Hedge Funds Choose Uranium

Uranium is the energy investment of choice for a growing number of hedge funds, who say a sixfold gain since 2001 is just the beginning of a rally that will last years.

"We're in an historic uranium shortage," said James Passin, who manages $580 million at New York-based Firebird Management LLC and began buying shares of uranium producers five years ago. "We're in a global nuclear revival."

Ambassador Threatens Minsk With Gas Price Increase

MINSK -- The government may raise gas prices for Belarus fourfold unless Moscow gets some control of gas pipelines, Russia's ambassador in Minsk said Friday.

Such an increase could virtually destroy the Belarussian economy.

55,000 barrels per day of oil cut in new Nigeria unrest

LAGOS (AFP) - Output of 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil was cut in Nigeria when armed protesters forced the closure of a flowstation belonging to Italy's Agip company in the Niger Delta, an Agip official told AFP.

The good news is the oil workers kidnapped last week were released.

India says 16 percent of power to come from wind by 2030

NEW DELHI (AFP) - As much as 16 percent of India's electricity needs could be supplied by wind power within the next 25 years, the country's president has told a gathering of renewable energy experts.

India produces 6,053 megawatts of wind power, a tiny chunk of the estimated 130,000 megawatts of electricity it needs, but its installed wind power grew by 47 percent in the last fiscal year, the Indian Wind Energy Association says.

Dispute Over NW Passage Revived

TORONTO -- A long-standing legal wrangle between the United States and Canada could complicate future shipping through the Arctic as global warming melts the ice in the Northwest Passage.

China's coal addiction causing environmental disaster

BEIJING - China has seen a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade despite ratifying the Kyoto Protocol -- and the situation will only worsen as coal remains its main energy source.

In Ancient Fossils, Seeds of a New Debate on Warming

It's hard to explain, Tom, why we did so little to stop global warming

Looking back, 40 years on, we were intoxicated with an idea of individual freedom that was little more than greedy egotism

IEA backs nuclear power in climate change battle

The International Energy Agency urged governments on Tuesday to build more nuclear plants to slow climate change and increase energy security, throwing its weight behind the push for nuclear power.

Greenpeace urges climate change reversal, singles out Brazil

NAIROBI (AFP) - Environmental watchdog Greenpeace called on the world's top polluters to act immediately to halt devastation from climate change, singling out Brazil as a leading offender.

..."Brazil needs to take responsibility as one of the world's biggest CO2 (carbon dioxide) emitters," it said. "The government must combat deforestation, promote clean, renewable energy, and energy efficiency."

Africa's poorest at greatest risk from climate change

NAIROBI - The impoverished inhabitants of Africa's poorest nations are most at risk from the effects of climate change on the continent most threatened by global warming, a study has said.

But the most vulnerable are the residents of the east and central African countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, together with Niger and Chad, according to the report by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

The Ugandan bargain: oil for peace

A huge oil strike in Uganda has persuaded the government to attempt to bring peace to the north of the country, where the infamous Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has terrorised the local population for 20 years.

Russia and China plan energy deals

Indonesia eyes biofuel

INDONESIA plans to produce more than 15,000 tonnes of biofuels from jatropha by the end of 2007, an industry ministry official said.

The plan calls for 52 micro-sized plants, and is part of the country's drive to cut a hefty oil subsidy bill inflated by high global prices by encouraging alternative sources of energy.

India's quest for Russian energy

NEW DELHI - India's quest for energy resources has seen the country knocking on Russia's door to propose forming an exploration venture with the country's natural-gas behemoth Gazprom, as well as seeking a stake in the Sakhalin III oil-and-gas project.

GM Launches Energy-Saving Plan In Argentina

Argentina has implemented a plan aimed at reducing its energy use, Felipe Rovera, the chairman of GM Argentina, told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.

...His comments come amid mounting fears about an imminent energy crisis in Argentina, despite the government's repeated denial of such a condition.

El Paso posts profit, but warns on gas output: Problems in the Gulf of Mexico hurt production.

More Slimy Stuff and Politics Too: Can BioMass Still Save Us All?

Enlightened survivalism

It would seem that some people think that debating and having a say in trying to solve some of the problems of this world, and I am thinking particularly of Peak Oil and Global Climate Change, have nothing to do with ‘survivalists’ or ‘survivalism’. Some say that they ‘have not got the time for survivalists’ while others are ‘not very enthusiastic about survivalism’. So let me give a ‘survivalist’ view.

Naimi: Very low prices not sustainable

Low oil prices discourage producers’ investment in new capacity and, if they sink too far, promote oil market volatility, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday.

“The reality is very low oil prices are not sustainable. In fact they invariably lead to volatility and subsequently higher prices...” Naimi said in a speech in Islamabad, a copy of which was made available to Reuters in Dubai.

Just in time for the election: Gasoline prices fall to new low for 2006

Average cost-per-gallon hits $2.20 nationwide, 17.6 cents lower than 2005

WASHINGTON - The price of gasoline has fallen to its lowest level in more than 10 months.

The federal Energy Information Administration said Monday that U.S. motorists paid $2.20 a gallon on average for regular grade last week, a decrease of 1.8 cents from the previous week.

Pump prices are now 17.6 cents lower than a year ago and have plummeted by more than 80 cents a gallon since the start of August. The last time prices were below $2.20, on average, was the week ending Dec. 26, 2005.

OPEC President: No price floor to defend

SEOUL, South Korea - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries doesn't have a specific price floor or band that it wants to defend, the group's president said Tuesday.

"OPEC doesn't have a rigid floor," Edmund Daukoru, who is also Nigeria's petroleum minister, said at an oil industry conference in Seoul.

Setting a target price band "is not really applicable to the fluid, free market," he said.

Era of cheap energy over

The era of cheap energy in the UK is over, the energy minister said last night.

Malcolm Wicks said the UK was unlikely to see a return to low gas prices because of diminishing reserves of North Sea gas, forcing the country to import supplies from the continent and further afield.