Big oil may have to get even bigger to survive

The international giants are in trouble, with reserves shrinking, taxes and costs rising, and producing nations reneging on deals or nationalising their assets. The answer to their problems could be massive mergers.

Five ways to make a difference

World demand for natural gas to exceed oil by 2020

The world demand for natural gas would increase in the coming decades and exceed the demand for oil by 4.4 percent yearly until 2020, a report issued by Kuwait- based Global Investment House said on Saturday.

The report also predicted that the proportion of world natural gas to total global energy would rise to 28 percent in 2030 from 2005's 23.5 percent.

Norway Oil Industry Chief Fears Investment Drop

The director general of the Norwegian Oil Industry Association, or OLF, said Friday he fears an imminent drop in investment levels in the nation's oil and gas sector could impact future production and Norway's position as the world's third-biggest oil exporter.

"Activity is very high, we're at an all time-high when it comes to investment...but I fear a drop in investment to come," Per Terje Vold said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

US energy secretary announces $450 million for coal research

ASHLAND, Kentucky - US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced $450 million (euro355 million) in grants during the next decade to further research into technology that would lessen the environmental impacts of coal use.

Oil majors go silent as shadow of US regulator grows bigger

Singapore - A crackdown by US regulators on energy trading may make some physical oil markets more unpredictable and opaque by prompting major companies to cut off communications with market media.

Chevron Corp followed ExxonMobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell this August in curbing the exchange of information between its oil traders and the publishers and news agencies that report on crude and product markets.

Planning for the long term

What are the principal energy stakes in the next few decades?

Patrick Criqui: Sometimes I say that to achieve sustainable energy growth, like Ulysses, we have to sail between Scylla and Charybdis. The first risk is a scarcity of cheap oil and gas resources, as evidenced these days by the threat of peak oil (and peak gas). The second risk is climate change. But we can't count on a scarcity of oil and gas resources to solve the problem of climate change.

Gargantuan destruction

It's a badge of economic success -- or excess -- that can be seen from space.

The gargantuan development of Alberta's oilsands is visible from beyond the ozone layer and promises to be more apparent as the planet's insatiable thirst for its bounty increases, says Dan Woynillowicz of the environment watchdog Pembina Institute.

"One of the most alarming things the UN has documented is the sheer footprint of the oilsands," says Woynillowicz.

Morales' Gas Nationalization Complete

LA PAZ, Bolivia - President Evo Morales completed his ambitious oil and gas nationalization plan early Sunday with the last-minute signing of contracts allowing several international companies to continue operating in Bolivia under state control.

Gazprom is raising $69 billion to revive gas production

MOSCOW: Gazprom, the world’s largest natural-gas producer, is raising investments to $69bn through 2009 to develop new fields amid concerns the company may not meet soaring demand in Russia and Europe.

Ten years to save the planet from mankind

The Stern Report will tomorrow reveal that if governments do nothing, climate change will cost more than both world wars and render swathes of the planet uninhabitable. Can the world find the will to act?

Australia: Nuclear power will 'worsen drought': nuclear uses 25% more water than coal.

Africa ‘faces catastrophe’ unless West acts on climate change

Africa will go “up in smoke” unless the international community acts to curb climate change. A coalition of the UK’s leading development and environment agencies argue that global warming is already having a serious impact on Africa and will get much worse unless urgent action is taken now.

[Update by Leanan on 10/29/06 at 8:46 AM EDT]

Protesters seize oil station in Nigeria

YENAGOA, Nigeria - Protesters demanding jobs and aid took over an oil pumping station run by an Italian oil firm in Nigeria's volatile southern delta region, forcing the company to shut the flow of oil, a Nigerian security official said Sunday.

Iraq, China to revive 1997 oil deal

BEIJING - China and Iraq are reviving a $1.2 billion deal signed by Beijing and Saddam Hussein's government in 1997 to develop an Iraqi oil field, Baghdad's oil minister said Saturday.

Volkswagen begins constructing first Russian plant

"But we are delighted more than anything with the production of 115,000 cars a year that Russian citizens will buy, because that will increase their well being," Gref added in comments cited by Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency.

Securing future energy will be difficult but doable

Lou Grinzo is the grass roots, where change in America always begins.

A technical writer with a degree in economics, Grinzo has worked for IBM and Microsoft Corp.

Since the 1973 oil crisis, he's been, in his words, an "energy geek" — fascinated by the relationship between energy supplies and economics.

Twilight's Last Gleaming?

Alarmists have long predicted America's demise. But Joel Kotkin says the declinists are just as wrong now as they have been in the past.

Have oil supplies peaked globally?

It looks as if the ongoing tug-of-war between the oil bulls and bears is heating up.

That provides the big question as to whether global oil supplies have peaked, or if there are additional reserves hidden away in the Earth's recesses that have only begun to be tapped.

Foster Wheeler gets Moneefa contract

Saudi Aramco and Foster Wheeler have signed a front-end engineering and design contract for the Moneefa oilfield development, which is expected to add 900,000 barrels per day of crude oil by mid-2011.