Iran has 85 bn barrels heavy oil reserve: Report

TEHRAN : Iran has more than 85 bn barrels of recoverable heavy oil, an official said, suggesting about 60 per cent of the country's reserves are of that crude category.

Mohammad-Ali Emadi, director of research and development at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), did not give a total crude reserve figure in his comments on Friday to the Oil Ministry news website. Iran's total recoverable oil reserves were put at 138.4 bn barrels at the end of 2007 in the BP Statistical Review.

An urban legend to comfort America: our massive reserves of unconventional oil

The bad news is that much of the good news about energy is wrong. Repeated so confidently by so many for so long, these fallacies have become a major obstacle to our preparation for peak oil. This post examines one such fallacy: that the world has massive reserves of unconventional oil, and that those will prevent peak oil.

Chancellor defends warning on UK economy

Alistair Darling today insisted that the UK economy was facing "unique pressures" from the combined effects of the credit crunch and hike in oil and food prices, as he attempted to clarify his controversial appraisal that the global economic conditions were arguably the worst for 60 years.

Georgia and Russia Cut Diplomatic Ties

MOSCOW — The Georgian government broke off diplomatic relations with Russia on Friday and Russia responded by doing the same.

How you can downsize without compromise

Although economic concerns make fuel economy a prime focus for car shoppers, safety should be at the top of the checklist as well — particularly for those looking to downsize their vehicle.

We've assembled a list of 10 models with outstanding safety ratings.

EPA Waives Clean-Air Gas Limits In La Parishes Before Gustav

To ensure an adequate supply of gasoline if Hurricane Gustav strikes Louisiana, the Environmental Protection Agency has waived some clean-fuel requirements for 16 parishes until Sept. 8.

Truce Is Reached in Battle Over Idaho Forest Land

Legal and political battles over the future of national forest land have raged since 2001, with the Clinton administration’s “roadless rule” protecting millions of acres from loggers, miners and development, and the Bush administration pushing for less-restrictive rules.

Don't Be Scared, Be Prepared: A Review Of Kathy Harrison's "Just In Case" By Carolyn Baker

Although Just In Case, as stated above, does not focus on long-term preparation, its last section offers skills for independence which indeed are useful for a more protracted descent away from the status quo as energy depletion, infrastructure, financial, and climate change collapses intensify. The skills section addresses water purification, cold storage, heating with wood, and gathering and harvesting wild foods. In addition, Harrison has included a section on wilderness survival.

Power-Sector Emissions Of China To Top U.S.

The carbon emissions of China's electric power sector will jump by about a third this year and surpass the total emissions of the U.S. electric power industry for the first time, according to a report by the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based think tank.

Hutchison says Texas is shortchanged on roads

AUSTIN — U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison proposed this week that a high-growth state, such as Texas, be allowed to drop out of the federal highway funding system and keep its motor fuel taxes for its own road building needs.

At present, those taxes are sent to Washington for redistribution among the states through the Highway Trust Fund. Texas loses millions of dollars each year in the reallocation.

"We are a high-growth state that needs a lot of highway miles, and we don't need to be subsidizing other states," Hutchison told a meeting of the Texas Association of Counties on Thursday.

Sticking it to Gazprom

There should be no doubt that Gazprom is a creature of the Russian government and an instrument of national power projection for the Russian state. It is a corporation, majority owned by the Russian government, that extracts, processes, and transports natural gas as its primary economic activity. It has a sole export license for natural gas produced in Russian territory and is one of the major earners of foreign exchange for the country. In terms of "market" capitalization, it is the third largest company in the world. For seven of the last 8 years, the chairman of the board of directors of Gazprom had been Dmitry Medvedev, currently President of Russia.

Enbridge, BP rush to Texas

The race to the Gulf Coast heated up Friday after Enbridge Inc. teamed up with BP to add an outlet for Canadian heavy oil into Houston.

The companies said they would spend up to $2 billion to reconfigure a series of existing pipelines and add facilities capable of moving 250,000 barrels a day from Flanagan, Ill., to the Texas coast starting in 2012.

Storm report: Gas stations sell out

Don Redman, spokesman for the motorist group AAA, said the outages are the result of uncertainty surrounding Gustav. Because of the wide area that could be affected by the storm, motorists from Texas to Florida were topping off their tanks, he said.

"It's not a case of a shortage of gasoline," Redman said. "It's a case of a large number of people making a big, unexpected rush to service stations."

Canada: Overnight fuel price hike frustrates holiday drivers

A big part of the problem, he said, is the Aug. 3 shutdown at Petro-Canada's Edmonton refinery, which cut daily production by 128,500 barrels. The facility was restarted earlier this week, but it will take time for local supplies to normalize.

Kenya to import crude oil from Sudan

NAIROBI, KENYA- Kenya has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Sudan to facilitate the importation of 500,000 barrels of crude oil monthly into the country.

This will go towards mitigating the oil shortage and high fuel prices in the country.

Analysis: McCain's choice of Palin for veep could change energy debate

WASHINGTON (AP) - If Democrats hoped to paint Republican John McCain a pawn of Big Oil, their task has become a bit more complicated with the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

While an ardent advocate for more drilling — off Alaska, off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the off-limits Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — Palin also has shown she's not shy about confronting the likes of Exxon Mobil, BP and ConocoPhillips.

Palin, drilling advocate, spars with oil companies

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is seen as a strong advocate for opening new areas to oil drilling, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but has taken a hard line in negotiations with oil companies and raised taxes on the state's energy producers.

Palin, who on Friday became the presumptive vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket for the White House with Sen. John McCain, has sparred with oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp, ConocoPhillips and BP Plc since her election in 2006, but industry experts say she is strongly in favor of reaching into untapped deposits.

Alaska anxious to supply energy

Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of resource-rich Alaska--and as of yesterday vice-presidential running mate with Senator John McCain--has championed legislation designed to kick-start construction of a natural gas pipeline connecting the northern ridge of the state to thirsty markets in the southern United States.

Pipeline the Power Poker Chip

There is enough gas trapped under the tundra here to help the United States fend off an energy crisis that politicians have called one of the greatest threats to their country. Sarah Palin, Alaska's governor and, as of yesterday, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, wants to get it out of the ground as soon as possible.

Oil industry may get first post-Katrina test

HOUSTON - Stronger moorings for production platforms. Deeper pipelines. Larger supplies of backup electricity, water and other supplies.

The petroleum industry has spent vast amounts of time and money since the catastrophic hurricanes of 2005 trying to make sure it’s better prepared for the next big blow.

That could come in the next few days as Hurricane Gustav heads into the northern Gulf of Mexico, home to a complex web of platforms, pipelines and refineries in a region that produces roughly 25 percent of the nation’s oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.

Video game showing invasion likely to anger Chavez allies

CARACAS -- A video game depicting mercenaries storming Venezuela, which has been criticized in the oil-rich South American country as a blueprint for invasion, will be released by a U.S. company this weekend. The release is likely to anger allies of President Hugo Chavez, a Washington foe, who has in the past threatened to cut off oil exports to the U.S. The game, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, will be released Sunday by a division of Electronic Arts and is set in a "fully destructible Venezuela," the company said in a news release. "A power hungry tyrant uses Venezuela's oil supply to overthrow the government and turns the country into a war zone," the company says of the game on its website.

Iran oil minister to discuss gas in Oman

Iran's oil minister will travel to Muscat in the next week to discuss plans to export Iranian gas to Oman from where it could be exported using an Omani liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.

Russian bombs fell 50m from oil pipeline

RUSSIAN planes dropped bombs this month within 50 metres of a pipeline that British oil company BP was in the process of reopening through Georgia, according to witnesses.

Residents yesterday showed deep craters alongside the pipeline, which runs between Azerbaijan's capital Baku, on the Caspian Sea, and Georgia's Black Sea port of Supsa.

Rising food bills connected to gas prices

Haines shoppers are taking a double hit as the cost of food rises along with Alaska shipping charges because of higher fuel prices.

"When you buy a gallon of milk, $2 is freight just to get it here from Seattle," said local grocer Doug Olerud, who sells a gallon of milk at $5.85.

Ominous for the Globe but Good News for Oil Bulls

The world woke up today to the scare that Russia may use its oil as a weapon. In addition to the geological peak oil thesis that I have espoused before, this Russia development is a form of the political peak oil thesis, which Fabius Maximus has been beating the drums on for some time in his blog.

Lester Brown: Want a Better Way to Power Your Car? It's a Breeze.

Legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens is half right. We do need to harness this country's wind resources for a homegrown source of electricity, as he has been urging this summer in expensive television ads. And we do need to reduce the $700 billion we may soon be paying annually for imported oil. But part two of Pickens's plan -- to move natural gas out of electricity production and use it to fuel cars instead -- just doesn't make sense.

Why not use the wind-generated electricity to power cars directly? Natural gas is still a fossil fuel that emits climate-changing gases when burned. Let's cut the natural-gas middleman.

Making Gore's Switch Isn't Quite So Simple

The answer is simple: This is where Gore must be pulling our collective leg. Because most people who study the country's energy supply say that -- whatever you think of the motives behind Gore's idea -- as a real-life plan, it's a non-starter.

The problem is that, despite the current boom in green power, renewable sources such as the sun and the wind still provide just a tiny fraction of the U.S. electricity supply. The rest is mainly dirty stuff: coal, gas, oil. To replace one with the other over the course of a decade, energy experts say, would make the Manhattan Project look like a science-fair volcano.

EU urged to become arctic guardian

Just days after Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, unveiled his government's vision of the Arctic as a potential resource bonanza, a report commissioned by Europe's Nordic countries is urging the European Union to become the region's environmental guardian and to emphasize polar protection over exploitation.

Swedish researchers confirm Siberian seabead methane leak

Swedish researchers working on an international mission have confirmed that methane, a potent greenhouse gas, has started to leak from the permafrost under the Siberian seabed, Dagens Nyheter reported on Saturday.

"The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed," Örjan Gustafsson, the Swedish leader of the International Siberian Shelf Study, told the newspaper.