The Oil Drum

One Decade into a New Era

Ten years ago, oil prices hit their lowest prices in two decades, and pundits proclaimed that an era of lower oil prices was here to stay.

Shell Stops Gas Pumping in Nigeria After Fire on Pipeline

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company, shut natural gas pumping at one of its Nigerian fields following a fire on a pipeline in the south of the country.

Nigerian unit Shell Petroleum Development Co. reported the fire on the Utorogu-Ughelli gas condensate pipeline in the Delta state yesterday, Alexandra Wright, a London-based company spokeswoman, said today. Shell had to declare force majeure on deliveries to the nation's gas pipeline network, she said.

Japan, China Remain Apart on East China Sea Gas Development

At a bureau chief-level meeting on Thursday, Japan and China failed to narrow differences over proposed joint gas field development in disputed waters in the East China Sea.

$100 Oil? We Love It

Digging around in decades-old research, three young entrepreneurs may have unlocked a new source of fluid energy: coal.

Peace may erode as the world warms, experts say

What does global warming have to do with global peace? The globe may find out sooner than we think, experts say.

Shipping pollution 'far more damaging than flying'

New research suggests that the impact of shipping on climate change has been seriously underestimated and that the industry is currently churning out greenhouse gases at nearly twice the rate of aviation.

Shipping, although traditionally thought of as environmentally friendly, is growing so fast that the pollution it creates is at least 50 per cent higher than previously thought. Maritime emissions are also set to leap by 75 per cent by 2020.

Loving Ethanol For The Sake Of Iowa

It’s a depressing ritual. Every four years, as Iowans prepare to cast the first votes in the presidential-primary season, candidates descend on the corn-covered state and discover the miraculous properties of ethanol.

It’s the Oil

Iraq is ‘unwinnable’, a ‘quagmire’, a ‘fiasco’: so goes the received opinion. But there is good reason to think that, from the Bush-Cheney perspective, it is none of these things. Indeed, the US may be ‘stuck’ precisely where Bush et al want it to be, which is why there is no ‘exit strategy’.

Data centers: responsible for the energy crisis?

The running of expanding data centers is being linked to an emergent energy resource crisis.

Pioneer spirit will help solve our energy needs

The last century has been marked by petroleum use. However, as we learn that our dependence on foreign oil cannot be sustained, scientists are looking back to energy sources first tapped by pioneers. Wood, prairie grasses and many other renewable sources of cellulose will have a role in producing ethanol and other alternative fuels in the future. Harnessing wind, and capturing our vast solar power potential, will again be important to our energy production. The modern equivalent of the buffalo chip, manure from agriculture, may soon fuel ethanol plants.

Reactor could be in province's future

Saskatchewan could be the home of a nuclear reactor in years to come, according to a Cameco senior vice-president.

“A nuclear renaissance is here,” not only in the province but also around the world, Gary Chad told those gathered at an Oct. 12 Business Builder’s Luncheon sponsored by the Prince Albert & District Chamber of Commerce.

The Environmental Movement in the Global South: The Pivotal Agent in the Fight against Global Warming

When the rich chopped down their own forests, built their poison-belching factories and scoured the world for cheap resources, the poor said nothing. Indeed they paid for the development of the rich. Now the rich claim a right to regulate the development of the poor countries…As colonies we were exploited. Now as independent nations we are to be equally exploited.

City gives bike rentals a spin

A bicycle fleet that would make quick trips possible from kiosks throughout the city could hit Portland streets within a year, polishing the city’s image as one of the most bike-friendly places in the nation.

Energy Prices May Dictate Where Homes are Built and Bought

Transit-oriented development has become a "buzz-phrase" among developers, who recognize that the cost of energy likely will play a more important role in home buying decisions.

In fact, "house miles" (the number of miles a home is from employment, retail, education and entertainment) becoming a deal breaker or maker, according to land use industry experts at ULI's recent annual fall meeting in Denver.

Wall Street Could Use More Energized Investment

Energy provides the heat, motion and feedstock that cause all economic action. Energy is the industrial oxygen that gives life to the economy. Currently the majority of that industrial oxygen comes from the various forms of hydrocarbons, and investment in hydrocarbons looks bright for the foreseeable future. In the United States, 50 percent of electricity comes from coal and roughly another 30 percent comes from natural gas. Of course, nearly 100 percent of U.S. transportation fuels come from hydrocarbons, and demand has risen for the last 200 years. Since supply is constrained and demand continues to rise, this can only lead to continued good times for investors.

