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Ukraine Tensions Escalate as Russia, U.S. Exchange Barbs

Russia and the U.S. traded barbs at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council as a deadline passed for pro-Russian separatists to leave buildings they occupied amid escalating violence in eastern Ukraine . Russia called the meeting after protests escalated near Slovyansk, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the Russian frontier. Camouflaged gunmen fired on Kiev government troops in an anti-terror operation, killing one serviceman and wounding five, the Ukrainian government said. At the UN, Russia demanded the U.S. press Ukraine to drop acting President Oleksandr Turchynov’s 9 a.m. deadline to vacate the buildings. As of 9:44 a.m. local time, there were no reports of Ukrainian forces moving on the buildings. The U.S. said Russia was destabilizing Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin ’s government was telling “fairy tales” in accusing America and its allies of fomenting the unrest. The meeting comes as officials from NATO, the European […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine's east braces for anti-rebel operation as deadline passes

SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Towns in eastern Ukraine on Monday braced for military action from government forces as a deadline passed for pro-Russian separatists to disarm and end their occupation of state buildings or face a major "anti-terrorist" operation. As the 9 a.m. (2 a.m. EDT)) deadline issued by authorities in Kiev expired, a Reuters reporter in the flashpoint city of Slaviansk, where armed men had seized two government buildings, said there was no outward sign the rebels were complying with the ultimatum. Angered by the death of a state security officer and the wounding of two comrades near Slaviansk, acting president Oleksander Turchinov warned rebels on Sunday that a full-scale security operation, including the army, would be unleashed unless they met the deadline. Turchinov and other leaders blame Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region when Moscow-backed former president Viktor Yanukovich fled after months of pro-Western protests, for inspiring […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine’s east braces for anti-rebel operation as deadline passes

SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Towns in eastern Ukraine on Monday braced for military action from government forces as a deadline passed for pro-Russian separatists to disarm and end their occupation of state buildings or face a major "anti-terrorist" operation. As the 9 a.m. (2 a.m. EDT)) deadline issued by authorities in Kiev expired, a Reuters reporter in the flashpoint city of Slaviansk, where armed men had seized two government buildings, said there was no outward sign the rebels were complying with the ultimatum. Angered by the death of a state security officer and the wounding of two comrades near Slaviansk, acting president Oleksander Turchinov warned rebels on Sunday that a full-scale security operation, including the army, would be unleashed unless they met the deadline. Turchinov and other leaders blame Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region when Moscow-backed former president Viktor Yanukovich fled after months of pro-Western protests, for inspiring […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Boom to Bust for Big Oil

By Competition often breeds excellence. Nowhere else does this cliché hold more true than in the shale boom that’s currently underway. In North Dakota, we see drillers are consistently improving their operational efficiencies with practically every new well drilled. Independent companies like Continental Resources have lowered their average well costs in the Bakken by almost 20%. Their success is far from an anomaly, and it has become a standard for every other operator. What’s more is that this isn’t restricted to just North Dakota. Today, competition has helped the oil bonanza spread like wildfire across the lower 48 states as new drilling technology unfolds. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case for everyone. Boom to Bust for Big Oil Take a look at the other side of the spectrum. Alaska has arguably been the most sensational disappointment in the U.S. oil industry since the 1980s, and the blame rests squarely […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Alaska’s Peak Oil Crisis

Competition often breeds excellence. Nowhere else does this cliché hold more true than in the shale boom that’s currently underway. In North Dakota, we see drillers are consistently improving their operational efficiencies with practically every new well drilled. Independent companies like Continental Resources have lowered their average well costs in the Bakken by almost 20%. Their success is far from an anomaly, and it has become a standard for every other operator. What’s more is that this isn’t restricted to just North Dakota. Today, competition has helped the oil bonanza spread like wildfire across the lower 48 states as new drilling technology unfolds. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case for everyone. Boom to Bust for Big Oil Take a look at the other side of the spectrum. Alaska has arguably been the most sensational disappointment in the U.S. oil industry since the 1980s, and the blame rests squarely on […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Oil industry now Canada’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions

  An environmental analyst says the rise of oil and gas production as Canada’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions adds further weight to calls for the federal government to bring in long-promised regulations for the oil industry. The Environment Canada report quietly released Friday reveals the energy sector has now surpassed transportation as the largest generator of the climate-change causing gases. The report, covering the period from 1990 to 2012, states that oil and gas now account for one-quarter of Canada’s greenhouse emissions, narrowly edging out transportation. Analyst P.J. Partington with eco think-tank the Pembina Institute said the oil industry becoming Canada’s biggest source of emissions underscores the need for the Harper government to make good on a longstanding pledge to bring in rules cutting the oil patch’s climate impact. “We can’t hide from the challenge of regulating that sector. If Canada’s going to play its role […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pro-Russia separatists defy Ukraine deadline

Pro-Russia separatists occupying government buildings in eastern Ukraine defied a deadline from Kiev to surrender as Moscow promised to “protect” people in the region from violence. A Russian flag continued to fly over the police headquarters in the city of Slavyansk at 9am (7am BST), the time Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine president, had given gunmen to lay down their weapons. Masked gunmen continued to man barricades in front of the building, agencies reported. On Sunday, Mr Turchynov said in a televised address that Kiev was “not going to allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in Ukraine’s east”, referring to Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula last month. He said a “large-scale antiterrorist operation” would be launched to re-establish control of the contested cities. But Moscow, which has massed tens […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine Forces Storm a Town, Defying Russia

The Ukrainian government on Sunday for the first time sent its security services to confront armed pro-Russian militants in the country’s east, defying warnings from Russia. Commandos engaged in gunfights with men who had set up roadblocks and stormed a Ukrainian police station in Slovyansk, and at least one officer was killed, Ukrainian officials said. Several officers were injured in the operation, as were four locals, the officials said. Russian news media and residents here disputed that account, saying the Ukrainian forces had only briefly engaged one checkpoint. In either case, the central government in Kiev has turned to force to try to restore its authority in the east, a course of action that the Russian government has repeatedly warned against. With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed along Ukraine’s eastern border near Donetsk, Western leaders have worried that Moscow might use unrest in Ukraine’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Xenophobic Chill Descends on Moscow

The huge banner was unfurled on Friday morning outside one of Moscow’s biggest bookstores, Dom Knigi, a grand emporium of the written word on Novii Arbat Street across from a Citibank, a Baskin-Robbins and a Dunkin’ Donuts, and down the block from a big movie theater where the main feature at the moment is “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” “Fifth Column,” the banner declared. “Strangers Among Us.” It showed black-and-white portraits of three of Russia’s better-known political opposition figures and two Soviet-era dissident rock musicians, along with two evil-looking space aliens, one carrying a briefcase marked with the white ribbon that has been the symbol of political protests against President Vladimir V. Putin and the Russian government. From the moment that Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea cast a new, bitter chill over relations with the West, a sinister jingoistic vibe has pervaded this unsettled capital […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Did crude oil production actually peak in 2005?

"Wait a minute," you must be saying. "Haven’t we been hearing from the oil industry and from government and international agencies that worldwide oil production has been increasing in the last several years?" The answer, of course, is yes. But, the deeper question is whether this assertion is actually correct. Here is a key fact that casts doubt on the official reporting: When the industry and the government talk about the price of oil sold on world markets and traded on futures exchanges, they mean one thing. But, when they talk about the total production of oil, they actually mean something quite different–namely, a much broader category that includes all kinds of things that are simply not oil and that could never be sold on the world market as oil. I’ve written about this issue of the true definition of oil before. But Texas oilman Jeffrey Brown has been […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple