OilPrice.com | Energy | Energy-General

OilPrice.com | Energy | Energy-General Articles and analysis on all types of energy production and consumption from fossil fuels such as crude oil and coal to renewable energy technologies. http://oilprice.com/ Fri, 25 May 2012 0:19:18 GMT Oilprice.com (info@oilprice.com) Megrahi's Death Only Beginning in Libyan Oil Saga http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Megrahis-Death-Only-Beginning-in-Libyan-Oil-Saga.html Scottish authorities this week said the death of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi puts an end to conspiracy theories surrounding his controversial release in 2009. Scottish authorities insisted his release was on compassionate grounds because of a terminal prostate cancer diagnosis. Megrahi died this week at his home in Tripoli of cancer. Given the series of suspicions surrounding not only former Libyan officials, but also the role of European energy countries in Libya, Megrahi may have taken a few national secrets with him to the…

]]> dg@oilprice.com (Daniel J. Graeber) Wed, 23 May 2012 22:33:54 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Megrahis-Death-Only-Beginning-in-Libyan-Oil-Saga.html The Facts about Fracking Fluid and its Disposal http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Facts-about-Fracking-Fluid-and-its-Disposal.html At a recent shale gas symposium in South Africa a question was asked “if hydraulic fracturing is so safe, why do drilling operators working in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale Play dispose the backflow out of state in Ohio.” The question was satirically proposed by a rather uninformed anti-fracking environmentalist. His point was to show that even a natural gas producing state wants nothing to do with the disposal of the hydraulic fluid’s flowback (chemical-laced wastewater).This discussion addresses the attendees question…

]]> stevensba@oilprice.com (Barry Stevens) Wed, 23 May 2012 22:12:32 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Facts-about-Fracking-Fluid-and-its-Disposal.html Iran Oil Sanctions After the Baghdad Talks http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Iran-Oil-Sanctions-After-the-Baghdad-Talks.html SituationIran tentatively agreed on 22 May to allow the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to launch inspections of nuclear facilities, while Iran and P5+1 countries began negotiations in Baghdad over Iran’s nuclear program on 23 May, where the West put forward a new proposal for Iran’s consideration. DynamicsThe current heavy-handed US-led sanctions are taking their toll on Iran. Sources on the ground in Iran tell Oilprice.com that the situation is not as grim as US media is depicting it; however,…

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]]> corporate@oilprice.com (Jen Alic) Wed, 23 May 2012 22:07:54 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Iran-Oil-Sanctions-After-the-Baghdad-Talks.html China Warns Australia to Choose "Godfather" - China or U.S. http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/China-Warns-Australia-to-Choose-Godfather-China-or-US.html It is rare in diplomatic circles for governments to speak bluntly, particularly in the Orient, where manners are highly prized.The exceptions to this rule are retired military officers, who are often able to voice sentiments too impolitic for other channels.One of the more startling pronouncements in this vein occurred last week when Song Xiaojun, a former senior officer of the People's Liberation Army, warned that Australia cannot juggle its relationships with the United States and China indefinitely and "Australia has to find a godfather sooner…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Tue, 22 May 2012 23:31:19 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/China-Warns-Australia-to-Choose-Godfather-China-or-US.html Kurdish Oil Pipeline Could Split Iraq http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Kurdish-Oil-Pipeline-Could-Split-Iraq.html Nearly 10 years of oversight from the U.S. military in Iraq has done little to erase simmering sectarian issues in Iraq. A trilateral democratic government composed of Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders was expected to keep Iraq self-contained and out of trouble. Many of the initial sectarian issues left over from the early stages of the U.S.-led conflict are still on the table, however. Though oil production is gaining ground, the country still lacks a comprehensive hydrocarbon law. Now, Kurdish leaders in the semi-autonomous north aim to defy…

]]> dg@oilprice.com (Daniel J. Graeber) Tue, 22 May 2012 23:22:15 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Kurdish-Oil-Pipeline-Could-Split-Iraq.html Is a Carbon Disaster Brewing in The Pacific Northwest? http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Is-a-Carbon-Disaster-Brewing-in-The-Pacific-Northwest.html Optimists and politicians like to remind us that U.S. exports are booming. Unfortunately, so are imports.The trade deficit in March, from Calculated RiskAn increasingly large part of the "rosy" exports picture centres around our energy exports, which means coal exports. I was pleased to see Worse Than Keystone by Alyssa Battistoni, which appeared in Salon last Friday. Alyssa actually did some research, and provided some useful links, which always makes me happy.Environmentalists are focused oil and gas, but a bigger carbon disaster may be brewing…

