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Way back in early 2011, members of the U.N. Security Council had no problem getting a resolution through that authorized military force in Libya ostensibly to protect civilians from attacks by forces loyal to strongman Moammar Gadhafi. The year before, lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic were bickering over who did what and why in terms of the cancer-stricken Lockerbie bomber. This Scottish decision to release him, depending on which U.S. lawmaker you spoke with, was tied to a BP deal to drill for oil in Libya. Despite fractures in the new interim government in Tripoli and reports of...

On 5 November an earthquake measuring 5.6 rattled Oklahoma and was felt as far away as Illinois. Until two years ago Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes a year, but in 2010, 1,047 quakes shook the state. Why? In Lincoln County, where most of this past weekend's seismic incidents were centered, there are 181 injection wells, according to Matt Skinner, an official from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency which oversees oil and gas production in the state. Cause and effect? The practice of injecting water into deep rock formations causes earthquakes, both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Geological...

Libyan Colonel Gaddafi’s 42 year brutal reign is over, but the future looks murky ahead for a country primarily known for exporting oil and terrorism. One thing is for certain – international oil companies will be packing out flights to Tripoli to cut deals for a piece of the action. Libya remains the wild card, with only 25 percent of the country’s oil potential territory explored. Whatever the demerits of the Gaddafi regime, it kept tight rein over its oil industry, and that, combined with international sanctions for its terrorist proclivities, largely stymied development of the country’s resources, much in...

President Obama is reviving his battle to kill oil-and-gas industry tax breaks and seeking billions of dollars in other energy-related revenues as part of his wider deficit-cutting and jobs proposals . The White House on Monday sent Congress a plan to pay for Obama’s $447 billion “American Jobs Act” and also cut the deficit by over $3 trillion in 10 years. Several of Obama’s energy tax proposals have sputtered in the past amid resistance from Republicans and oil-state Democrats. But they are part of a White House effort to sharpen the contrast between the president and Republicans over raising...

Link only - Questions Raised After DOE Hides Costs Of Energy Projects Each project is listed in detail on the DOE's website, but the costs were recently taken down.

While NATO members, led by France, piously proclaimed at the onset of their military offensive in Libya that their concerns were solely humanitarian, a covert tussle to gain a commanding lead in developing the country’s energy riches in light of Colonel Gaddafi’s departure is well underway. The Libyan economy depends primarily upon revenues from the oil sector, which contribute about 95 percent of export earnings, 25 percent of GDP, and 80 percent of government revenue. Prior to the outbreak of conflict, Libya was exporting about 1.3-1.4 million barrels per day from production estimated at roughly 1.79 million barrels per day,...

Earlier today, I posted excerpts from Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio’s excellent floor speech about President Barack Obama’s proposal to address the deficit with tax hikes. Among other things, Rubio asked just how many jobs the president’s proposed tax on oil companies would create. Turns out, energy analysts at consulting firm Wood Mackenzie have the answer.According to their analysis, increased industry taxation of $5 billion a year (a little off of the approximately $4 billion currently under discussion, but still applicable) would cost the country about 50,000 jobs by 2014, an additional 15,000 by 2020 and 8,000 more by 2025....

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says oil companies are profiting from rising pump prices and he wants Congress to end $4 billion in annual tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. "These tax giveaways aren't right," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday. "They aren't smart. And we need to end them." Drivers in 22 states are paying more than the national average of $3.91 per gallon. In Alaska, California and Connecticut, it's $4.20 or more. The price jump has slowed economic growth and hurt Obama's public approval ratings. Exxon Mobil Corp. this week reported nearly...

New Study: Oil and natural gas companies provide strong support for public pension funds Carlton Carroll |202.682.8114 | carrollc@api.org WASHINGTON, April 25, 2011 – Oil and natural gas company holdings in state pension funds are providing disproportionately strong returns for retirees, according to a new study by Sonecon, commissioned by API. While oil and natural gas stocks make up an average of 3.9 percent of public pension holdings in four key states, they accounted for an average of 8.6 percent of the returns in these accounts from 2005 to 2008. “During vigorous expansion or deep recession, oil and natural gas...

The White House has joined congressional Democrats in targeting oil companies with criticism for nearly $4 per gallon gas. President Obama lashed out at oil companies -- and the tax breaks they get from the government -- for a second day in a row on Thursday and again in Saturday's address. “Four billion dollars of your money are going to these companies at a time when they’re making record profits and you’re paying near record prices at the pump,” the president said at a Nevada town hall. “It has to stop."

