The Oil Drum

Criticism flies over BP's pipeline maintenance

Energy Dept. has oil reserves on standby

WASHINGTON - The Energy Department is prepared to provide oil from the government's emergency supplies if a refinery requests it because of the disruption of supplies from Alaska, a department spokesman said Monday.

Variety of crudes seen filling gap left by Prudhoe Bay outage

'Dead zone' threat to US suburban dream

Petrol price rises may cause the housing bubble to burst, triggering global recession and the fall of America's Eden, writes Paul Harris in New York

Deconstructing Daniel Yergin, the "Energy Pope"

Food prices would soar in biofuels switch, says Unilever

BRITAIN faces soaring food prices, a shortage of staple foods and declining public health if the Government pushes ahead with plans to promote the use of biofuels, the UK’s biggest food producer has given warning.

University of Florida scientists say widespread deaths of palms and other trees in low-lying coastal areas have been reported since 1992. But the researchers say their latest survey shows in some areas, 66 percent of mature palms have died since 2000.

...The researchers say rising sea level is the primary cause of the coastal forest decline. And the sea level rise -- expected to accelerate as the Earth becomes warmer -- is linked with the thermal expansion of water, as well as the melting of glaciers and ice sheets.

The New Frontier

As an unusually long and sweltering heat wave enveloped the traditionally mild San Francisco Bay Area, power outages knocked out air conditioning, and gas prices under $3.00 a gallon seemed like leisure suits or vinyl LPs, relics of a long forgotten era, those who have been warning of the consequences of global warming and the eventual decline of a fossil fuel-based life felt an awkward sense of vindication.

Though some progressive icons like Greg Palast still try to write the peak oil movement off using incomplete research and fallacious arguments, increasingly people are awakening to the limits of a system that is utterly dependent upon a finite substance; a substance that is becoming uneconomical and is destroying the earth’s life-support network.

Murky world of western oil interests in Africa

US looks to wean Georgia from Russian energy

Russians prepare for African energy, mining push

[Update by Leanan on 08/08/06 at 12:08 PM EDT]

EIA raises oil forecast $3 a barrel

The government Tuesday raised its forecast for the average price of oil in August by $3 a barrel, citing July's heat wave and decreased production from the closure of BP's oilfield in Alaska's North Slope.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA), the numbers arm of the Energy Department, said in its monthly energy forecast that oil is expected to average $76.50 a barrel in August, up from its prior forecasts of $73.50.