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]]> coheng@oilprice.com (Dave Cohen) Tue, 22 May 2012 23:16:38 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Is-a-Carbon-Disaster-Brewing-in-The-Pacific-Northwest.html New Fuel Injection System to make Petrol Engines as Efficient as Hybrids http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/New-Fuel-Injection-System-to-make-Petrol-Engines-as-Efficient-as-Hybrids.html Delphi is developing an engine fuel injection technology that could improve the fuel economy of gas-powered cars by 50 percent, potentially rivalling the performance of hybrid vehicles at less cost. Their test engine based on the technology is similar in some ways to a highly efficient diesel engine, but runs on gasoline.Delphi’s approach, called gasoline-direct-injection compression ignition combines a collection of engine-operating strategies that make use of advanced fuel injection and air intake and exhaust controls, many of which are…

]]> james@pokemoncard.info (Brian Westenhaus) Tue, 22 May 2012 23:02:13 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/New-Fuel-Injection-System-to-make-Petrol-Engines-as-Efficient-as-Hybrids.html Energy in the Time of Elections: Claims and Counterclaims http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Energy-in-the-Time-of-Elections-Claims-and-Counterclaims.html Where there's oil and gas, there's milk and honey. That is the thrust of the American Petroleum Institute's report to the platform committees of the Republican and Democratic parties. It was previewed in Washington on May 15 by API President and CEO Jack Gerard, the oil industry's man on Earth, known for his tough attitudes to just about everything, but the Obama Administration in particular. In unveiling the report at the National Press Club, Gerard declared that the recommendations were without political slant and were delivered to both parties’…

]]> llew@oilprice.com (Llewellyn King) Mon, 21 May 2012 19:17:31 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Energy-in-the-Time-of-Elections-Claims-and-Counterclaims.html Why the Smart Grid is More Than Just Smart Meters http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Why-the-Smart-Grid-is-More-Than-Just-Smart-Meters.html Richard Ford doesn’t like the term smart grid. “It means different things to different people,” says the manager of grid solutions at Toronto Hydro. “The term has become overused. It gets in the way.” Many hydro customers in the city associate the term with the smart meters in their homes and the time-of-use pricing they enable. Some imagine a smart home or building equipped with intelligent appliances and lighting systems that interact with each other and can be remotely managed by software to reduce energy use. Others…

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]]> tylerhamilton@oilprice.com (Tyler Hamilton) Mon, 21 May 2012 19:11:55 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Why-the-Smart-Grid-is-More-Than-Just-Smart-Meters.html Cyber Update: Pipelines, China and Lax Security Standards http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Cyber-Update-Pipelines-China-and-Lax-Security-Standards.html The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified China as the possible origin of an ongoing cyber attack targeting US gas pipeline companies, and specifically a group that managed to hack into RSA security in 2011. The cyber attack could be a continuation of the “Night Dragon” attack in February 2011 on McAfee computer security firm, which was also traced back to China. The objective of that attack was to obtain financial data from oil and gas companies. Chinese officials deny that there is any evidence that…

]]> corporate@oilprice.com (Jen Alic) Fri, 18 May 2012 23:30:42 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Cyber-Update-Pipelines-China-and-Lax-Security-Standards.html The Real Cost of Cheap Energy http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Real-Cost-of-Cheap-Energy.html Where does your energy come from? Although I live in Colorado now, I grew up in East Tennessee, where many people still assume their power is fairly clean, dominated by 90-year-old hydroelectric plants. In truth, more than 50 percent of my family’s electricity was generated from coal, and still is. I didn’t think about it much.What price are we paying for energy apathy? What price will our children pay? As a child, I watched coal-seamed mountaintops disappear in the face of an energy crisis. Potentially potable water now goes to the…

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]]> cp@oilprice.com (Climate Progress) Fri, 18 May 2012 23:26:55 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Real-Cost-of-Cheap-Energy.html Climate Economics: Creatively Destroying the World http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Climate-Economics-Creatively-Destroying-the-World.html In the 70 years that have passed since Joseph Schumpeter coined the term "creative destruction," economists have struggled awkwardly with how to think about growth and innovation. Born of the low-growth agricultural economies of 18th Century Europe, the dismal science to this day remains focused on the question of how to most efficiently distribute scarce resources, not on how to create new ones -- this despite two centuries of rapid economic growth driven by disruptive technologies, from the steam engine to electricity to the Internet.There are…

]]> breakthrough@oilprice.com (Breakthrough Institute) Fri, 18 May 2012 23:17:56 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Climate-Economics-Creatively-Destroying-the-World.html How Falling Energy Costs will Shape the World http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-Falling-Energy-Costs-will-Shape-the-World.html A major plank in my golden age scenario for the 2020's is the collapse of the cost of energy. This won't occur because of a single big discovery, but from a 1,000 small ones that aggregate together to create a leveraged effect. The upshot is that we may be free of OPEC in 3-5 years, and completely energy independent not long after that. The impact on financial markets and global standards of living will be huge.To flesh out my arguments, I called Dr. Amory B. Lovins, chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, who spends a lot of time thinking…

