Wind shifts; ships take on oil again

The loading of oil tankers at Valdez resumed Wednesday after days of high winds that forced a slowdown in the flow of crude down the trans-Alaska pipeline.

Mike Heatwole, spokesman for Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., said the wind was still blowing but the direction had changed, allowing for loading operations to start again.

Throughput stood at about 300,000 barrels a day, less than half of normal for the 800-mile pipeline from the North Slope.

Putin Snubs Calls to Hike Gas Price

President Vladimir Putin took his government to task Wednesday for its poor handling of power shortfalls. But he stopped short of acting on the advice of top officials to jack up the price of natural gas to avert a mounting energy crisis.

"If everything had been done as needed, there would be no breakdowns, and people would not suffer," Putin said at a long-anticipated strategy meeting in the Kremlin.

But, he added, "almost nothing has been done. Thousands of people are now without fuel or electricity."

Energy waste boosts data centre costs

The UK is heading towards energy shortages because of companies' burgeoning use of IT, according to new research yesterday that called on companies to install lower-power technology to save money and the planet.

John Michael Greer: Christmas Eve 2050: Q&A

Pupils Evacuated After Warning at Nuclear Plant

In the first nuclear-related evacuation since the Three Mile Island accident of 1979, a Tennessee school district sent all 1,800 pupils home on Tuesday morning because operators at a nearby nuclear reactor believed they might have had a leak of radioactive cooling water inside the plant.

Gold, Uranium, Base Metals and Oil Are Heading Much Higher

More and more industry experts are accepting the fact that some of the easiest oil will come off stream by 2015 and 2020, thereby raising the price. And incidentally, the well you mentioned — it was a Chevron well and it was a $100 million well. So we are drilling these things, but they are vastly more expensive than they were coming out of Saudi Arabia in 1936.

Ireland: Mayor calls for council to join Nuclear Free Forum

EP’s Foreign Commission Approves of a Possible Delay of Shutting down NPP Kozloduy’s Units 3 and 4

SOFIA - The Foreign Commission of the European Parliament (EP) has voted “in favor” of a possibility of an eight-month postponement of shutting down units 3 and 4 of the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Kozloduy, the Bulgaria in EU press centre reported.

India: Oil & gas explorers face talent crunch

MUMBAI: Retaining talent in the exploration and production (E&P) segment has become one of the most challenging tasks in the oil and gas business. The problem has aggravated with the surge in interest among global oil and gas majors in India following major hydrocarbon discoveries in the past four years.

Researchers gaze at cloud formations

Finnish researchers analyzing cloud formations say ozone destruction in the Earth's stratosphere might be occurring at a faster pace than thought.

Oil prices about to rise, energy expert warns

Commodity Strategists: Oil Prices May Fall 9% in '07, CFC Says

U.S. crude oil prices may fall as much as 9 percent next year as global supply rebounds, outpacing growth in demand, CFC Seymour Ltd. said.

Nigeria plans to build nuclear power plants to meet energy needs by 2015

India: Nuke power to be predominant form of energy

The quest for clean energy: China's green revolution

The air in Beijing was classified as 'hazardous' this week as the city became choked with smog, but following dire warnings of rampant pollution, alternatives are emerging.

India: Corn finds future in energy

Rice as a source of electricity

Rice yields an abundance of biowaste: Husks make up around one quarter of the weight. Only a small fraction of this is utilized, for instance, to fire distillery furnaces. Researchers at Hanoi University of Technology now also want to use rice husks to generate electricity.

Russia Says Will Sue Shell in International Court for Sakhalin-2 Environmental Damages

Head for the hills - the new survivalists

So what do you do when you're pretty sure that the end of the world as we know it is coming soon, but your girlfriend doesn't believe you? Sure, she might nod her head when you confront her with some of the gloomier facts, but then she shrugs and goes back to her pursuit of modern pleasures. She doesn't like it when you talk about it to other people, either. No one likes being told their hopes and dreams are about to turn to dust.

Eat, drink, and be merry...for tomorrow it will be more expensive. CNN reports that ethanol is driving up the price of turkeys, because it's driving up the price of the corn they are fed. And it's not just turkey: Ethanol Drives Up Food Commodity Prices Global ethanol production is driving up prices for food commodities, from feed stocks such as sugar, to meat, said Datagro, Brazil's biggest sugar-industry forecasting firm.

WWF award for Nasa scientist who sounded climate alarm

A leading Nasa researcher who pioneered the case for tough action to combat climate change in the US has been awarded the WWF's top conservation award. James Hansen, whose testimony to the US senate on global warming is featured in Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth, received the medal from the Duke of Edinburgh at a ceremony yesterday at St James's Palace in London.

Indonesian pipeline blast kills 8, mud flow blamed

SIDOARJO, Indonesia - Indonesia blamed an uncontrolled mud flow on Thursday for a gas pipeline explosion that killed at least seven people and injured 12 on Java island.

3 Malaysian palm oil entities to merge

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Three of Malaysia's largest palm oil producers are to merge, Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister said Thursday, a fusion that could potentially create the world's biggest biofuels company and its largest publicly-traded palm oil entity.

Hostage killed in Nigeria rescue try

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - One of seven foreign oil workers taken hostage Wednesday was killed and another was wounded during a rescue attempt that also left two kidnappers and a soldier dead, officials said.

Iraq, reversing course, to keep U.N. oil watchdog

UNITED NATIONS - Iraq has decided to keep alive for another year a U.N. watchdog to monitor the use of its oil wealth, reversing course just weeks after announcing the agency would be abolished, officials said on Wednesday.

London blazes anti-pollution trail with vehicle congestion charge

LONDON (AFP) - London is blazing a trail for the world's cities by slapping "congestion" charges on vehicles to reduce traffic, curb air pollution and fight global warming, environmentalists say.

The US west coast city of San Francisco and Sweden's capital Stockholm are jumping on the bandwagon set in motion by London Mayor Ken Livingstone in 2003. French cities, including the capital Paris, are now studying such a charge.