Saudi to increase oil sales

Saudi Arabia told major Asian refiners yesterday it will raise their crude sales by a tenth in November, more than expected as it meets the lion's share of Opec's pledge to boost output, industry sources said.

The recovery in shipments to 100 per cent of contractual volumes was a surprise to many customers, and would equate to as much as a 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) increase in exports.

Mexico's Pemex Seeks New Cooperation Deals With Exxon, Total

Petroleos Mexicanos hopes to strike new cooperation agreements with foreign oil majors, including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Total (TOT), a company executive said.

Closure may cut Aramco Nov LPG loading capacity by 30%

Shipments from the Dhahran of Saudi Arabia-based company are likely to be further curtailed by maintenance at an LPG export terminal in Yanbu. The planned closure may cut the company’s loading capability by between 30 and 50 per cent in November.

Niger Delta Crude Output Recovery on Track

Crude oil production from Nigeria's troubled Niger Delta region looks set to continue its recovery in the months ahead, Nigeria's finance minister told Dow Jones Newswires Friday.

Waiting for the Energy

Conventional wisdom among environmentalists today says it would be unwise to pass a major climate change bill too soon. As long as the Bush veto looms and Republicans retain the filibuster club in the Senate, any climate change bill that passes through that birth canal is likely to be a stunted, shriveled thing. Better to wait until a strong bill can be passed than to establish a weak policy now.

But energy is supposed to be different.

In India, a $2,500 Pace Car

Next fall, the Indian automaker Tata Motors is scheduled to introduce its long-awaited People’s Car, with a sticker price of about $2,500. Hot on its tail may be as many as half a dozen new ultra-affordable vehicles — some from the world’s leading carmakers, including Toyota and Renault-Nissan.

With a median age of just under 25 and a rapidly expanding middle class, India will overtake China next year as the fastest-growing car market, according to estimates by CSM Worldwide, an auto industry forecasting service.

Energy forum: Peak oil and hybrids

A group of more than 80 concerned residents attended the Community Dollars and Sense Energy Forum held Wednesday at Willits High School. Topics involved peak oil as well as gas, electric and hybrid vehicles.

Is flying akin to driving a Hummer?

Last spring, I attended a conference on the converging catastrophes of peak oil and climate change at a bucolic estate outside Hamburg in northern Germany. It was an intimate affair, and it began with an informal round of cocktails on the tidy lawn next to the manor house. As the timeless cadence of horse hooves echoed from behind the barn, the assembled circle of eminent geologists, policy wonks and seasoned environmental journalists traded answers to the most pressing question of the day: "How did you get here?"

Carbon labelling: Food footprints coming soon to a label near you

Putting carbons on goods and services was, until recently, just another interesting idea that used to be bandied about at meetings of environmentalists. What if consumers knew the carbon content of what they were buying? Would it make people more conscious of their environmental impact? Buyers could start to choose the greenest of a range of goods, rewarding companies that cut carbon output and creating a virtuous circle by which businesses would compete to outgreen each other.

But this year, carbon labelling has started to make an impact. In January, Tesco, the UK supermarket chain, announced it would put carbon labels on all the products on its shelves - though it later admitted this could take several years to achieve.

Nobel prize recognises climate crisis

In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the committee has signalled its view that climate change is now one of global society's defining security issues.

Gore's Nobel win should boost alternative energy

The winning of the Nobel Peace Prize by Al Gore and the U.N. climate panel on Friday should give a push to alternative energy technologies that are already enjoying their best year ever, experts said.

The prize could spur change in the energy industry that coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power dominate.

Africa's biggest ethanol production project for Mozambique

"Under the project, among other things, more than 30,000 hectares of sugar cane will be produced as well as a factory for the production of ethanol from the sugar cane," said the minister, who did not give details of the quantity of ethanol to be produced annually."

Saving energy at home could take 200 years to repay its cost

The cost of installing energy-saving measures such as solar panels would take more than 200 years to recoup in reduced bills, according to research published today.

...Even loft insulation would take 13 years to produce savings in utility bills. “People on average spend 16 years living in one property, making most of the EPC energy saving measures financially unattractive propositions,” said RICS. Ten per cent stay in their home for less than five years, and about 12 per cent less than three years.

Oil quest goes to new lengths

As global demand soars and prices rise, energy companies are going to the ends of the earth to find new supplies.

