Energy / Crude Oil

• On Oil, Iraq Gets in its Own Way

  The International Energy Agency announced it was set to review Iraq's energy sector as part of its World Energy Outlook for 2012. Last year, the IEA said Iraq was on pace to provide the largest single increase to global oil production in the coming years. In December, however, the agency warned that domestic politics could get in the way of energy developments. Given Iraq's post-war political track record, it might be awhile before Iraq realizes its full oil potential. Iraqi officials had said they hoped the IEA's assessment would give them some insight into what Baghdad and the Kurdish government in…

• Following Keystone Rejection Canada's Oil Sands Headed to China

  Beginning in 2005, Congressional Republicans and the oil industry touted the 2,147 mile-long Keystone XL 830,000 barrel per day (bpd) pipeline, running from Canada’s Hardisty, Alberta oil sands to U.S. refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. But last month, in an attempt to force a decision from the Obama administration on the pipeline, congressional Republicans tacked a rider onto legislation extending the payroll tax cut by requiring the government to decide within 60 days on the issue, which was rejected for the foreseeable future. Furious at the setback, Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper threatened to sell the output to China.…

• Why the Peak Oil Debate is Almost Over

  Protestations in the mainstream media that we need not worry about a peak in the rate of world oil production anytime soon are suddenly coming fast and furious. As a result, I was reminded both of Shakespeare and Gandhi. "The media doth protest too much," I thought (with apologies to Queen Gertrude in Hamlet). As for Gandhi, a quote commonly attributed to him may shed light on where we are in the peak oil debate: "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win." So, it appears that we are now in stage…

• 10 Ways in which Iran is Defying the US and EU Oil Sanctions

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this, the Neocons assured us. Iran would soon be on its knees because of ever more stringent US sanctions on Iran. But Iran just cheekily sent two warships through the Suez Canal to dock at the Syrian port of Tartous. The old Mubarak government in Egypt might not have allowed such a thing, but the Arab Spring has brought to power an Egyptian government eager to demonstrate its independence from Washington. Brent crude just hit $121 dollars a barrel, the highest in 8 months and a remarkable figure in the absence of a crisis…

• Is Hush Money Coming Out of Canadian Crude Oil Debate?

  Concerns over the safety of tar sands oil from Canada is at the forefront of the political debate in the United States. President Obama's critics accuse him of being a "job killer" for stating initial opposition to the planned $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline while his allies on the opposite side of the aisle don't believe much of what the Republicans say about the pipeline anyway. But across the border, it seems the imbroglio is much worse. There, it seems, pipeline company Enbridge is throwing money at aboriginal groups along the country's western border to keep their objections about tar…

• If Oil is a Barometer, Beijing is Rising

  Beijing said recently it wanted to increase the amount of oil it gets from Russia through a major oil pipeline running to the Pacific Ocean. Beijing, however, would likely have to fend off other Asian economies, as well as the United States, in order to get that extra crude. With the Pentagon talking about shifting its pressure points to the Asia-Pacific region, Beijing's growing energy appetite highlights the broader geopolitical realignment toward the East. The United States and China together sit on top of the international economic hierarchy. The U.S. economy, starting late last year, began showing signs it was taking…

• South Africa Caught in Fallout from Increased Sanctions Against Iran

  The U.S. new sanctions initiative, strongly supported by Israel, to impose new sanctions against Iran, is designed to punish it for its purported covert nuclear weapons program by imposing new restrictions on Tehran. As a result, many of Iran’s oil customers are scrambling to avoid collateral damage to their economies. The sanctions’ potential fallout is now hitting South Africa, Africa's biggest economy, which receives nearly 25 percent of its needs from Iran, roughly 98,000 barrels per day (bpd), or about 4 percent of Iran’s total exports. South Africa's economy, which has been hit by fuel shortages in the past because…

• With Friends Like Moscow, Who Needs Venezuela's Oil?

  Venezuela said it was ready to welcome a Russian energy company into the giant Orinoco oil belt, solidifying a relationship propped up by a multi-million investment from Moscow last year. Both sides announced recently they'd starting working through a Caracas-controlled joint venture in a 21,000-square-mile section of the vast oil reserve. When the Iranian president paid a visit to the region, House Republicans cried foul over the "tour of tyrants" though Russia's relationship with Caracas barely makes headlines. While Moscow is certainly no Tehran, it's certainly no beacon of democracy either.  With Caracas sitting atop OPEC in terms of reserves,…

• Why We Shouldn't be Worrying About Peak Oil

  Everything you think you know about energy security and energy independence is wrong. All too often you hear that fossil fuels will soon reach their peak, that our consumption of oil causes global insecurity vis-a-vis rogue states and terrorist organizations, and that the United States would benefit tremendously from becoming completely energy independent. Under closer scrutiny, however, the alarmist scenarios, political correctness, and chic notions of sustainability that dominate today’s energy discourse simply do not stand up to actual realities. The truth is fossil fuels will continue to dominate international energy supplies for the long-term simply because they are the…

• Canadian PM Shills Alberta Oil Sands in China

  Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper is in the midst of an official visit to China. His mission? To convince Beijing’s mandarins to buy Canada’s Alberta oil sands hydrocarbon production, now that Republican Congressional overreach has effectively sidelined the Keystone XL pipeline, designed to transit the oil to U.S. Gulf of Mexico refineries, for the foreseeable future. Harper faces an uphill struggle, as China is questioning the delays in implementing the Northern Gateway pipeline, to transit Alberta’s oil to Canada’s western coast for transshipment to China. Complicating the picture, Harper has a weak hand of cards, and both he and the Chinese know it. Since…