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Climate Change, Peak Oil and Renewable Resources

Page added on February 8, 2014 Climate change is the reality we are living in. It is not going away; it has been clearly established as a fact, IOMCO — or immediately obvious to the most casual observer. The weather is simply becoming more extreme. More tornados, more flooding, more drought, stronger hurricanes and other extreme weather events are only the tip of the iceberg. Climate change is not something that you can change overnight. It has taken a few hundred years for man to have the negative impact that it has on the climate; even if we stopped burning all fossil fuels tomorrow, it would take hundreds more to reverse the trend. We hit the big time lottery when we discovered oil and gas. It was like we stumbled upon a treasure chest with millions of years of stored energy and just like some lottery winners, we became […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Global-Warming Slowdown Due to Pacific Winds, Study Shows

Stronger Pacific Ocean winds may help explain the slowdown in the rate of global warming since the turn of the century, scientists said. More powerful winds in the past 20 years may be forcing warmer seas deeper and bringing cooler water to the surface, 10 researchers from the U.S. and Australia said yesterday in the journal Nature . That has cooled the average global temperature by as much as 0.2 degree Celsius (0.36 Fahrenheit) since 2001. Scientists have been trying to find out why the rate of global warming has eased in the past 20 years while greenhouse-gas emissions have surged to a record. Yesterday’s paper elaborates on a theory that deep seas are absorbing more warmth by explaining how that heat could be getting there. “The net effect of these anomalous winds is a cooling in the 2012 global average surface air temperature of 0.1–0.2 degree Celsius, which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Tougher to Drill for Oil in an Emerging-Markets Storm

National oil companies rarely lack reserves in the ground. It is capital that can be harder to come by. So emerging markets’ slide from honored guest to social pariah in many a portfolio presents a problem, and not just for these national champions. Oil-services companies could suffer, too. Petróleo Brasileiro, known as Petrobras, exemplifies all this. Three years ago, it sported a market value of $213 billion. Today, that is a mere $78 billion. The Brazilian national champion’s fall from grace is stunning, but it isn’t alone. In 2007, when both oil and emerging markets ran hot, the PFC Energy 50, a ranking of companies by market value, had four national oil companies in its top 10: PetroChina , Gazprom , Sinopec and Petrobras. Their combined value of $1.55 trillion was actually higher than the total for the five Western integrated oil majors in the top 10 that year. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Peak oil isn't dead; it just smells that way

Energy analyst Chris Nelder fires back at the latest fact-free commentary on peak oil. The Oil Drum, a Web site dedicated to informed discussions about peak oil and energy,  announced on July 3 that it is closing down. (For a brief primer on peak oil, see my conversation with Brad Plumer in the Washington Post .) Those who hate the peak oil story didn’t bother to conceal their glee at the news; some even saw occasion to claim victory for their side in the "debate" over the future of fossil fuels. “We could say ‘I told you so,’ not as a school-yard epithet, but simply as a fact,” crowed Mark Mills , co-author of a lightweight book entitled The Bottomless Well , which Publishers Weekly described as “Long on Nietzschean bombast but short on some crucial specifics.” David Blackmon, a Houston-based consultant with a 33-year career in the oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Peak oil isn’t dead; it just smells that way

Energy analyst Chris Nelder fires back at the latest fact-free commentary on peak oil. The Oil Drum, a Web site dedicated to informed discussions about peak oil and energy,  announced on July 3 that it is closing down. (For a brief primer on peak oil, see my conversation with Brad Plumer in the Washington Post .) Those who hate the peak oil story didn’t bother to conceal their glee at the news; some even saw occasion to claim victory for their side in the "debate" over the future of fossil fuels. “We could say ‘I told you so,’ not as a school-yard epithet, but simply as a fact,” crowed Mark Mills , co-author of a lightweight book entitled The Bottomless Well , which Publishers Weekly described as “Long on Nietzschean bombast but short on some crucial specifics.” David Blackmon, a Houston-based consultant with a 33-year career in the oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil briefly tops $100 as demand for fuel rises

The price of oil briefly rose above $100 a barrel for the first time this year on rising demand for fuel and some positive sentiment about the U.S. job market. Benchmark U.S. crude for March delivery gained $2.04, or 2.1 percent, to close at $99.88 a barrel the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil climbed above $100 in the afternoon before dropping back. Oil last topped $100 on Dec. 30. Energy analyst Stephen Schork said oil’s rise was brought about by rising prices for wholesale gasoline and low supplies of diesel and heating oil. That combination will encourage refiners to buy and process more crude oil. "It’s a function of a products pulling crude," he said. "The market needs product." Heating oil supplies have declined as a cold and snowy winter has homeowners constantly cranking up the thermostat. The Energy Department said Wednesday that supplies of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nymex Crude Futures Hit One-Month High on Supply Worries

U.S. oil prices briefly topped $100 a barrel for the first time this year, taking their cue from equities markets to ignore a weaker-than-expected jobs report. Expectations for continued strong demand for petroleum products and concerns that global supplies could tighten also boosted crude prices. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose $2.04, or 2.1%, to $99.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest settlement since Dec. 27. Prices gained 2.5% this week. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange climbed $2.38, or 2.2%, to $109.57 a barrel, its highest settlement price since Dec. 31. Prices are up 3% for the week. Oil prices initially fell after […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran, U.N. agency resume nuclear talks in Tehran: IRNA

Iran resumed talks on its nuclear programme with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency said, in discussions expected to broach sensitive military-related issues. The U.N. atomic agency hopes to persuade Iran to finally start addressing long-held suspicions that it may have researched how to build atomic bombs. Tehran has rejected the accusations of weaponization-related work as baseless and said it will cooperate with the IAEA to clear up any "ambiguities". Iran was represented in the discussions by Reza Najafi, its envoy to the IAEA, while the team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog was led by deputy IAEA director general Tero Varjoranta, IRNA said. Saturday’s meeting comes 10 days before Tehran and world powers, building on a landmark interim deal that took effect last month, start talks on a long-term accord on Iran’s nuclear aspirations that would avert the threat […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Exclusive: Japan makes first oil payment to Iran in a year: sources

Japan this week became the first of Iran’s oil buyers to make a payment for crude imports under an interim nuclear deal, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, as the West eased a year-long stranglehold on revenues that has crippled the Iranian economy. Tough international sanctions over the past two years have cut Iran’s oil exports in half. U.S. measures imposed a year ago stopped the remaining importers of Iranian oil from transferring cash to Tehran, starving the OPEC member of its principal source of hard currency and forcing Iran to the negotiating table over its disputed nuclear program. Tokyo’s role in sending the first funds may be a boon for Japanese firms jostling for position with international rivals to invest in Iran’s oil and gas sector, should a further agreement end Tehran’s international isolation. It is unclear why Japan was the first of Iran’s oil buyers […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq attacks kill nine including election candidate

Attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital killed nine people on Friday, including a supporter of powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who was standing in April’s parliamentary elections. The murder of Hamza al-Shammari, the first of an election candidate, comes amid a protracted surge in bloodshed with near-daily attacks nationwide and security forces battling anti-government fighters in Anbar province. Election candidates have been targeted in the past, with nearly 20 hopefuls killed ahead of April 2013 provincial council elections. Shammari, a senior leader of the Shammar tribe in Baghdad, was killed by gunmen using silenced pistols in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Ghazaliyah, two security officials said. He had been due to stand in the April 30 election as part of the Ahrar list, which is loyal to the Sadrists. North of Baghdad, separate bombings killed eight people, security and medical officials said. In Tuz Khurmatu, a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple