Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The Kremlin moves swiftly to strengthen its vertical power by giving the green light to a merger between Gazprom and state-owned Rosneft, paving the way for the consolidation of the state’s control over the energy sector.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday as Hurricane Ivan, one of the strongest storms on record, cut the demand for crude oil by shutting nearly 13 per cent of US refining capacity.
Energy investment banker Matthew Simmons has challenged the Saudi national oil company to substantiate its claims that it faces no imminent production problems and can reliably supply far greater amounts of oil than at present for at least 50 more years.
Surely it is time that depletion was treated explicitly rather than being buried in the statistics?
A surge in Chinese and Indian oil demand that has helped push world prices to record highs is no passing phenomenon, analysts say.
Responding to intense public opposition the U.S. Forest Service has withdrawn plans for imminent oil and gas leasing across a broad swath of scenic national forest lands south of Yellowstone National Park.
Oil producers’ cartel Opec has agreed to raise its production quota by 1 million barrels a day, taking the daily limit to 27 million barrels. But as Opec’s daily output is already running at about 28 million barrels, it is unclear whether the new quota will result in extra production.
Russia has warned that production licences of foreign and domestic oil companies can be torn up at will if the nation’s fabulous natural wealth is not exploited on Moscow’s terms.
Russia turned up the pressure on beleaguered oil major Yukos on Wednesday, threatening to strip it of a key oil production license, a move that could force it out of business.
The oil market is over-supplied by three million barrels per day, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said here on Tuesday on the eve of an OPEC meeting.
One of the reasons a great many people, policy makers and leaders find it impossible to face the issue of peak oil is because it challenges the very beliefs that we argue are a priori truths about industrialised western societies, without requirement for justification, our fundamental birth-rights.
With OPEC members pumping nearly all the crude they can, analysts worry that a supply crunch is ahead.
