Article Archive

• Solar Trade Wars: Victory for US Manufacturers, Loss for Solar Overall?

  Solar manufacturing lobbyists have won the latest round of a trade war with China, but the entire solar industry could pay dearly for a victory that could see heavy US tariffs on Chinese solar panels make solar pricing inaccessible and lead to a significant loss of industry jobs.In the end, it comes down to the fact that solar power is finally becoming affordable and widely accessible, which is good news for green energy ambitions; but that good news is coming at the expense of US manufacturers. The tariffs may turn the tables in favor of the manufacturers but to the…

• Megrahi's Death Only Beginning in Libyan Oil Saga

  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 grave. Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, U.S.…

• OPEC's View of the World Oil Market

  It is interesting to read the viewpoint of OPEC each month, as it relates to global oil supply, and the numbers that they rely on to estimate how much production that will be required.  For 2012, for example, they now see no need to increase production above 30 mbd, (though it averaged 31.62 mbd in April, when NGL and non-conventional sources are included) with adequate production growth to meet demand (some 0.6 mbd) coming from non-OPEC sources that are anticipated to average 53 mbd this year. At present supply is seen as exceeding demand, hence there has been an increase…

• The Facts about Fracking Fluid and its Disposal

  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 from a chemical perceptive. It is not intended as a review of the relationship between wastewater injection wells and earthquakes. Let…

• Iran Oil Sanctions After the Baghdad Talks

  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, inflation is soaring, the rial has lost 60% of its value and unemployment is at about…

• Pakistan's Abundance in Renewable Energy

  Pakistan's vast renewable energy potential remains largely untapped for a mix of reasons, twin analyses show.The analyses, to be published in the June 2012 issue of Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, say exploiting Pakistan’s massive, unexploited renewable energy sources, particularly hydroelectric and solar, can help plug its widening energy deficit and improve livelihoods.The studies focus on solar energy, particularly in the Thar and Cholistan deserts and also river waters, that could be channelled into small hydropower plants of up to 10 megawatt capacity.Against a demand of 24,474 megawatts, the country’s power production capacity stood at 20,190 megawatts in 2009-2010.The authors…

• China Warns Australia to Choose "Godfather" - China or U.S.

  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 or later. Australia always has to depend on somebody else, whether it is to be…

• Kurdish Oil Pipeline Could Split Iraq

  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 Baghdad by exporting oil to Turkey through a new pipeline by 2013.…

• Is a Carbon Disaster Brewing in The Pacific Northwest?

  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 in the Pacific NorthwestCoal is without question our dirtiest fuel source: When burned, it dumps…

• New Fuel Injection System to make Petrol Engines as Efficient as Hybrids

  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 available on advanced engines today.Delphi Fuel Injection Engine Lab Test Rig.The researchers found that if they injected the gasoline in…