]]> (Mad Hedge Fund Trader) Thu, 17 May 2012 22:46:47 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-Falling-Energy-Costs-will-Shape-the-World.html How the Export of Coal and Natural Gas in the U.S. has Developed over time http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-the-Export-of-Coal-and-Natural-Gas-in-the-U.S.-has-Developed-over-time.html The beaten and bruised US coal industry got up off the floor from the body blows of US EPA’s regulations and got back in the race as an export champion serving energy hungry Asian markets. Fourth quarter 2011 US coal exports increased 6.6 percent from the Q3: 2011 and 32.6 percent from Q4: 2010 to 27.7 metric short tonnes (mst) with exports going mostly to Europe and Asia continuing to climb.Meanwhile, total U.S. coal consumption decreased by of 18.8 percent from third quarter 2011 and 9.4 percent from fourth quarter 2010 to 227.1 mst. …

]]> huntga@oilprice.com (Gary Hunt) Thu, 17 May 2012 22:37:00 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-the-Export-of-Coal-and-Natural-Gas-in-the-U.S.-has-Developed-over-time.html What the EIA's Short Term Energy Outlook Tells us about the Global Economy http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/What-the-EIAs-Short-Term-Energy-Outlook-Tells-us-about-the-Global-Economy.html The US Energy information Administration (EIA) released its updated Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) May 8, 2012. The overview calls for falling crude oil prices, falling gasoline prices, falling electric demand but higher natural gas prices as the prospect of exports reduces fears of excess inventory.The STEO is always a volatile cocktail of near term market fluxuations and this update is no different. The question is whether this short term forecast is good news or bad news about the economic future. In the case of global oil the…

]]> huntga@oilprice.com (Gary Hunt) Wed, 16 May 2012 22:54:41 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/What-the-EIAs-Short-Term-Energy-Outlook-Tells-us-about-the-Global-Economy.html As Saudi Oil Giant Expands, Can it Meet Mounting Security Concerns? http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/As-Saudi-Oil-Giant-Expands-Can-it-Meet-Mounting-Security-Concerns.html Already the largest oil exporter in the world, state-owned Saudi Aramco plans to significantly expand refining capacity and for the first time ever to venture into oil trading, which could render it the world’s largest integrated energy company; but mounting security threats pose a serious challenge to these ambitious goals. Aramco Trading, which opened in January, plans to move 1.5 million barrels per day in physical oil and gas, paper, futures and derivatives trading. The move coincides with Aramco’s goal of doubling its refining…

]]> corporate@oilprice.com (Jen Alic) Tue, 15 May 2012 3:49:33 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/As-Saudi-Oil-Giant-Expands-Can-it-Meet-Mounting-Security-Concerns.html U.S., China Compete for Canadian Energy Assets http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/U.S.-China-Compete-for-Canadian-Energy-Assets.html To hear Carlos Pascual, the U.S. State Department’s special envoy on international energy tell it, “The United States values Canada as its most important energy partner. There has never been a doubt about that. It is true now and it will continue to be true in the future.” A year ago at the Gas & Oil Expo and Conference North America 2011 the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, told his audience, “The United States and Canada have the closest energy relationship in the world. And the U.S. sees Canada as a…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Tue, 15 May 2012 3:43:07 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/U.S.-China-Compete-for-Canadian-Energy-Assets.html Argentina Counting Cost of Nationalizing YPF http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Argentina-Counting-Cost-of-Nationalizing-YPF.html One of the most feared words in every oilman’s lexicon is “nationalization.” On 16 April Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner did exactly that with the energy firm Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF), introducing legislation for the partial renationalization of the firm, under which the state would purchase a 51 percent share, with the national government controlling 51 percent of this package and ten provincial governments receiving the remaining 49 percent. Ten days later the Argentinean Senate approved…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Sun, 13 May 2012 13:56:17 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Argentina-Counting-Cost-of-Nationalizing-YPF.html America's Horizontal Drilling Technology will Transform the World http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Americas-Horizontal-Drilling-Technology-will-Transform-the-World.html The success of unconventional oil and gas production from shale formation is reshaping the US energy industry and may yet prove to be a major factor pulling US GDP growth up off the floor. Comparing the relative performance of the conventional and unconventional oil and gas sectors of the industry is a study in contrasts. The conventional oil and gas sector was setback by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Now two years later, Federal permitting of new drilling is returning to average pre-spill approval rates of six new…

]]> huntga@oilprice.com (Gary Hunt) Sun, 13 May 2012 13:46:30 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Americas-Horizontal-Drilling-Technology-will-Transform-the-World.html A Look at the Major Forces Shaping our Future http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/A-Look-at-the-Major-Forces-Shaping-our-Future.html While waiting to see how the Iranian nuclear confrontation and the various Eurozone crises sort themselves out, there is time to step back and look at the interaction of the major forces that will shape our future. While the problems of oil depletion are already upon us, shrinking resources are only a part of global dynamics currently. There are at least six major forces moving civilization in the world today: 1) population growth: 2) economic growth; 3) political stability; 4) technological innovation; and more recently 5) resource depletion and…

]]> postcarbon@oilprice.com (Post Carbon) Sun, 13 May 2012 13:42:18 GMT http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/A-Look-at-the-Major-Forces-Shaping-our-Future.html