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The largest petroleum joint venture of the planet will be set up by Venezuela and Russia, Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez told reporters on his arrival at Moscow airport on Thursday. Chavez, said that Venezuela and Russia will sign shortly an agreement for the conformation of an energy consortium, the consortium will by headed by PDVSA and Gazprom, and will operate in Venezuela and later in the rest of Latin America. Chavez added "this is going to be the largest petroleum consortium of the planet". During a recent visit to Venezuela by Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin both governments evaluated various...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Citgo will be allowed to pull 250,000 barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve because of its inability to secure crude in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. Venezuela's government-controlled Citgo Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday that supplies to its refinery in Lake Charles, La., were cut off when the Calcasieu Ship Channel closed. http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/03/news/international/citgo_reserve.ap/?postversion=2008090311

The last few days have seen left wing anti-energy Democrats scrambling to find a survivable position. When we first launched the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition drive at American Solutions, left wing anti-energy Democrats were deeply and decisively opposed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that she was "saving the planet" by stopping drilling. Senator Obama made fun of drilling and announced that inflating your tires would increase energy availability as much as drilling. Congressman Mark Udall (D-CO), a hard line environmental extremist and anti-energy Democrat (and the author in the House of the ban on developing oil...

Congress suffers from a crude sense of timing when it comes to oil. When it was time to act, it did nothing for decades. Now it’s desperate to be seen doing something at the precise moment when the time has come to do nothing. On October 1, the congressional ban on extracting oil from the 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf will expire. The ban has been renewed annually for decades. If Congress simply does nothing, the ban will expire, uncorking significant new supplies of oil and gas, and sending a message to world energy markets that the...

WHILE oil prices have declined somewhat of late, the volatility of the market and the political and religious unrest in major oil-producing countries has Americans worrying more than ever about energy security. But they have little to fear — contrary to common understanding, there are robust stockpiles of oil around the globe that could see us through any foreseeable calamities on the world market. True, trouble for the world’s energy supplies could come from many directions. Hurricanes and other natural disasters could suddenly disrupt oil production or transportation. Iran loudly and regularly proclaims that it can block oil exports from...

The Perdido spar will bring production in from three fields—Great White, Silvertip and Tobago—with a production design of 130,000 boe/day. The Shell-operated Perdido Regional Development Spar has arrived in the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and is currently being secured to the seafloor in 7,816 ft (2,382 m) of water, a process that will take about one month. Perdido will be the deepest oil development in the world, the deepest drilling and production platform in the world and have the deepest subsea well in the world to date. Other partners in the joint venture are BP...

Oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing organic matter from which oil may be produced. The regulations would provide for a thoughtful, phased approach to oil shale development on public lands in the West. [Photo Credit: Argonne National Laboratory] WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of the InteriorÂ’s Bureau of Land Management today published proposed regulations to establish a commercial oil shale program that could result in the addition of up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from lands in the western United States. In keeping with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Mineral Leasing Act...

T. Boone Pickens has a series of commercials running so often on TV and radio that you can’t avoid them. The basic idea he is selling is to replace gasoline in cars with natural gas, and replace natural gas in electricity production with wind farm produced electricity. The idea won’t work, but Pickens will reap more millions from government subsidies until America figures that out, just as we have figured out that Biofuels made from foodstuffs was a very bad idea.

<p>Nigerian rebels claimed Monday they had sabotaged two Shell pipelines in Nigeria's main oil producing region, sending the price of crude climbing on international markets.</p> <p>The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed "heavily armed" MEND fighters had attacked the pipelines in the southern Rivers state operated by Shell.</p>

From Mexico to India to China, governments fearful of inflation and street protests are heavily subsidizing energy prices, particularly for diesel fuel. But the subsidies — estimated at $40 billion this year in China alone — are also removing much of the incentive to conserve fuel. The oil company BP, known for thorough statistical analysis of energy markets, estimates that countries with subsidies accounted for 96 percent of the world’s increase in oil use last year — growth that has helped drive prices to record levels. In most countries that do not subsidize fuel, high prices have caused oil demand...

Highlights The spot price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil increased from $122 per barrel on June 4 to $145 per barrel on July 3. Global supply uncertainties, combined with significant demand growth in China, the Middle East, and Latin America are expected to continue to pressure oil markets. WTI prices, which averaged $72 per barrel in 2007, are projected to average $127 per barrel in 2008 and $133 per barrel in 2009. Regular-grade gasoline is expected to average $3.84 per gallon in 2008, more than $1 per gallon above the 2007 average price. The U.S. average regular-grade gasoline...

Strategic Petroleum Reserve I have wondered if any single Representative in Congress could possibly be as dumb as all of them. Every once in a while I get my answer and the answer is yes. I have listened to the Democrats inform us that increasing the supply of oil by drilling will not alleviate the problem of high energy cost. I hear them expound relentlessly why building more refineries will not be helpful. Nuclear energy is out of the question they preach. Wind power might be acceptable as long as Senator Kennedy can’t see them. Some insist energy prices are...

The Guardian claims to have a confidential World Bank report which concludes that biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% — more than the IMF estimate of 20-30%, and far more than the US government’s claims that biofuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. The Guardian and the New York Times suggest the World Bank report is being held back to avoid conflict with the US, though bank chief Robert Zoellick has been vocal about the problem.The Guardian’s reporting on this is fairly shoddy, throwing around percentages without a time frame. Nevertheless, it is fairly clear...

I also realize that the greatest advances in the human condition came about when the energy contained in fossil fuels, especially petroleum, was harnessed. Until then the vast majority of human beings lived short lives of drudgery, poverty and despair – in contrast to the very few members of royalty or the society of the very rich. Perhaps younger generations who were born to 75 year old lifetimes and great abundance cannot fathom what life could have been like for most of the billions of people who were born and lived prior to the 20th century.

With the cost of crude oil surging to record highs, a heated battle of blame is in full swing, with a lineup of suspects that includes the oil industry, Congress, commodity speculators, environmentalists and developing countries in Asia. Meanwhile, predictions that we've reached a peak in oil production or will very soon — dismissed only a few years ago as being alarmist and without merit — are receiving more serious consideration. The problem is, nobody really knows how much oil is down there. The only thing that's certain: Dead organisms produced a limited amount of oil long ago, and eventually...

Recent crises have reenergized the population control movement. Worried about food shortages?  Reduce the number of babies born, its advocates argue.  Concerned about global warming?  Contracept or sterilize more women.  Want to bring down gas prices?  Promote abortion around the globe.  As “Going Green� columnist Bryan Walsh puts it in the latest issue of Time magazine (June 2, 2008), “Population is the essential multiplier for any number of human ills.�Not so long ago, the population controllers would have been embarrassed to openly promote such ideas.  After all, they have cried wolf so many times that most sensible people have stopped...

CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela's state petroleum company, PDVSA, increased petroleum imports by nearly 150 percent between the first quarter of 2007 and the same period this year, bank statistics show. A report by the Venezuelan Central Bank this week demonstrated that petroleum imports reached US$1.5 billion (€964 million) during the first quarter of 2008. The imports — which include diesel oil, gasoline and chemical additives for gasoline products — are the country's highest in more than a decade. A spokesperson for PDVSA said the company had no immediate comment on the issue. Economist Gustavo Garcia, a professor at a Caracas business...

...Many banks and investment firms have come out to defend the rise in oil prices, saying that it is based on fundamentals and that prices could rise much further. While they go on saying this and prices move upward, open interest in crude futures contracts has been moving steadily downward since a high of 1.58 million last July to 1.36 million now. What’s more, in the recent oil spike, open interest actually fell 8% in a week as oil moved up over 2.6%. Could this be a sign of a short squeeze, with small traders who had shorted oil closing...

...Particularly dramatic in this growth has been China, whose petroleum consumption between 1990 and 2006 increased at a 7.2% annual compound rate. It's always amusing to project these impressive exponential growth rates. If that rate of growth were to continue, China would be using 20 million barrels a day by 2020, about as much as the U.S. is today. By 2030, China would be up to 40 mb/d, twice the current U.S. consumption. ...Are such projections plausible from the point of view of potential demand? During 2006, China used about 2 barrels of oil per person. For comparison, Mexico used...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Amid increasing public outcry over record-shattering oil and gas prices, senators hauled company executives in to testify Wednesday to ask what's behind the recent runup. The Senate Judiciary Committee called the hearing to explore the skyrocketing price of oil, which topped $130 a barrel earlier in the day. The committee is set to question executives from Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500), ConocoPhillips (COP, Fortune 500), Shell Oil Co. (RDSA), Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) and BP (BP). "Normal supply and demand says prices should be around $55 to $60 a barrel," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman...

The world's premier energy monitor is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast, a shift that reflects deepening pessimism over whether oil companies can keep abreast of booming demand. The Paris-based International Energy Agency is in the middle of its first attempt to comprehensively assess the condition of the world's top 400 oil fields. Its findings won't be released until November, but the bottom line is already clear: Future crude supplies could be far tighter than previously thought. A pessimistic supply outlook from the IEA could further rattle an oil market that already has seen crude prices rocket...

Bowing to pressure from Congress, the Energy Department said Friday that it would temporarily suspend a program to fill the nation’s strategic oil stocks. But the move, which some analysts and politicians had hoped would help break the rally in oil prices, failed to sway the market. Crude oil prices hit another record Friday. The decision on the oil stocks came the same day that Saudi Arabia announced a modest increase of 300,000 barrels a day in its oil production as President Bush visited the oil-rich kingdom. But oil traders dismissed the news from Washington and Riyadh and focused instead...

FOR years, waves of inexpensive imports helped to keep inflation at bay in the United States. But those days are over, and now many imports are bringing inflation with them. Some of that inflation comes from soaring oil prices — the government reported this week that oil imported in April cost 67 percent more than oil imported a year earlier — but the trend is clear even if energy prices are ignored. For all nonpetroleum imports, prices in April were up 6.2 percent from a year earlier. That is the fastest rate of gain in almost 20 years, reflecting increases...

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in February, exporting 2.419 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (2.586 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.627 million barrels per day.

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- China's leaders are facing renewed pressure over shortfalls in diesel and gasoline, with lines growing at filling stations in major cities Monday as the gap widens between international crude oil values and centrally controlled fuel prices. The shortages, first reported in southern and inland China, appeared to be spreading to the wealthier areas in the north and east as filling stations struggled to get shipments from refiners. Four stations contacted Monday in Shanghai said their daily diesel shipments had not yet arrived. "You could try your luck later in the day. Now, we have no diesel...

After three years of clandestine development, a Georgia company is now going public with a simple, natural way to convert anything that grows out of the Earth into oil. J.C. Bell, an agricultural researcher and CEO of Bell Bio-Energy, Inc., says he's isolated and modified specific bacteria that will, on a very large scale, naturally change plant material – including the leftovers from food – into hydrocarbons to fuel cars and trucks. "What we're doing is taking the trash like corn stalks, corn husks, corn cobs – even grass from the yard that goes to the dump – that's what...

Norway's state treasury is set to overflow, local analysts claim. Some think the price of North Sea crude oil will hit USD 130 a barrel, pumping even more "petrokroner" into the state budget and giving politicians few excuses to limit its use. Norway's oil and gas industry is hotter than ever, but many Norwegians complain that government services are nonetheless declining. Some grades of crude oil hit USD 111 a barrel this week, before easing on Friday. The North Sea Brent crude that's been pumping up Norway's economy for years was being traded at just over USD 107 a barrel...

Saturn's smoggy moon Titan has hundreds of times more natural gas and other liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, scientists said today. The hydrocarbons rain from the sky on the miserable moon, collecting in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes. This much was known. But now the stuff has been quantified using observations from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. "Titan is just covered in carbon-bearing material — it's a giant factory of organic chemicals," said Ralph Lorenz, a Cassini radar team member from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "This vast carbon inventory...

Bakken and Torquay Formations - A Saudi Arabia of oil under Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Datkota, Montana and Manitoba The Bakken oil formation is possibly the largest conventional oil discovery in Canada since 1957. If this oil formation plays out toward the higher end of size and recoverability then it will change the geopolitics of oil and the economies of the United States and Canada. If a lot of the oil proves difficult to recover now, new technologies could still drastically improve the percent recoverable. The motivation to pull out another 100 billion barrels would be $9 trillion at todays...

"Water, water every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water every where, Nor a drop to drink." --Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ----------------------------------------------------- Iran isn’t an energy-independent country. I’m well aware that Iran produces more than 4 million barrels of oil per day, the fourth-highest production in the world. And with the near-constant reporting about Iranian crude reserves during the past six months, I find it difficult to believe that anyone could be unaware that Iran has 132 billion barrels in proven reserves--or, at least, they claim to. But what’s often ignored is that...

Oil has now reached $100 per barrel. Gasoline prices range from $3.00 to $3.50+ per gallon. We're currently importing at least 56% of our nation's needs from other countries. Venezuela is 4th on that list. Hugo Chavez, in his opening speech at the OPEC summit has fired a shot across our bow: If the United States attempts the madness of invading Iran or attacking Venezuela again, the price of oil is probably going to reach $200, not just $100. We are witnessing constant threats against Iran. I think OPEC should strengthen itself in this capacity and demand respect for the...

Brazil is before the discovery of its biggest oil province, comparable to the most important oil provinces in the world. Petrobras announced a new frontier today, ranging through the Espírito Santo, Campos, and Santos Basins, in deeper horizons, and in the so-called pre-salt rocks. The volume that was discovered in the Tupi accumulation alone, which represents but a small part of the new frontier, may boost Brazil’s current 14-billion-barrel oil and gas reserves by more than 50%. The announced oil province is located in a new exploratory frontier, where the pre-salt layer was reached for the first time. To date,...

After the CEO of Total (the French oil major) last week, two more CEOs of an oil major came out this Thursday to give stark warnings that mean that peak oil is happening right now. In addition, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (the IEA), one of the main cheerleaders of the "there's more than enough oil" camp until now, is giving an extraordinarily pessimistic interview in the Financial Times, following the recent publication of their latest World Energy Outlook. Let me take you through all their affirmations. Big Oil CEOs Point To Constraints On Supply Growth HOUSTON...

Politically Correct Donations Only by: Don Irvine, November 06, 2007 The Washington Post reported Saturday that the Smithsonian Institution has put on hold a $5 million donation from the American Petroleum Institute over objections from two of the museum complex's Board of Regents including U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) about accepting money from the oil industry for a project on the world's oceans. The main objection came from the regents' longtime executive committee chairman Roger Sant who ironically made his fortune as the founder of power company AES which is a member of the American Petroleum Institute. Since that time...

PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer, replaced Exxon Mobil as the world's largest listed company by market value on Monday as its share price surged 163 percent to close at 43.96 yuan on its first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The company's share price opened at 48.6 yuan on Monday, almost tripling its IPO price of 16.7 yuan, and ended the morning session at 43.65 yuan. By offering shares on the mainland, the company is trying to increase its crude oil production to match its refining capacity, said Zheng Yi, an analyst with Guangfa Securities. The...

HOUSTON (AP) -- So much for sweating out that first job after college. Like star athletes, engineering students Julie Arsenault and Emily Reasor are prized prospects for the energy industry, which is experiencing dizzying demand for engineers. Bustling oilfield activity and retiring baby boomers, among other factors, have petroleum outfits large and small trying to hire thousands of engineers, and experts say the trend is expected to extend into the next decade as worldwide energy demand grows. "I've talked to quite a few of my peers, and we know we're in a good spot," Cornell University's Reasor said as she...

Venezuela's Chavez says oil headed for $100 barrel Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:35PM EDT CARACAS (Reuters) - World oil prices are headed for $100 per barrel, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez predicted on Saturday, and said he will cut supplies to the United States if the U.S. government "attacks" the South American nation again. "I've always said that oil prices are headed straight to $100 per barrel," he said during a televised speech. "We should prepare ourselves for those prices of one hundred dollars." Chavez said high oil prices were the sign of a "global crisis" in energy caused by voracious...

Oil refineries across the country have been plagued by a record number of fires, power failures, leaks, spills and breakdowns this year, causing dozens of them to shut down temporarily or trim production. The disruptions are helping to drive gasoline prices to highs not seen since last summer’s records. These mechanical breakdowns, which one analyst likened to an “invisible hurricane,” have created a bottleneck in domestic energy supplies, helping to push up gasoline prices 50 cents this year to well above $3 a gallon. A third of the country’s 150 refineries have reported disruptions to their operations since the beginning...

TEHRAN, June 28 — Unrest spread in Tehran on Thursday, the second day of gasoline rationing in oil-rich Iran, with drivers lining up for miles, gas stations being set on fire and state-run banks and business centers coming under attack. Dozens were arrested, and the Tehran police chief, Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, complained to reporters that the police had been caught unaware by the decision to ration fuel. The anger posed a keen threat to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected two years ago on a platform of bringing income from oil to the nation’s households. Instead, even though Iran is...

Bob Teixeira decided it was time to take a stand against U.S. dependence on foreign oil. So last fall the Charlotte musician and guitar instructor spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He bought soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, spending about 30 percent more than diesel would cost. His reward, from a state that heavily promotes alternative fuels: a $1,000 fine last month for not paying motor fuel taxes. He has been told to expect another $1,000 fine from the federal government.

With prices hitting yet another all-time high, consider this: While history is littered with examples of countries that were forced to change their domestic and foreign policies because of the lack of a natural resource, there are very few notable instances of nations that had the ability to eliminate such a vulnerability but didn't. America's current energy condition, however, is a spectacular example of such a failure. Consider four facts: No. 1: The United States is very vulnerable to the interruption of its imported oil supply. No. 2: This dependence on oil has a huge effect on the country's foreign,...

Strangling Oil By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Thursday, May 24, 2007 Energy: As Americans get ever-angrier about soaring gasoline prices, Congress wants to do something, anything. So this week, the House passed a bill seeking to end "price-gouging." Fair enough — now, what is that? In the Senate, New York's Charles Schumer wants to break up big oil companies on the notion that more small companies would foster competition and cut prices. Others, including New York's other senator, Hillary Clinton, want to tax oil companies' "windfall" profits. Such measures, and others like them, demonstrate a woeful ignorance of basic economics. But...

Wolves guard the henhouse By Lorrie Goldstein Toronto Sun Thursday, May 24, 2007 Relying on Big Government to protect us from Big Oil is like relying on bankers to protect us from bank fees. Big Government and Big Oil are joined at the hip in fleecing us because the higher the price of gasoline, the more government makes in taxes. Clearly, the price of gas today isn't determined by anything approaching a free market. Indeed, it's amusing to watch the same oil industry shills and cheerleaders, who otherwise don't trust government to tie its own shoelaces, point to repeated...

On Tuesday president Hugo Chavez forced ConocoPhillips, Chevron, and Exxon Mobil to cede operational control over their multi-billion dollar projects to the Venezuelan government. With their backs to the wall, these oil companies are "negotiating" the terms of their surrender, and trying to get some "compensation" for the property being stolen from them. "President Bush should do something to protect the assets of American companies in Venezuela," said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. "It is disgraceful that while Chavez steals American property Bush says nothing and does nothing." "At a minimum," Dr. Brook said, "Bush...

Iraq could hold almost twice as much oil in its reserves as had been thought, according to the most comprehensive independent study of its resources since the US-led invasion in 2003. The potential presence of a further 100bn barrels in the western desert highlights the opportunity for Iraq to be one of the world’s biggest oil suppliers, and its attractions for international oil companies – if the conflict in the country can be resolved. If confirmed, it would raise Iraq from the world’s third largest source of oil reserves with 116bn barrels to second place, behind Saudi Arabia and...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The Kern River oil field, discovered in 1899, was revived when Chevron engineers here started injecting high-pressured steam to pump out more oil. The field, whose production had slumped to 10,000 barrels a day in the 1960s, now has a daily output of 85,000 barrels. In Indonesia, Chevron has applied the same technology to the giant Duri oil field, discovered in 1941, boosting production there to more than 200,000 barrels a day, up from 65,000 barrels in the mid-1980s. And in Texas, Exxon Mobil expects to double the amount of oil it extracts from its Means field,...

Is the era of cheap oil really at an end? Or could a glut send prices into a freefall? Should Western countries fear energy blackmail from oil- rich powers? There's no crystal ball to predict oil's future, but Leonardo Maugeri believes that much can be learned by looking at the industry's past. Maugeri is the author of The Age of Oil: The Mythology, History, and Future of the World's Most Controversial Resource. As a senior vice president at the Italian oil corporation Eni SpA, he's also an oil-industry insider. In his book Maugeri explains how prices affect the cycle of...

All the better for Canada's oilpatch Neo-dictatorships' actions rattle global investors Jacqueline Thorpe, Financial Post Published: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 Thank you, Venezuela, Russia and Belarus. The more these neo-dictatorships wreak havoc with their oil industries, the better Canada's oil sector looks, even though the meltdown in prices is probably giving every shareholder, driller and oilsands executive north of the 49th parallel a serious case of the hebejebes right now. "Canada accounts for 56% of the world's investable oil reserves when countries with unfriendly investment environments or high security risks like Iraq are excluded," said Peter Buchanan, senior economist...

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world - more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. Three companies have been chosen to lead the way. Test drilling has already begun Dear Reader, Five months ago, the U.S. Energy Department announced the results of a land survey It was conducted to determine the official amount of oil a thousand feet deep in the Rocky Mountains They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves...

Bomber makes test flight using only synthetic fuelBy Peter Pae, Times Staff Writer December 16, 2006 EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE — A B-52 bomber took off from here Friday with all eight of its engines running on synthetic fuel, the first time that a U.S. military aircraft has flown without the kerosene formula that has been used since the advent of the jets. The nearly six-hour flight of the lumbering Stratofortress went off without a hitch, Air Force officials said, lifting prospects for the use of alternative fuel by the military and commercial airlines as they grapple with the high...