Gasoline has exceeded or approached $5.00 per gallon in some parts of the United States long before the normal peak travel season has begun. Already the politicians, headline writers, and some cable and talk show pundits are pointing to the usual suspects. But they have avoided or are unaware of where the fault actually lies. One of the foundational tenets of economics is what is known as the law of supply and demand. Normally whenever a product or commodity is in short supply the cost to acquire it increases; on the other hand, if there is a glut on the...

George Soros has been a brilliant investor over the years. As befits many hedge fund operators, he uses leverage to magnify his returns. But in his case, leverage has a double meaning. Leverage can refer to the debt Soros assumes when he makes his investments. But it can also refer to the practice Soros has engaged in, both overseas and in America, to use his money and influence to bolster his political power -- power that he then uses to boost returns on his investments. He is not just a hedge fund billionaire but a crony capitalist kingpin who puts...

THREE STAFF TAKEN ILL Police are checking one of BP's offices in Moscow after three female workers fell ill when they opened a bag of letters. Officers in the Russian capital said the employees "got sore throats, their eyes watered and one of them got red spots on her skin". A police spokesman added: "They packed the letters back in the bag and called emergency workers and chemical experts, who are now studying the letters." Russia's Emergencies Ministry said it had sent experts to BP's oil trading office. It was not clear what caused the employees to feel ill. But...

VIDEO: Arnold Schwarzenegger shares energy policy ideas with Diane Sawyer. The following is a partial transcript of the exchange (see video) • World News asked California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger about the clean energy policies that he says are his legacy • Does he think the nation will join in his conviction? SCHWARZENEGGER: "What would help is if we now are successful in beating back the Texas oil companies, the same players that have been there for decades, ruining everything -- you know -- trying to burn and get rid of our light rail in 45 cities. "And so now the...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday rebuked Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., which operate refineries in Wilmington, for bankrolling a measure that would effectively scuttle the state's efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. "Go home, Texas oil companies," Villaraigosa urged at a news conference aimed at encouraging voters to oppose Proposition 23, a November ballot initiative to suspend California's 2006 climate change law until the state's unemployment rate drops. "We won't compromise our environmental and health standards so you can make more money," he said. The sharp tone was an early indication of the battle expected over the measure, which...

May 29, 2008 By Andrew Walden (Hawai'i Free Press) Nadhmi Auchi, seen here with the Governor of Illinois, Rob Blagojevich (middle) at a 2004 Chicago dinner in Auchi's honor arranged by Antonin Rezko (potentially, right)[1]. All three men have been convicted of corruption related charges (Auchi 2003, Rezko 2008, Blagojevich 2009).[2] “A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser (dual US-Syrian citizen Tony Rezko) just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses. The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi,...

The US private sector somehow seems to be exerting itself despite the vast expansion of government by the Obama administration and congressional Democrats. Case in point: Last week, four oil companies -- Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell -- announced that they are setting up a $1 billion joint venture to design, build and operate a rapid-response system to contain offshore-oil spills as deep as and deeper than BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster. Their goal is a system that can start mobilizing within 24 hours of an oil spill. They hope to have it up and running in 18 months. One might...

Sixty percent (60%) of U.S. voters continue to support offshore oil drilling, but voters remain critical of President Obama's response to the ongoing oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and are more critical than ever of how the companies involved are responding. Forty-seven percent (47%) rate the president’s handling of the Gulf oil leak as poor... The number of voters who give the president poor marks is up 21 points from early May. Thirty-six percent (36%) now rate his response to the spill as good or excellent

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday he would mount a vigorous defense of his landmark environmental legislation, vowing to "push back" against "greedy oil companies who want to keep polluting in our state." His comments came as supporters of an effort to roll back AB 32, the global warming legislation Schwarzenegger signed in 2006, announced they had gathered enough signatures to get their measure on the November ballot. They submitted the signatures to the secretary of state Monday morning. AB 32 requires California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The initiative campaign, which is bankrolled almost entirely...

One nagging question that the industrial world has been asking itself since the discovery of the first oil well is what happens when the wells begin to run dry. The answer is relatively simple to imagine. We had a dry run, so to speak, when Dubai’s economy tanked a few years ago. And although the causes of Dubai’s ills and ails were financial and not oil related, the drama which unfolded gave us a watered-down version of what might transpire if and when the oil wells stop producing. But before we run the Armageddon tape that the world will stop...

As multinational military forces have left Iraq, international petroleum companies have eagerly descended -- seduced by the long-term potential of vast oil reserves off-limits to foreigners for decades. Yet lingering violence, legal questions and political uncertainty make doing business in this country a gamble. In the first international oil auction held last June, widely seen as a failure, the Iraqi government awarded a firm contract to only a consortium of British Petroleum and the China National Petroleum Co. to further develop the Rumaila field over 20 years. Iraq recently forged an initial agreement with a group comprising Exxon Mobil and...

