Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
When Bush seized Iraq – using Saddam as an excuse – it was the first step in an endgame for the remaining oil reserves necessary for the American way of life. According to Stan Doffish, this horrible logic may lead the Bush administration to attempt to ‘depopulate’ Asia
Much to the consternation of the European Union, which now numbers several former Soviet bloc nations among its members, Russia through its natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, has spun a web of control over energy supplies extending from Estonia on the Baltic Sea to Bulgaria on the Black Sea.
Oil giant BP has reported buoyant trading in the three months to September, with production up by 11%, on the back of soaring crude prices.
China’s search for oil to power its fast-growing economy has led it to various parts of the world where there are large oil reserves.
San Diego-based Sempra Energy has a chilling view of the nation’s prospects for producing natural gas, the fuel used to heat a majority of U.S. homes and increasingly used to generate electricity.
The recent oil price surge underscores the economic importance of oil and the reality that oil supplies are starting to dwindle. This is an issue that no longer can be ignored.
Malaysia and Indonesia appear headed towards a territorial dispute, with their national oil companies laying claim to potentially rich offshore oil-and-gas blocks off Borneo island.
Malaysia has said it was ready to contest any overlapping claim to the area. Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil company, said that it “was in advance stages of awarding the ultra-deepwater blocks… which are within the Malaysian territorial boundary”.
The forces driving the price of oil to $50.12 (U.S.) a barrel may wax and wane. Still, the quagmire that the industry is sinking into won’t blow over any time soon.
With crude at US$50 a barrel and producers operating near maximum output, fears are widespread that the world is on the cusp of a major oil shock.
Natural gas prices have jumped 17% in two days, a chilling development for the millions of Americans who heat their homes with natural gas.
$50 or $60 a barrel oil is still affordable by western standards, but surely debilitating for growing economies What if it hits $80, or even $100 by estimates of pessimists?
China’s need for oil has led it to West Africa’s oil fields in the Gulf of Guinea, and to Central Africa, where oil production in several countries is also coming on line.