...But as the industry extends its reach, the quest is becoming more arduous. The cost of producing new oil and gas is rising fast, and companies are troubled by worsening delays. Drilling rigs are scarce. Engineers, geologists and petroleum specialists are in short supply. And the politics of oil and gas are becoming trickier, with producing countries demanding a bigger share of the revenue and growing angry about project delays that postpone their payments.

Industry executives say their ability to keep up with global demand is badly strained.

Kazakhstan cuts oil output forecast, blames ENI

Kazakhstan will produce 13 percent less oil than expected by 2015, removing 400,000 barrels per day from forecast global supply, due to delays in launching the massive Kashagan field, government officials said on Friday.

Mideast Project Financing to Touch $1 Trillion in 10 Years

With project finance transactions reaching record highs and infrastructure development requirements assessed at more than $1 trillion over the coming decade in the Middle East region — and Qatar alone expected to consume $130 billion, demand from large-scale projects across the LNG, oil & gas, petrochemicals, power and water sectors in particular is growing at an exciting pace. Combined with the huge boom in major real estate projects, the stage is set for meeting the challenges of financing complex projects

Analysis: Algeria faces attacks on energy

Attacks on French companies in Algeria by an Islamist group associated with al-Qaida are moving some of those companies to evacuate their employees, but a relatively quick response by security forces there and increasing global demand for the nation's oil and gas make it likely that energy production and export will be little affected by the violence.

Peak Oil Passnotes: $100 Oil?

When this column turns away from baiting peak oil nihilists - and it is not hard - we often like to take a look at the market for crude oil. As you know we like to throw in a prediction now and again, our current one being that the WTI price at Cushing in the U.S. will fall to $66.60 at Christmas.

Thinking ahead

Population predictions for greater metro Albuquerque over the next l8 years seem delusional. If we top a million people by 2025, it will be a double-edged miracle.

On the good side, it will mean New Mexico had done something no place in the country has managed to do - solve its water, energy, transportation and sustainable agriculture issues. It also means that global warming and peak oil declines had somehow reversed themselves.

Human Cost Of Colombian Coal Revealed

A case study of the world's largest open-pit coal mine reveals the hidden costs of coal from Colombia, in particular the effects on indigenous and Afro-Colombian villages.

Three Gorges Dam to create eco-refugees

Chongqing's plan calls for the establishment of a green belt surrounding the reservoir to curb pollution and prevent further erosion of the Yangtze's banks.

The announcement follows an unusually frank government assessment last month that China could face a catastrophe if it fails to quickly stop environmental problems caused by the dam.

New book bashes the oilsands

Northern Alberta in the future: a massive toxic swamp, devoid of trees and animals, which all the proceeds of the oilsand profits siphoned to other countries.

That is the vision painted by author William Marsden in his recently-released book Stupid to the Last Drop, which levels both sharp and heavy criticism against oilsands development in the province.

The book has caught the attention -- and it’s not always positive -- of several oilsands and petroleum companies, spurring a new round of environmental and economics debate over the deposits, most of them in this region.

Australia: Water emergency

EMERGENCY plans have been prepared to supply Adelaide with spring water for drinking as experts warn the drought is forcing us to consider extreme measures.

Spring water suppliers yesterday said they had talks with SA Water about the feasibility of delivering water in either bottles or tankers to households if Adelaide's water crisis dramatically worsened.

Memo from a 'global warming agnostic'

Now that it's accepted beyond serious argument that global warming is real and worrisome, Canada's political parties are understandably trying to outbid each other in showing their commitment to fighting the phenomenon. That's better than head-in-the-sand denial. But it's obscuring the need for a sophisticated debate -- of the sort that's raging internationally -- about what the reality of global warming actually means in practical terms and what sacrifices are necessary to deal with it.

The unheralded polluter: cement industry comes clean on its impact

No company will make carbon-neutral cement any time soon. The manufacturing process depends on burning vast amounts of cheap coal to heat kilns to more than 1,500C. It also relies on the decomposition of limestone, a chemical change which frees carbon dioxide as a byproduct. So as demand for cement grows, for sewers, schools and hospitals as well as for luxury hotels and car parks, so will greenhouse gas emissions. Cement plants and factories across the world are projected to churn out almost 5bn tonnes of carbon dioxide annually by 2050 - 20 times as much as the government has pledged the entire UK will produce by that time.