Category:

Ireland’s energy crisis

Ireland’s energy crisis thumbnail Energy is not one of Ireland’s strengths: we import almost 90 per cent of our power, we’ve made little progress in renewables, and we’re at the mercy of an unstable global market. Where will Ireland get its energy in years to come? Besides worries about climate change and security of supply, Ireland faces a capacity issue. A nuclear reactor is unlikely ever to dominate the landscape of Carnsore, Co Wexford. In Co Leitrim not a single rock has been fracked – and none might ever be. Yet nuclear power and hydraulic fracturing are already in Ireland. And although a large part of the population doesn’t want these two controversial power sources anywhere on the island, our purchase of their product is why energy is cheaper now than it has been for almost a decade. Ireland imports electricity derived from nuclear power from the UK through […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Conservation of Living Resources in a Post-Peak Oil World

Summary: In a world overrun with humans, what fate awaits wildlife, fisheries, and forests when the fuels run short? Several years ago I was working as a biological consultant to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, helping this federal agency prepare a long-term management plan for Innoko National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Alaska. This Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) would provide overall management guidance for the refuge’s wildlife, habitat, and public use. The huge, sprawling 3.8-million acre (5,940-square mile) Innoko NWR is one of the remotest national wildlife refuges in the United States. It is so wild that it contains not a single human inhabitant in all that vastness; its headquarters are located in the village of McGrath, on the Kuskokwim River, some 50 miles as the raven flies from the refuge itself. In 1980, the U.S. Congress officially designated 1,240,000 acres of Innoko NWR (1/3 of it) as part […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Oil Retreats on U.S. Supply Highs

ENLARGE The U.S. oil-rig count fell to 1019, the lowest in years, according to data reported Friday. Photo: Associated Press Oil prices fell for a third-straight session as slowing rig count cuts added to losses that had been mounting because of historically high U.S. supplies. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday that U.S. crude inventories reached another record last week, a sign that cheap prices haven’t begun to affect production yet. The rising supplies led to the oil market’s first weekly loss in nearly a month. Rig counts kept falling in new data released Friday, but the 37-rig decline was less than half of that registered a week ago. That could be a bearish sign that production won’t fall to balance the market as quickly as some had hoped. The day’s losses mounted on the news. Light, sweet crude for March delivery, the U.S. benchmark, settled down […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil falls below $60 as oversupply weighs

LONDON (Reuters) – Brent crude oil fell below $60 a barrel on Friday as oversupply, supported by record-high U.S. crude stocks, weighed on the market. U.S. crude inventories rose 7.7 million barrels to 425.6 million last week, rising for a sixth straight week to record highs, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Thursday. Stockpiles of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude at the Cushing oil hub in Oklahoma rose the most in six years, the EIA said. "With total crude stocks now about 425 million barrels and Cushing north of 46 million barrels, WTI is looking increasingly mispriced high above $52 per the April contract," said Jeffries Futures analysts in a note to traders. Brent crude futures for April were down 27 cents at $59.94 by 0915 GMT, having hit an intraweek low of $57.80 in the previous session. U.S. crude for March delivery CLc1 was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Energy Market Volatility Reaching New Heights

Greetings from London. Urgent Note . We urge you to take a look at this week’s Inside Investor, in which Dan Dicker analyzes one of the very few shale companies that could weather the downturn. While every industry player is hoping its rivals cut back on production, there is no sign of that happening just yet. That could lead to a lot more pain in the sector as a whole in the months ahead. But there is one company that can withstand the slump and is taking a more prudent approach, which should allow it to emerge stronger than all of its peers. Find out which company that is: Click here to read the report for free . Oil prices fluctuated up and down over the course of this week, with a wider gulf opening up between WTI and Brent crude. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported higher than […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural Gas Surges on Rising Demand

By Timothy Puko Natural gas prices surged to their highest closing price in nearly a month as severely cold weather boosts demand. The front-month March contract settled up 11.7 cents, or 4.1%, at $2.951 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the seventh gain in nine sessions and the highest closing price since Jan. 23. Half of U.S. homes use natural gas for heating fuel and severe cold could be about to drive up their demand for weeks. The U.S. government weather model shifted, creating more agreement between computer weather models about the chance for extended, widespread cold, wrote Aaron Calder, senior market analyst at energy-consulting firm Gelber & Associates in Houston, in a note. "The morning forecasts effectively erased the argument for a March warm-up and forced bearish traders to price in the potential for a long-term cold snap," Mr. Calder said. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

NYMEX March gas futures settle at $2.951/MMBtu, up 11.7 cents

Houston (Platts)–20Feb2015/351 pm EST/2051 GMT NYMEX March natural gas futures settled at $2.951/MMBtu Friday, up 11.7 cents, on updated weather forecasts calling for a higher probability of below-normal temperatures across a much greater portion of the US. Friday’s rally is "supported by both current intense cold and updated forecasts indicating that cooler-than-normal readings may persist into the first week of March," said Tim Evans, energy futures specialist with Citi Futures Perspective. Aaron Calder, senior market analyst at Gelber & Associates, agreed. "Front-month prices have surged higher today in response to a substantial shift in domestic weather modeling," Calder said. Updated weather forecasts calling for below-normal temperatures across key demand regions in the US "erased the argument for a March warm-up and forced bearish traders to price in the potential for a long-term cold snap," Calder added. Calder believes that, despite robust gas production growth and supply levels, the potential […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural gas inventory exceeds five-year average for first time since November 2013

Working natural gas in storage has surpassed five-year average levels for the first time in more than a year. At 2,157 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of February 13, stocks are 58 Bcf greater than the five-year average. Recent extremely cold weather may result in high stock withdrawals for the week ending February 20, which could again push stocks below their five-year average. However, natural gas production in February and March that is forecast to average 5 Bcf/day above the year-ago level is likely to contribute to healthy inventories and moderate prices as the nation moves from winter into spring. At no point during 2014 did inventories surpass their five-year average; the most recent excess was on November 22, 2013. Inventories ended the 2013-14 winter withdrawal season last March at a 10-year record low of 837 Bcf . After a record injection season in 2014 (April-October), weekly working gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S., Iran resume bilateral nuke talks

GENEVA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) — Delegations from the United States and Iran started on Friday another round of bilateral talks over Tehran’s long-disputed nuclear program. A diplomatic official with the U.S. Mission in Geneva told Xinhua that the talks began this morning. The source said that issues regarding the Iranian nuclear program including centrifuges and sanctions would be on the table during these closed-door meetings. The bilateral talks were at the moment led by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will join the talks on Sunday and Monday, Araqchi said earlier. Kerry’s trip was confirmed by the U.S. Department of State in a statement, which noted that the top U.S. diplomat will travel on Feb. 22 to Geneva to meet with his […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

World major countries to hold nuclear talks with Iran

GENEVA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) — Representatives from world major countries and Iran will hold talks here on Sunday seeking for an agreement over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, said the mediator European Union (EU) on Friday. In a statement received by Xinhua Friday afternoon, the EU said that the political directors from the P5+1 group, namely the United States , Britain, France , Russia , China, and Germany , and Iran will meet in this Swiss city on Feb. 22 "to continue their diplomatic efforts towards reaching a long-term, comprehensive solution to the Iranian nuclear issue". Sunday’s meeting is preceded by the bilateral engagements between the United States and Iran that started Friday morning. The bilateral talks were at the moment led by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA. It was announced that Iranian Foreign […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple