Report: U.S. Conducting Secret Missions Inside Iran
The United States has been conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran to help identify potential nuclear, chemical and missile targets, The New Yorker magazine reported Sunday.
Thatcher case opens opaque world of African oil politics
Sir Mark Thatcher’s decision to plead guilty to unwittingly helping an alleged African coup plot is the latest twist in one of the more bizarre and murky tales in the continent’s history of power struggles involving natural resources.
Norway 2005 Oil Output Seen Dipping to 2.8 Million Bpd
Norway’s oil production is likely to slip to 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2005 but combined oil and gas output will hit a new record and peak in 2008, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said on Thursday.
Why the West is riding for a fall
A little book with a big title, Dark Age Ahead, published last year, tracked the ebbs and flows of civilisations over centuries. It came to this chilling conclusion: “We show signs of rushing headlong into a Dark Age.” Not slipping towards a Dark Age. Rushing.
Uranium prices are set to climb – Supplies dwindle even as Asia builds more nuclear reactors
Prices for uranium, used to generate 16 percent of the world’s electricity, may rise by a quarter this year as stockpiles of the nuclear fuel decrease and demand is set to rise from reactors being built in China and India.
Stuck In Reverse: Why can’t Detroit mend its gas-guzzling ways?
[Retooling Detroit for fuel-efficient vehicles] would be a good thing, since time is running out — whether it’s measured in terms of climate change, our dependence on foreign oil, or the national security risks inherent in that dependence. Meanwhile, the benefits of such a solution — cleaner air, lower fuel prices, energy independence — are immeasurable.
Pakistan shuts largest gas field after gunbattle
Pakistani authorities suspended gas supplies from the country’s largest gas field after clashes between tribal militants and security forces killed four people, officials said.
Dollar on an oily slope
The unabated rise of international oil prices and depreciation of the dollar will push economic growth in the US down to about 2.5% in 2005, but will have little impact on economic growth in the European Union, where growth is expected to accelerate modestly.
Staring down the barrel of a crisis
The world’s oil production may be about to reach its peak – forever. Such apocalyptic prophecies often surface in the middle of the northern hemisphere winter. What is unusual is that this time the doomsday scenario has gained serious credibility among respected analysts and commentators.
Saboteurs strike Iraq’s oil industry on daily basis: minister
Insurgents are carrying out at least one attack a day on Iraq’s vital oil infrastructure, at times shutting down all fuel lines to Baghdad, Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban said Thursday.
Thermodynamics of the Corn-Ethanol Biofuel cycle
Journal paper quantifying the degree of
non-renewability of a major biofuel: ethanol produced from industrially-grown corn. Extensive work seriously challenging the right of this process to renewable status, on net energy, soil depletion, and government subidy-dependence grounds.
America’s Finite Future?
Near the beginning of “Saturday Night Fever,” John Travolta’s Tony Manero, frustrated that his boss thinks he should save his salary instead of spending it on a new disco shirt, cries out, “fuck the future!” To which his boss replies: “No, Tony, you can’t fuck the future. The future fucks you! It catches up with you and it fucks you if you ain’t prepared for it!” Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but America has morphed into a nation of Tony Maneros.
