Foreign oil drives Exxon Mobil's growth

Higher oil production was key to Exxon Mobil Corp.'s $10 billion profit announced Thursday, but to tap new reserves the world's largest publicly-traded company is taking on ever greater risks, tackling harsh operating conditions in often politically unstable corners of the world.

A first: Shell plans to produce at 8,000 feet in Gulf

Shell said today it will be the first oil company to begin producing oil and natural gas in water that's 8,000 feet deep, trumping competitors in the Gulf of Mexico who have made discoveries or announced intentions to drill in the region but not started to develop them.

Kuwait to cut oil output by 100,000 bpd

Argentina Virtually Stops Exporting Oil To Brazil

Argentina, once a major oil exporter to Brazil, has virtually stopped supplying its neighbor with crude as its oil production dwindles while domestic consumption is rising, Brazil's Valor newspaper said Thursday.

China lowers target for renewable energy

China's Policy in the Gulf Region: From Neglect to Necessity

Japan Seeks Oil Security in Iraq, Indonesia After Iran Setback

Japan, dependent on imports for 99 percent of its oil and gas, may turn to Iraq and Indonesia after it lost control of Iran's biggest untapped field.

Nigerian villagers extend protest at oil platforms

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - Villagers occupying four oil pumping stations in Nigeria extended their protest to a third day on Friday in the hope of extracting contracts from Western oil companies.

The protesters had agreed on Wednesday to vacate the facilities on condition that they were given contracts to supply food and speed boats to the oil platforms located deep in the swamps of Rivers state in the eastern Niger Delta.

U.K.: Local councils are offered millions to bury nuclear waste

Poland looking to diversify its energy sources

WARSAW The conservative government in Poland plans to invest well over €1 billion in the energy sector in an attempt to modernize its infrastructure, and perhaps more crucially, reduce its dependence on Russia, its main supplier of oil and gas.

The plans reflect growing fears in Poland that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will use his country's energy clout as a political hammer, something he was judged to have done in January when Gazprom, the giant state-owned energy monopoly, cut its gas deliveries to Ukraine in a dispute over gas prices. Ukraine agreed last week to a 36 percent increase in the cost of natural gas supplied by Russia next year.

Russian prosecutors say they are targeting oil firms

Global warming could cost 20 percent of GDP, British cabinet told

Lack of action by the world over climate change could cost countries up to a fifth of their gross domestic product, a former World Bank chief economist told the British cabinet, The Independent reported.

Ocean array acts as climate alert: a new project to keep tabs on the Atlantic "conveyor."

More Science Teachers Grasping Reality of Peak Oil

Just two or three years ago, if you had asked a science teacher about "peak oil," chances are he or she would have drawn a blank. But if the recent gathering of 3,000 science educators in San Francisco is any indication, a massive shift in awareness has taken place -- thanks in no small part to activists such as Richard Katz and Dennis Brumm.

Sustainability group prepares for action

About 30 people ventured out on a dreary, drizzly night last Tuesday for the first general meeting of Harvard Local, held at the Bromfield School library in Harvard. The group, which has been in existence since July 2005, has attracted interest from residents in Harvard, Bolton, Boxborough, Groton, Sterling and as far away as Vermont, for its focus on local sustainability issues.

John Michael Greer on Politics: imperial sunset

The coming of peak oil is driven by geological factors, not political ones, but the cascade of consequences that will follow the peaking and decline of world petroleum production can’t be understood outside the context of politics, on global, local, and personal scales.

George Monbiot: The great biodiesel con

OVER the past two years I have made an uncomfortable discovery. Like most environmentalists, I have been as blind to the constraints affecting our energy supply as my opponents have been to climate change. I now realise that I have entertained a belief in magic.

Palm oil prices likely to touch $565/tonne by next Apr-June

Rising demand in Europe for regular diesel blended with vegetable oil amid high crude oil prices may drive palm oil’s gains. Palm oil, traditionally used as cooking oil, can be added to diesel to stretch fossil fuel supplies.

Venture aims to make biocrude out of algae