The world continues to thirst for oil with in an ever increasing fervor, yet simultaneously struggles to fully grasp and appreciate the obstacles encountered by those who bring that oil to their local pumps. There has always been a necessary trade-off when it comes to technology and industrial advancement, as in order to experience the many benefits modern society offers us, we have to agree to give up some portion of nature and accept a certain amount of environmental damage. But recently the oil industry has been seeking ways in which they can continue to bring us the oil that...

A detailed look at the largest Oil Companies, how they operate and who the major players in the field are. The Oil Companies take a lot of Flak, but are they as bad as you think? Companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Royal Dutch Shell now produce only 10% of the world's oil and gas and hold a mere 3% of its reserves. Big Oil’s primary “Movers & Shakers” according to “The Financial Times,” are: Aramco of Saudi Arabia, CNPC of China, Gazprom of Russia, NIOC of Iran, PDVSA of Venezuela, , Petrobras of Brazil, as well as Petronas of...

Can New technology divert a potential Oil Crisis? We take a look at the latest technology and techniques being used by Oil Companies in the field of Oil Drilling. With our dwindling supply of fossil fuels, oil drillers are finding themselves in great demand and as their techniques become more sophisticated Oil Fields are lasting longer and producing more of the black stuff. I suppose the first order of business would be to mention the continual fine tuning and innovative advances that are taking place almost daily within the technology of “Three Dimensional Seismic Imaging. For those with their head...

Al Gore’s campaign against global warming is shifting into high gear. Reporters and commentators follow his every move and bombard the public with notice of his activities and opinions. But while the mainstream media promote his ideas about the state of planet Earth, they are mostly silent about the dramatic impact his economic proposals would have on America. And journalists routinely ignore evidence that he may personally benefit from his programs. Would the romance fizzle if Gore’s followers realized how much their man stands to gain? Earlier this year Gore experienced a notable public relations debacle. The Tennessee Center for...

Piracy is common off Nigeria and often linked to militants Pirates have seized a ship owned by a French company off the Nigerian coast, taking nine crew members hostage. The company - Bourbon - said the captain had assured them that all crew members were unharmed. Bourbon - which provides specialist boats for the oil and gas industry - said it was working to free the crew. The hostages are from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Indonesia. Piracy is common in Nigerian waters, often linked to militants targeting oil companies. Militants attack vessels and strip them of valuables, taking hostages for...

Barack Obama appears to have personally benefited from funds originating in Saddam Hussein's regime. It's a complicated connection, but one that deserves the consideration of Americans voters. Two similar figures, Nadhmi Auchi and Antoin S. "Tony" Rezko, served as the intermediaries. Both are Middle Eastern males of Catholic Christian heritage who left Baathist dictatorships for Western cities (Auchi from Iraq to London, Rezko from Syria to Chicago). Both became successful businessmen who hobnobbed with politicians and promoted Arab interests. Both have been convicted of taking kickbacks and both stand accused of other shady dealings. Auchi, born in 1937, is the...

More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress critical of oil companies have investments in the industry, according to a review of lawmakers’ financial assets. At least 14 Democratic members of the House and one senator have holdings ranging from several thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars in companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. or partnerships such as Schlumberger and Hornbeck Offshore Services. These lawmakers have accused oil companies for making record profits, manipulating prices, benefiting from unnecessary tax breaks and trying to gobble up federal lands. Democrats argue that their criticisms of the oil...

If didn't know better, I would think the Democrats are really trying to lose this election. First they offered up the cap and trade global warming bill in the Senate that was quickly withdrawn when they realized what a debacle they were creating for themselves. Then this week they planned to use a windfall profits tax to vilify the oil companies and distract the public from their negligence and malfeasance for failing to enact laws and make policies to encourage the production and distribution of the life-blood of the nation- oil. Congress has repeatedly failed to produce legislation to that would lead to more meaningful energy...

June 12, 2008Berkeley, California This gas thing is getting ridiculous, and I decided I wasn't going to sit idly by while the big oil companies and George Bush sucked every last cent out of my welfare checks. I called my friend and assistant, Scooter, over to discuss a plan to strike a blow against Big Oil. Scooter showed up with a bag of mushrooms and two bottles of Bailey's for what promised to be a marathon strategy session.In order to come up with an action plan (AP), we first needed to determine what our end objective (EO) was to be. Scooter and I were in...

