OilPrice.com Daily News Update

Two Natural Gas Kings: Russia and Qatar

ferd@oilprice.com (Ferdinand E. Banks) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:09:36 GMT

In my forthcoming energy economics textbook (2012), the two natural gas kings are three – Russia, Qatar and Iran – while if I were beginning that book today, I would consider making it a foursome.

The United States (U.S.) might belong with this royalty, assuming that the shale revolution is indisputably authentic and relevant, and not a transient bounty. Unfortunately we must wait a while for the verification we require, because the Energy Intelligence Agency (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy has apparently…

Cold Snap Sign of European Dependence on Russian Gas

dg@oilprice.com (Daniel J. Graeber) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:04:29 GMT

Russia’s natural gas monopoly during the weekend said it was having trouble keeping up with European demand during a brutal cold snap gripping much of the eurozone. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had asked Gazprom to do all in its power to meet energy demands and by Monday, European officials – many of whom are coping with below-zero temperatures – said things were more or less back to normal. But what's normal? European leaders, with Washington's help, have tried to break Russia’s grip on the European energy sector…

China Look to Take Advantage of Iran's Situation by Negotiating New Oil Prices

burgessj@oilprice.com (James Burgess) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:02:36 GMT

In a turn of events that could prove disastrous for Iran, it has found its largest exporter, China, recently reducing the amount of oil it buys and looking for other sources, such as Saudi Arabia. China normally accounts for 20% of Iran’s exports, but has reduced the quantity of oil purchased by about 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), just over half of original supplies. It has nothing to do with current US and European sanctions but is more of a negotiating ploy to help increase the bargaining power of China.

They are trying to take…

Israeli Company Promotes Shale Oil and Natural Gas Production, Protests Ensue

admin@namecake.com (John Daly) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:35:18 GMT

Israel imports all its oil and coal and 70 percent of its natural gas needs, leaving the government deeply interested in developing indigenous alternatives.

Highlighting the vulnerability of its imports, on 5 February there was an explosion on Egypt's $500 million East Mediterranean Gas Company Ltd. (EMG) pipeline, that transits Egyptian natural gas to Israel and Jordan in northern Sinai in the Massaeed area, west of al Arish.

The attack on the EMG pipeline is the 12th since February 2011, when a popular uprising…

End of the Boom: The True State of the Shale Gas Industry

cobbi@oilprice.com (Kurt Cobb) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:31:38 GMT

Estimates for recoverable shale gas just keep falling. Last year, the Potential Gas Committee, an industry consortium that focuses on long-term projections, estimated that recoverable natural gas from shale deposits in the United States would amount to 687 trillion cubic feet (tcf). (This optimistic appraisal laid the groundwork for the oft-repeated notion that the United States has 100 years of natural gas supply at current rates of consumption. The estimate was also based on so-called "speculative…

Similarities Between Climate and Energy Policies are Only Skin Deep

(Judith Curry) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:26:44 GMT

It has been claimed that energy security and climate policy should be considered “two sides of the same coin.” In 2006, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said, “We must treat energy security and climate security as two sides of the same coin.” Other leaders in Europe, members of the United States Congress and many commentators have echoed Blair’s statement.

Are both energy security and climate policy best addressed by the same policies, or do policies that are best for one goal possibly compromise attainment…

Self-Sufficient Floating Cities to be Produced by 2025

energydigital@oilprice.com (Energy Digital) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:21:32 GMT

Japanese scientists are working on a concept to build carbon-neutral, self-sufficient floating cities.

Japanese firm Shimizu has a startling new concept: mini floating, carbon-neutral cities that drift across the Pacific on giant water lilies. The Green Float concept includes a number of cells that could house between 10,000 to 50,000 people.

The cells, each about 1 kilometre wide, could float freely or attach onto other cells to form larger towns, cities or even countries. At the centre…

The Energy Mix that will help us Survive without Fossil Fuels

murphyt@oilprice.com (Tom Murphy) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:14:37 GMT

Breathe, Neo. I’ve been running a marathon lately to cover all the major players that may provide viable alternatives to fossil fuels this century. Even though I have not exhausted all possibilities, or covered each topic exhaustively, I am exhausted. So in this post, I will provide a recap of all the schemes discussed thus far, in matrix form. Then Do the Math will shift its focus to more of the “what next” part of the message.

The primary “mission” of late has been to sort possible future energy resources…

Oil Rich Azerbaijan Looking for Investors

admin@namecake.com (John Daly) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:11:24 GMT

The prosperity of former republics of the USSR, which collapsed in December 1991, has primarily been driven by the development of energy resources in the post-Soviet era, notably around the Caspian. Out of the debris of the Soviet Union have arisen four petro-states ringing the Caspian – the Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

The possibilities there have focused the attention of investors for the last twenty years. More than a decade ago Vice President Dick Cheney, then Halliburton CEO, remarked,…

How Energy Availability Affects Economies and Societies

opendemocracy@oilprice.com (Open Democracy) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:06:35 GMT

So familiar has the social economy of energy become in modern societies, so routine its extraordinary wastefulness, so toxic its effects, that the capacity for a better way can be missed. By questioning the how, why and what of energy use, says Rebecca Willis, new possibilities - of living, travelling, eating, working and buying - can open.

There are no pavements in downtown Bahrain. Visiting a few years ago for a family wedding, I wanted to pop to the shops to pick up some nappies. I could see a chemist from our hotel window, but the…