Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Crude oil prices, which rose to a record US$55 a barrel in New York on Friday, may increase further and peak at US$75 a barrel, said Bernard Dan, president of the Chicago Board of Trade, the second-biggest US futures market.
Shell is reconsidering decades old technology to attempt to produce liquids from shale oil in the US.
Someone asked Bush what he’s going to do about energy policy with worldwide oil reserves predicted to peak. Bush said: “I’m going to push nuclear energy, drilling in Alaska and clean coal. Some nuclear-fusion technologies are interesting.” He mentions energy from “processing corn.”
If someone sitting in air-conditioned comfort in one part of the world believes that what happens in Iraq or Nigeria, Venezuela or Colombia doesn’t affect him or her, Sonia Shah’s Crude: The Story of Oil takes that little daydream and shakes it up.
Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has warned that the record international oil price could deliver a “double whammy” to the Australian economy, describing it as “the third oil price shock”.
Recession is something rarely announced by politicians – it does not sound too good. And elections are often based on economic well-being, so to tell the nation that a recession is here, or coming, does not bode well for those in office.
Feeling pain at the gas pump? Be thankful you don’t live in Cuba, where the typical worker must labor for an entire week just to earn enough for a gallon of the precious stuff.
Oil consuming countries, and especially the United States, are struggling to refine heavy crude oil as lighter crudes become rarer, driving global oil prices higher.
Record oil prices are likely to reduce the chances that companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. or BP Plc will be asked to develop new crude output capacity in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom doesn’t need their capital, Aramco oil company officials and analysts said.
Iraq has issued an open invitation to the world’s largest oil companies to exploit its vast reserves.
New York’s main crude oil price bolted to a record 55 dollars a barrel as traders fretted about stretched supplies, hot demand and thin stocks of winter heating fuel.
The Managing Editor of Platts claims that global oil production will peak soon, and economic output will peak soon. (Link to PowerPoint presentation.)
