Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
An as yet undiscussed Early Day Motion (EDM 199) before the British Parlaiment states ‘that this House notes the growing consensus amongst the world’s leading petroleum geologists and geophysicists that the peak of global oil production will occur at some point within the next 10 years…’
US energy exchange Nymex has set up a new oil trading floor in Dublin, Ireland, in a move it hopes will lure disenchanted dealers from London.
Nigeria’s main trade union body is planning a second general strike over fuel price rises, and has warned it will target oil exports.
The current ‘oil price crisis’ in reality reflects an emerging and permanent supply crisis for oil and gas (which currently provide about 65% of world commercial energy). Initially, this will concern ever slower net additions of world production capacity in the face of strong demand growth, and will manifest itself as continued oil price rises, and continued gas price rises.
The Caspian is a promising region for petroleum and natural gas, comparable to the North Sea. Thanks to the ambitions of the states and companies on the Caspian and Russian passivity, Russia has almost missed its chance at gaining a leading position in the region’s oil industry
China imported 76 million tons of crude oil in the first eight months of this year, making up 40 percent of the total domestic demand, a six percent rise over 2003.
Jerry Dewbre, who runs a 12-person oil-exploration company in Corpus Christi, Texas, is drilling twice as many wells this year as in 2003 because crude prices have doubled in the past 18 months.
Oil prices fell sharply on Monday on speculation that a U.S. election win for Senator John Kerry could ease the geopolitical friction that has helped fuel this year’s record-breaking rally.
During months of often bitter campaigning, the U.S. presidential candidates have focused on many issues, but one that has gotten little if any attention is the problem of oil depletion, often referred to as “peak oil”; the point at which global demand for petroleum exceeds our ability to extract it.
Defying optimistic Bush administration projections, Iraq’s hobbled oil industry might be unable to beat the production capacity of Saddam Hussein’s era until sometime next year — if then, according to industry analysts.
Perhaps not in the near future, but thanks to economic trends in Asia, can $200 per-barrel crude oil really be ruled out? No, says Marc Faber. One of Asia’s best-known contrarians, the Hong Kong-based head of Marc Faber Limited has been managing money in this region for more than 20 years — $300 million at the moment.
To forestall “Operation Locust Feast,” as Alhaji Mujahid Asari Dokubo so ominously dubbed his campaign, he demanded that the country’s leaders agree to self-determination for the aggrieved people of the Niger Delta.