Who owns 'Big Oil?' It's not who you think. A recent study finds that ownership of oil and natural gas company shares is made up of a broad cross section of Americans. "This study disproves the popular misconception that 'Big Oil' is owned by a small group of industry insiders. In reality, across the oil and natural gas industry only 1.5 percent of shares of public companies are owned by company executives," said study author Robert J. Shapiro, undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs under President Bill Clinton. "The data show that ownership of industry shares is broadly middle class,...

Junk your SUV and buy an electric scooter. Recent claims by various OPEC leaders that the world has plenty of oil left are bunk, alleges Sadad Al-Husseini, a former top executive at Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company. Oil-producing countries are inflating the size of their oil reserves by as much as 300 billion barrels by padding supposedly proven reserves with “probable” reserves and tar and oil sands, according to Husseini. Such hypothetical reserves are “not delineated, not accessible and not available for production,” Husseini said at a recent energy conference in London. Oil production has now reached its...

NEW YORK - At least two major oil companies said late Wednesday they have agreed to settle lawsuits over the use of the gasoline additive MTBE, a potential carcinogen that has been found in drinking water. Representatives of Valero Energy Corp. and Chevron Corp. said they had joined the settlement, although a number of other oil companies are also named in a memo supporting the deal that was obtained by The Associated Press. The companies confirmed their involvement after The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site that several oil companies agreed to pay $423 million plus cleanup costs...

"We’re going to go right at OPEC," she said. "They can no longer be a cartel, a monopoly that get together once every couple of months in some conference room in some plush place in the world, they decide how much oil they’re going to produce and what price they’re going to put it at," she told a crowd at a firehouse in Merrillville, IN. - Hillary Rodham Clinton (5 May 2008) From the palace of her delusional Shangri-La, Empress Clinton has decreed that OPEC can no longer exist as a cartel. It’s a good thing that the Sultan of...

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.—Archilochus (7th-century BC) Mark Penn might not be appearing before the cameras on Hillary's behalf nowadays, but bet that he is beavering away behind the scenes on his polling. And judging from Hillary's dogged [to mix an animal metaphor] performance on this morning's Today, it's obvious that Penn's turned up one big thing: Dem primary voters hate oil companies. Meredith Vieira gamely tried to get Clinton onto other subjects during her interview. But no matter the question, the answer was almost invariably the same: I Hate Big Oil. Since...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- We all want to live in a world that's clean, healthy and prosperous. We all want to hand that world off to our children in slightly better shape than we received it. No one, even the supposedly evil oil executive, has any reason to want anything different. But, for some reason, we find ourselves searching for villains. Surely they exist, but the endless quest to create them sometimes overwhelms our better judgment, whether intentional or not. Congress has picked "Big Oil" as their enemy of the week. These companies inexplicably put profits above people, ravaging the...

Republicans teach Americans to believe. Democrats teach Americans to hate. The Republican impulse is found in the inherent faith and hope of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. The Democrat impulse is found in the essential envy and anger of Marxism. Like the oil companies. In the face of rising gasoline and diesel costs, Democrats in the Congress want Americans to hate the oil companies. In hearings this week, the CEOs of several oil companies were vilified by Democrats in Congress who used the proceedings as a chance to prance and preen for the television cameras. The gist and thrust...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The American Automobile Association of California said some drivers are now paying up to $5 a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline. Crude oil prices hit an all-time high Wednesday, above $98 a barrel and analysts said with worldwide oil demand rising -- it is still not clear just how high prices will go. In Salinas, AAA recorded an average of $3.39 per gallon. Santa Cruz is at an average of $3.37 per gallon. KSBW checked and found gas in Gorda, south of Big Sur, is even higher. Drivers there are paying $5 for gas. Over the past...

News Analysis What’s America’s energy IQ? “Not as high as it should be,” Dr. John Felmy told the Boca Raton News. “In fact, we were very surprised at how much confusion and misinformation was revealed by the survey.” There’s been a survey? What survey? Dr. Felmy smiles – the smile of a man who’s warming to his subject. The survey, conducted for the American Petroleum Institute (API) by well-known public opinion surveyors, Harris Interactive, shows that “most U.S. adults have a fundamental lack of knowledge regarding energy demand and supplies and the role of America's oil and natural gas companies,”...

by Mark Finkelstein September 14, 2006 - 18:19 When Ben Cardin, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Maryland, appeared on this afternoon's Hardball, host Chris Matthews played a Cardin TV ad, most of which was taken up by Cardin informing voters that: "I always try to do what's right, what's in the best interest of Maryland families: taking on the drug companies, the oil companies, the insurance companies." Let's first note Cardin's daring admission that he tries to do 'what's right.' Controversial stuff. Actually, come to think of the track record of Maryland politicians when it comes to obeying...

The army has decided to end a controversial multibillion-dollar contract with Halliburton, the oil services company, to provide logistics support to US forces in Iraq. Under a new contracting scheme, to be launched late this year, three contractors will be used for the army's contracted logistics work, such as providing meals, washing clothes, transporting fuel and delivering mail. An additional contract will be awarded to a single company to manage the workload. Army officials said the change would improve planning and accountability, and provide better contingency options if one contractor performed poorly. But the shift comes amid charges from government...

Royal Dutch Shell, the world's top marketer of biofuels, considers using food crops to make biofuels "morally inappropriate" as long as there are people in the world who are starving, an executive said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT click here Eric G Holthusen, Fuels Technology Manager Asia/Pacific, said the company's research unit, Shell Global Solutions, has developed alternative fuels from renewable resources that use wood chips and plant waste rather than food crops that are typically used to make the fuels. Holthusen said his company's participation in marketing biofuels extracted from food was driven by economics or legislation. "If we have the...

In 1996 a number of EV-1 electric cars began appearing on California's highways. The General Motors-produced vehicle was fast, ran quietly, produced no polluting exhaust and it ran without gasoline and then, suddenly, it was gone. The documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?, from producer Dean Devlin and filmmaker Chris Paine, chronicles the life and mysterious death of the groundbreaking vehicle, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business. Filmmakers make the case that the death of the EV-1 was, in fact, a murder. They claim to show that...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Natural-gas futures closed under $5 per million British thermal units Thursday for the first time in 16 months after a government report pegged inventories of the commodity at more than 2 trillion cubic feet, spurring market concerns over a potential supply glut. "In an average year, we usually don't see 2 [trillion cubic feet] in storage until July," said Ben Smith, a managing partner at First Enercast Financial. "We are almost two months early this year." June natural-gas futures traded as low as $5.86 per million British thermal units, its weakest levels since late Jan. 2005....

I am writing this letter in answer to article concerning high gas prices, in the May 3 edition of the Calvert Independent. In addressing the high gasoline prices, I am not surprised to see the slant, or “spin,” that the greedy oil companies are the blame for the high prices. It never fails to amaze me when liberal minds continually spout the talking points spewed forth daily by the media. Why are gasoline prices high? Who is to blame? First, we have the onerous fuel blend regulations of the Carol Browner EPA of 1997, creating nearly 30 fuel blends nationwide....

The U. S. Congress is making noise again, this time in regard to high gasoline prices. But their concern is insincere. Just look at the huge smile on the face of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) when he warns us about the possibility of $4.00 per gallon gasoline. The Democrats and some liberal Republicans charge "price gouging." Even Bill O'Reilly has jumped on the "gouging" bandwagon. This shows that they do not understand economics. I'm as upset about high gasoline prices as anyone else is. But let's put the blame where it's due. The oil companies do not control the price...

Gas prices are soaring again, and are expected to surpass last September’s high of $3.07 a gallon after Hurricane Katrina. Yet this time, there is no Hurricane Katrina to provide an obvious reason why. Both Republicans and Democrats are blaming the oil companies. Bush and Congressional Democrats are calling for a repeal of tax breaks to oil companies. Politically, attacking the oil companies while gas prices are high is fairly safe, because many people already view them as faceless corporate entities that trash the environment while emptying their pocketbooks. In reality, this criticism is shortsighted because the oil companies are...

<p>Arizona's comprehensive investigation into that state's high fuel prices after Hurricane Katrina concludes that while there was "profiteering" at all levels of the oil industry, nothing illegal took place.</p> <p>Washington's attorney general's office said in a report last week that its more recent investigation of today's high prices "has not found any evidence so far of illegal activity among gasoline retailers or producers in Washington."</p>

April 28, 2006 Berkeley, California This week's three dollar-a-gallon gasoline forced us to get rid of Scooter's old gas-hog Ford Taurus for something more efficient. All our friends and many Hollywood celebrities are driving Toyota Priuses now, so that's what Scooter wanted. He's very ecologically sensitive and had been wanting some "earth-friendly" wheels for a long time. After selling some items for Pepe recently, he finally had enough cash for a down payment on a good used car. While sampling Pepe's latest, we went online and carefully researched prices on used Priuses and the trade-in value of the Taurus. It...

And if the federal and state government eliminate gasoline taxes, the price will drop further to $2.50 per gallon, in some states (to $2.61 in my state).