Iran standoff – Jan 20
– EU prepares unprecedented attack on Iranian economy
– Barrelling towards fuel shortages
– An Iran war is brewing from mutual ignorance and chronic miscalculation
Fossil Fuels
Peak oil notes – January 19
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
With Gas so Cheap and Well Drilling Down, Why is Gas Production so High?
Large amounts of natural gas are produced in conjunction with the production of hydraulically fractured shale oil and in association with conventional oil drilling. Given the price differential between oil and gas at present many companies have changed their focus to shale oil or liquids rich shale gas to enhance economic returns. Although much associated gas in the production of shale oil is simply flared, as in the Bakken play in North Dakota, much is also produced into the market even at current low prices. Thus the apparent “too- good-to-be-true” statistics showing growing gas production with declining drilling are simply that – too- good-to-be-true.
Iranian oil embargo
Some economists have claimed that the U.S. economy is less vulnerable to oil price shocks than it used to be. Close down the Strait of Hormuz, and you’ll get a good test of that theory.
Iran standoff – Jan 17
– Oil Climbs From Four-Week Low as Iran Warns of Hormuz Supply Disruption
– India to pay for Iran crude in rupees
– Juan Cole: Iran Hype undermined by Obama Administration Admissions
– Iran playing war games, but not in video arcades
Sinking the Petrodollar in the Persian Gulf
If this were an economic rewrite of Edgar Allen Poe’s story, “The Pit and the Pendulum,” Iran would be but one cog in an infernal machine slowly shredding the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Still, it’s the cog that Washington is now focused on. They have regime change on the brain. All that’s needed is a spark to start the fire (in — one hastens to add — all sorts of directions that are bound to catch Washington off guard).
Shale gas – Jan 16
-Cornell Study Links Fracking Wastewater with Mortality in Farm Animals
-U.S. Shale Bubble Inflates After Near-Record Prices for Untested Fields
-Study needed on shale gas effects on health: group
-Ministers slammed over fracking
-Fracking is ‘pretty safe’, says British Geological Survey
-Bulgarians protest, seek moratorium on shale gas
Peak oil review – January 16
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The Iranian confrontation
-The EU downgrade
-Nigeria
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
United States – Jan 13
– Revolving Door: From Top Futures Regulator to Top Futures Lobbyist
– Pew Research Center: Rising Share of Americans See Conflict Between Rich and Poor
– Bill Moyers: Back With a New Series
– Bill Moyers: “They are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied America.”
Energy – Jan 13
– The Nature of Oil: Reconsidering American Power in the Middle East
– The Expert’s Report that Damns the Northern Gateway Pipeline (David Hughes)
– Plentiful Energy – the book on the Integral Fast Reactor
– Fidel Castro on fracking and climate change (cites Yergin)
The expert’s report that damns the northern gateway pipeline
The Northern Gateway Pipeline will explosively increase the scale of oil sands production at a level not in the national interest, says David Hughes, one of Canada’s foremost energy analysts.
ODAC Newsletter – Jan 13
Fears of an EU recession gained ground this week with news that the German economy shrank in Q4. In oil markets this dunked oil prices to a New Year low – though they quickly recovered on Thursday in response to renewed concerns of supply disruption. In Nigeria unions threatened to escalate nationwide strikes to the oil production sector at the weekend if the government fails to reverse recent cuts in fuel subsidies.
