Tuesday in Texas' first open bidding for offshore wind power in the Gulf of Mexico.

From the air, the evidence of climate change is striking

Flying low, fast and north into the interior, the mind's eye expects a scene of endless winter but the reality is worryingly different. There is little to prepare you for the summer spectacle of Greenland's fjords. It feels like a confusion of geography. At once as familiar as Scottish lochs, they present a problem of scale. The dark mountains that frame the deep lakes rise so high that they push through the cloud clover and on to snow caps that are rarely if ever seen from the shore. And then there are the icebergs, floating in brilliant white squadrons, trailing pale tails of melt water for miles behind.

But on the shore this is now a genuinely green land. One where Arctic barley, radishes and potatoes are growing for the first time in centuries.

Record 22C temperatures in Arctic heatwave

Parts of the Arctic have experienced an unprecedented heatwave this summer, with one research station in the Canadian High Arctic recording temperatures above 20C, about 15C higher than the long-term average. The high temperatures were accompanied by a dramatic melting of Arctic sea ice in September to the lowest levels ever recorded, a further indication of how sensitive this region of the world is to global warming. Scientists from Queen's University in Ontario watched with amazement as their thermometers touched 22C during their July field expedition at the High Arctic camp on Melville Island, usually one of the coldest places in North America.

EPA asked to regulate ship emissions

Environmental groups and California Attorney General Jerry Brown asked the federal government Wednesday to require oceangoing ships to limit emissions of heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming.

Sacrifices today will stop a barren future

A 5C increase in temperature in Australia - which would be accompanied by thousands of heatwave deaths, incredible strain on the public health system, diminishing food stocks and destroyed livelihoods - could be stopped.

But in the past three months, two massive new coal mines have been approved in NSW. The burning of fossil fuels is the biggest contributor to the man-made increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases.