UK Survival in the 21st Century
n 1970 the Club of Rome commissioned a study of the effect and limits of continued world-wide economic growth. The findings were published in 1972 as a report entitled “The Continue Reading
Thorium: the wonder fuel that wasn't
“ Thorium-Fueled Automobile Engine Needs Refueling Once a Century ,” reads the headline of an October 2013 story in an online trade publication. This fantastic promise is just one part of a modern boomlet in enthusiasm about the energy potential of thorium, a radioactive element that is far more abundant than uranium. Thorium promoters consistently extol its supposed advantages over uranium. News outlets periodically foresee the possibility of " a cheaper, more efficient, and safer form of nuclear power that produces less nuclear waste than today’s uranium-based technology." Actually, though, the United States has tried to develop thorium as an energy source for some 50 years and is still struggling to deal with the legacy of those attempts. In addition to the billions of dollars it spent, mostly fruitlessly, to develop thorium fuels, the US government will have to spend billions more, at numerous federal nuclear sites, to deal […]
Thorium: the wonder fuel that wasn’t
“ Thorium-Fueled Automobile Engine Needs Refueling Once a Century ,” reads the headline of an October 2013 story in an online trade publication. This fantastic promise is just one part of a modern boomlet in enthusiasm about the energy potential of thorium, a radioactive element that is far more abundant than uranium. Thorium promoters consistently extol its supposed advantages over uranium. News outlets periodically foresee the possibility of " a cheaper, more efficient, and safer form of nuclear power that produces less nuclear waste than today’s uranium-based technology." Actually, though, the United States has tried to develop thorium as an energy source for some 50 years and is still struggling to deal with the legacy of those attempts. In addition to the billions of dollars it spent, mostly fruitlessly, to develop thorium fuels, the US government will have to spend billions more, at numerous federal nuclear sites, to deal […]
What Happened to My 13 Billion Barrels?
In 2011, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy commissioned INTEK Inc., a Virginia-based consulting firm, to estimate how much oil might be recoverable from California’s vast Monterey Shale formation. Production of tight oil was soaring in North Dakota and Texas, and small, risk-friendly drilling companies were making salivating noises (within earshot of potential investors) about the potential for an even bigger bonanza in the Golden State. INTEK obliged with a somewhat opaque report (apparently based on oil company investor presentations) suggesting that the Monterey might yield 15.4 billion barrels—64 percent of the total estimated tight oil reserves of the lower 48 states. The EIA published this number as its own, and the University of Southern California then went on to use the 15.4 billion barrel figure as the basis for an economic study, claiming that California could look forward to 2.8 million additional jobs […]
The US Shale Oil Miracle Disappears
The US shale oil “miracle” has about as much believability left as Jimmy Swaggart. Just today, we learned that the EIA has placed a hefty downward revision on its estimate of the amount of recoverable oil in the #1 shale reserve in the US, the Monterey in California. As recently as yesterday, the much-publicized Monterey formation accounted for nearly two-thirds of all technically-recoverable US shale oil resources. But by this morning? The EIA now estimates these reserves to be 96% lower than it previously claimed. Yes, you read that right: 96% lower. As in only 4% of the original estimate is now thought to be technically-recoverable at today’s prices: EIA Cuts Monterey Shale Estimates on Extraction Challenges The Energy Information Administration slashed its estimate of recoverable reserves from California’s Monterey Shale by 96 percent , saying oil from the largest U.S. formation will be harder to extract than previously anticipated. “Not […]
Oil Choppy Amid Ukraine Tensions, China Data
Crude-oil futures drifted between gains and losses in Asian trading hours Thursday as markets assessed positive Chinese manufacturing data and geopolitical tensions in Ukraine. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $103.94 a barrel at 0544 GMT, down $0.13 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.12 to $110.43 a barrel. The preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, rose to 49.7 in May, compared with a final reading of 48.1 in April. The data suggest that downward pressure on the manufacturing sector has eased markedly, Capital Economics said in a report. "It provides further evidence that stronger external demand, along with the rebound in infrastructure investment, is helping to moderate the pace of China’s economic slowdown," it added. Meanwhile, investors are becoming cautious with the Ukrainian […]
Brent Trades Near 11-Week High on China Factory Data
Brent crude traded near an 11-week high after a Chinese manufacturing gauge rose, signaling the economy of the world’s second-biggest oil consumer is stabilizing. West Texas Intermediate was near a four-week high after stockpiles fell. Brent was little changed in London after advancing 0.8 percent yesterday. China’s preliminary Purchasing Managers’ Index was 49.7 for May, up from 48.1 the previous month and the highest reading this year, according to HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics. Crude stockpiles in the U.S., the largest oil user, fell by 7.23 million barrels, or 1.8 percent, last week, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday. “China’s manufacturing is now only barely contracting” and today’s data are a welcome improvement, Harry Tchilinguirian , head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas in London, said by e-mail. “We remain cautious as to whether this is enough to give a significant boost to industrial commodities like oil.” […]
Is this the end of Sykes-Picot?
The intensity of the civil war in Syria, combined with the continued upheavals in Iraq and the endemic instability of Lebanese politics, has naturally led to speculation that the famously “artificial” borders in the eastern Arab world, drawn by Britain and France in the aftermath of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, are on their last legs. Are the state entities created by European colonialism in the 1920s about to collapse? Are we about to see a grand redrawing of the borders in the Middle East? The short answer to this question is no. While none of these three states will be able to claim effective governance within their borders anytime soon, the borders themselves are not going to change. They are devolving into what the political scientist Robert Jackson perceptively referred to as “ quasi-states ,” internationally recognized de jure as sovereign even though they cannot implement de […]
Jihadists seek Islamic state on Syria-Iraq border
Jihadists have launched a fresh bid to take over the Syria- border area and set up a so-called Islamic state they can control, rebels, activists and a monitoring group say. "Their name is the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater (ISIS). Their goal is to link together the two areas (Syria, Iraq) to set up their state and then to continue spreading," said activist and citizen journalist Abdel Salam Hussein. Speaking from Albu Kamal on the Iraq border, Hussein said ISIS seeks to crush Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, and control the eastern, energy-rich province of Deir Ezzor bordering Iraq. "ISIS is trying to end Al-Nusra Front’s power in the area, and if they do they will take over" the whole province, he said. ISIS’s long-time ambition of creating an area under its control stretching across Syria and Iraq was undermined by a massive January offensive against it […]
Oil Companies Pull Some Staff From Libya on Security Concerns
Repsol SA and SA are among the western oil companies pulling out some expatriate employees from Libya amid escalating violence there, posing the latest challenge to the Libyan oil industry’s fragile recovery. "We have reduced our presence in Tripoli, which was already limited, to the minimum," a Total spokesman said Wednesday, adding the French company isn’t pulling out of Libya. Spain’s Repsol is also withdrawing some expatriate staff, according to people at the company. Repsol wouldn’t discuss the details of personnel movements for security reasons. Last week, renegade Libyan general Khalifa Hifter launched an armed campaign against Islamist-backed militia in Libya. Mr. Hifter says the offensive is aimed at imposing stability after three years of chaos since the ouster and death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Strikes and armed occupation of oil terminals have already reduced the Libya’s oil output to less than a fifth of […]