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notify the webmaster.April, 2006
4/25: SAAB
rolls out biooethanol hybrid with electric-onlu capability:
(EV World) - The innovative Saab BioPower Hybrid
Concept, making its world premiere at the Stockholm Motor Show
(March 30 - April 9, 2006), delivers zero fossil CO2 emissions,
enhanced performance and a range of energy-saving features by
combining the use of pure bioethanol fuel and electric power
generation for the first time.
4/25: Text
of Preident Bush's speech to the Renewable Fuels Association of
America: (White House) - This article will be archived
with a permanent link as an important document on this
site. (see Important Document Links)
4/24: Global
finance chiefs act on oil prices, lean on China, plan IMF
reform: (Channel News
Asia) - Global finance chiefs called for action against
runaway oil prices and pressed China to ease its currency
regime, that also pointed to a more forceful role for the
IMF in the world economy. The three-day gathering was
to wind up Sunday with a meeting of the World Bank's
policy-setting committee where a 20-billion-dollar proposal
for alternative energy investment in developing countries
was under consideration.
4/23: Cantarell,
the Second largest Oil Field In the World, Is Dying:
(EnTouch) - The second largest producing field in the world
is the Cantarell complex in Mexico. It lies 85 km from
Ciudad del Carmen. The field was discovered in
1976 and put on production in 1979. Supergiant
Cantarell continues to be the mainstay of Mexican oil
production, with 2.1 MMb/d of output in 2003 up from 1.9
MMb/d in 2002. However, Cantarell is expected to decline
rapidly over the next few years, falling as far as 1 MM b/d
by 2008.
4/23: The
Price Of Our Addiction: (Newsweek) - The U.S. lives
in an energy trap. We fell into it gladly, dug it deeper
and sit fat and happy, with blinders on. We're fed daily
meals of imported oil, from countries we pay in IOUs and
think we can push around. But now we're starting to see the
costs and risks of our dependency—and I don't only mean
gasoline averaging $2.74 a gallon at the pump.
4/23: Analysts
predict gas prices could hit $4 a gallon: (Napier
Sun) - Prepare for more pain at the pump. Gasoline prices will keep climbing and could go as high
as $4 a gallon this summer, energy analysts said.
4/23: Will
Oil Prices Kill Dow's Rally?: (Newsday, NY) - One
of the best dramas in town this week won't play on
Broadway, but on Wall Street trading floors - and it's a
cliff-hanger. Logging its fourth gain in five trading
days, the Dow Jones industrial average ascended nearly 2
percent for the week to close at 11,347.45 Friday, only
375.5 points from its Jan. 14, 2000, record high before
major stock averages endured a sickening slide that
destroyed the savings of countless investors.
4/23: Ethanol
subsidy questioned as oil prices soar: (Grand Forks
Herald) -
Minnesota's ethanol industry, once reliant on state
subsidies to prop it up, is now booming as oil prices soar.
But taxpayers are still being billed $26 million a year to
subsidize the state's 11 privately owned ethanol plants,
even though they're generating unprecedented profits.
Wally Tyner, a Purdue University economist, calculated that
at today's fuel prices, an ethanol plant that cost $100
million could be paid off in a year. "They're hugely
profitable, that's why so many of them are being
built," Tyner told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
4/23: Brace
for $100-a-barrel oil - and the sacrifices required to put
in place a national policy for energy alternatives:
(Newsday, NY) - Are Americans willing to live with
$100-a-barrel oil prices, which could translate into
$6-a-gallon gasoline and heating oil? They may have no
choice. It could happen as soon as five years from now,
according to some energy experts. The price for a barrel of
crude has nearly tripled in three years, from $25 in April
2003, to over $72 today. [Ed:$75 eff. 4/21]
4/22: OPEC: Major Economies To See Low Impact From Oil Prices In 2006:
(Dow Jones) - Major world economies should remain resilient
in the face of high oil prices in 2006 as overall financial
conditions remain supportive, the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries said Saturday. In a statement
submitted to a meeting of world finance ministers at the
International Monetary Fund in Washington, OPEC said that
high oil prices have taken less than 1% off global gross
domestic product since 2002.
4/20: TXU
Plans $10 Billion Investment to Power the Future of Texas:
(PRNewsWire) - In response to the electric power needs of
the growing Texas economy, TXU Corp. announced today a plan
to invest $10 billion in coal power generation to provide
lower-cost, secure and stable power, the introduction of
new consumer and business service offerings, and the
largest voluntary emissions reduction program of its type
in the nation.
4/18: Record
High Crude Oil Prices Paired with the Shutdown of Several
European Plants Leads to Rising Prices in Europe for lldPE
and PP: (ChemPoint.com) - Plastics futures
prices rose on the London Metal Exchange (LME) today, in
response to new record highs for crude oil, and numerous
plant shutdowns throughout Europe.
4/18: Big
jump in gasoline prices pushes up inflation at wholesale
level:
(Casper Star Tribune) - A big jump in gasoline prices
pushed inflation at the wholesale level up in March at the
fastest pace in three months, as oil prices above $70 a
barrel sent consumers a high-octane warning of expensive
fuel costs ahead. The Labor Department reported that
wholesale prices rose by 0.5 percent in March following a
1.4 percent decline in February, which had been the largest
drop in nearly three years.
4/15: San
Francisco Becomes First U.S. City to Pass Peak Oil Resolution:
(PR Web) - San Francisco on Tuesday became the first major U.S.
city to pass a resolution acknowledging the threats posed by
peak oil, urging the city to develop a comprehensive plan to
respond to the emerging global energy crunch.
4/14: World
Energy Leaders Braced for Revolutionary Change Within The
Industry: (Price Waterhouse Coopers) - The utilities
industry is facing its biggest challenge in modern times
according to the eighth annual PricewaterhouseCoopers report
'The Big Leap: Utilities Global Survey 2006'. According to the
report, two-thirds of the world's leading utility company
leaders hold this view with the majority rating the changes that
the industry will have to undergo as little short of
revolutionary.
4/13: High
Oil Prices Threaten Global Instability: IMF: (AFP) - High
oil prices are storing up trouble for the world economy by
creating serious imbalances in national finances, not least in
the United States, the IMF warned. The International
Monetary Fund said much of the cash bonanza enjoyed by
oil-exporting countries was being recycled into US markets,
driving up the US current account deficit still further with
resulting risks for all.
4/12: Oil
Firms To Import Huge Amounts of Diesel: (The Nation) -
PTT Plc, Shell Co of Thailand and Esso (Thailand) will import
120 million litres of diesel this month to relieve current
shortages, which is expected to spark a spike in retail prices
despite government attempts to keep them under control, says a
source in the energy sector.
4/12: High
oil prices drag down growth in euro countries: (Int'l
Herald tribune) - The European Commission on Wednesday cut its
forecast for economic growth in the dozen nations using the euro
as rising oil prices and interest rates take a bite out of
consumer spending.
4/12: Only creativity can solve long-term, global energy crisis:
(McCall.com) - In much of our nation's history, Americans have
risen to great challenges, solving difficult problems that
threatened our survival. Today, we face the challenge of energy
— growing world demand, dependence on oil, uncertain sources,
entangled alliances and concerns for environmental
sustainability. This time, the problem cannot be solved by
American ingenuity alone. It will take a long-term commitment
from the United States working with the entire world, and will
take decades, perhaps generations, to find the answers. And it
will mean pursuing all of our energy options.
4/12: Secty
of State: "We have to do something about the energy
problem": (U.S. Senate Committee On Foreign
Relations 4/-05) - "...on the energy side, we have simply
got to do something about the warping now of diplomatic effort
by the all-out rush for energy supply." Statements
apparently were made during the question and answer session
following Secretary of State Rice's April 5 testimony on U.S.-India
Atomic Energy Cooperation before the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the U.S. Senate.
4/12: IEA
lifts need for OPEC oil in 2006: (Reuters) - OPEC will
need to pump more oil than previously expected to meet rising
world demand and cover a shortfall from other producers such as
Russia, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.
Most members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries are already pumping crude close to full capacity.
4/11: Saudi
Aramco boosts drilling efforts to offset declining fields:
(Platts) - Saudi Aramco's mature crude oil fields are expected
to decline at a gross average rate of 8%/year without additional
maintenance and drilling, a Saudi Aramco spokesman said Tuesday.
4/11: Russia
to supply less oil than expected:
(Financial Times) - Oil supplies from Russia will fall short of
expectations over the next four years, adding to the supply
concerns that have driven world oil prices to record highs this
week.
4/11: Exxon May Delay Cepu Oil Drilling on Rig Scarcity
: (Bloomberg) -
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Indonesia's state oil company PT Pertamina
may not drill at the $2.6 billion Cepu project until early next
year because of a scarcity of rigs, further delaying production
after a four-year ownership dispute.
4/11: [Pakistan}
Govt focusing on Chinese investment in energy sector:
(Pakistan Daily Times) - The government has decided to give
special attention to prospective investors from China as the
country is in dire need of huge investment in oil and gas sector
to meet the gap in demand and supply, a senior government
official told the Daily Times on Monday.
4/10: Gallup
Surprise: Most Americans Now Say They May Buy Hybrid Cars:
(Editor & Publisher) - A Gallup poll released today shows
that nearly half of all Americans have cut back
"significantly" on their driving due to high gas
prices--and in a surprise, 57% say they will consider buying a
hybrid car when replacing their current vehicle. About
half of Americans report economizing in general in order to
compensate for the increase in gas prices over the past year.
4/10: Fuel of future for U.S. now reality in Brazil
: (Int'l Herald Tribune) - At the dawn of the automobile
age, Henry Ford predicted that "ethyl alcohol is the fuel
of the future." With petroleum at about $65 a barrel,
President George W. Bush of the United States has embraced that
view, too. But Brazil is already there.
4/10: BP
- TNK Sees Output Growth Slowing in Coming Years:
(Interactive Investor) -
BP plc's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP, expects production
growth to slow to 1-3 pct in the coming years from over 6 pct
last year, said executive director German Khan in an interview
with Vremya Novosti. "We are in effect working on old
wells, like all Russian oil companies. We ended the year (2005)
with quite a large rise... but the beginning of (this) year has
been quite difficult," Khan said.
4/10: Gazprom to raise gas prices for Belarus from 2007:
(RIA Novosti) -
Gas prices for Belarus "should be at least three times
higher," said Alexander Ryazanov, deputy CEO of Gazprom.
This means about $140 per 1,000 cu m. The news shocked the
Minsk authorities, which had said they were ready to pay a
higher price but apparently did not imagine it would be so high.
The price rise will tear nearly a $2 billion hole in the
Belarusian budget.
4/10: IEA
Head: OPEC Plea on Demand Security Not a Serious Issue:
(Rigzone) - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries'
plea to have in place guarantees of oil demand in order to
underpin multibillion dollar investments in expansion fell on
deaf ears Friday, when the head of the International Energy
Agency described it as not a serious issue.
4/10: Taiwan's EVA Air net profit falls 59 percent on surging oil prices
: (AFP NewsWire) - EVA Airways Corp, Taiwan's leading
carrier, said its 2005 net profit fell 59 percent from a year
earlier on surging oil prices.
4/09: Egypt
Proposes Initiative to Stabilize Oil Prices: (RedOrbit)
- Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Sameh Fahmi
on Tuesday 7/3/2006 said that Egypt will table an
initiative at the ministerial meetings of OPEC, set to open
in Vienna on Wednesday 8/ 3/2006, to stabilize oil prices
on the international market.
4/09: Fears
Rise As Gas Prices Hover at Last Year's Record High:
(RedOrbit) -
Gasoline prices have reached $3 a gallon in some parts of
the nation, and crude oil is hovering close to last
summer's record high. With peak summer-driving season
and hurricane season approaching, experts fear that today's
high prices might look like a bargain later this year.
4/09: Offshore
Drilling Plan Widens Rift Over Energy Policy: (New
York Times) - A Bush administration proposal to open an
energy-rich tract of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas
drilling has touched off a tough fight in Congress, the
latest demonstration of the political barriers to providing
new energy supplies even at a time of high demand and
record prices.
4/08: World
Cannot Meet Oil Demand: (TimesOnline) - The world
lacks the means to produce enough oil to meet rising
projections of demand for fuel over the next decade,
according to Christophe de Margerie, head of exploration
for Total and heir presumptive to the leadership of the
French energy multinational. “Numbers like 120
million barrels per day will never be reached, never,” he
said.
4/08: Oil
Has Become The Centerpiece of Venezuela's Foreign Policy:
(Minneapolis Star Tribune) -
President Hugo Chavez is spending billions of dollars of
his country's oil windfall on pet projects abroad, aimed at
setting up his leftist government as a counterpoint to the
Bush administration. With Venezuela's oil revenues
rising 32 percent last year, Chavez has been subsidizing
such diverse items as samba parades in Brazil, eye surgery
for poor Mexicans and heating fuel for poor families from
Maine to the Bronx to Philadelphia.
4/08: Consumers
must work with oil powers to tackle crisis:
(Reuters) - World oil powers are the first line of defense
to combat an energy crisis, but consumer nations, led by
the International Energy Agency must develop a new role as
their allies, experts say. They can no longer rely on
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC), whose spare capacity has been squeezed to around 2
million barrels per day, to just pump more.
4/07: OPEC
Warns High Commodity Prices May Kill Oil Projects: (Rigzone)
- Soaring commodity and raw material prices are increasing the
cost of oil and gas projects by up to three times, Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries ministers said
Friday.
Although current high oil prices may be helping to drive
much-needed crude investment, the rising cost of construction
projects could curtail new energy production development, they
warn.
4/07: Summer Fuel Shortages, Spikes
Possible: Bodman: (Reuters) - U.S. consumers may
face gasoline shortages or price hikes at the pump this
summer due to fuel additive changes at refineries and a
likely strong hurricane season, the U.S. Energy Secretary
said on Friday.
4/06: Biggest
energy companies in U.S. call for caps on carbon emissions:
(Grist) - Tuesday saw a tectonic shift in the
climate-change debate during an all-day Senate conference
on global-warming policy. A group of high-powered energy
and utility executives for the first time issued this
directive to Washington: Bring on the carbon caps!
4/06: Oil Prices Eventually Will Impact
Economy: (Cattle Network) - U.S. Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman said Thursday that he's "surprised"
that oil price increases over the last year haven't had a
greater impact on the U.S. economy but said, eventually,
sustained high prices will have an economic effect.
"At some point in time we're going to reach a limit
and we will see a real impact of increased oil prices on
our economic activity," Bodman said. "Whether its
$95 or something north of that I don't know. I can tell you
I'm worried about anything above the current levels."
4/06: U.S.
senators unveil plan to rein in big oil, OPEC:
(Reuters) -
Six U.S. senators on Thursday backed legislation that could
spur more federal scrutiny of future mergers between oil
companies, and trigger a possible price-fixing lawsuit
against the OPEC oil cartel. Meanwhile, 52 Democratic
lawmakers asked the White House to hold a bipartisan
"energy summit" to talk about securing future
U.S. energy supplies as U.S. oil prices neared $70 a barrel
and gasoline pump prices march closer to $3 a gallon in
advance of the busy summer driving season.
4/05: Oil
Seen Topping $80 Per Barrel: (Reuters,, Italy) -
Crude oil is set to rise above the $80 a barrel level in the
next few months as output tails off, maintaining energy's role
in a continuing commodity bull market, a hedge fund manager said
on Wednesday. "In the next few months we will see oil
above $80, as it has passed the peak of the production
cycle," David Murrin, chief investment officer at UK-based
Emergent Asset Management said at the Reuters Hedge Funds and
Private Equity Summit on Wednesday.
4/05: Bush
Reportedly Regrets Global warming, Energy Policy Decisions:
(EV World, from 3/31) - In the article, Platts quotes the
president as saying on Wednesday, "’I guess I should have
started differently when I first became president and said we
will invest in new
technologies that will enable us to use fossil
fuels in a much wiser way.’ The new technologies he referred
to were ethanol and ‘hybrid batteries,’ as well as existing ones for coal
and nuclear power
4/05: Oil
Giant BP's Production Falls in Q1: (CNN) - Oil giant BP
Plc said its production of oil and gas fell in the first quarter
of 2006 compared to the same period last year, but it signaled
an improvement in its refining business. Worryingly for
investors, non-Russian production -- BP's most profitable -- was
down compared to the first quarter of 2005, the second
consecutive year-on-year fall.
4/05: Gazprom
to Triple Gas Price for Belarus: (Moscow Times) -
Gazprom will at least triple the price of gas to Belarus by next
year, Gazprom deputy chairman Alexander Ryazanov said Tuesday,
upping the stakes in the state gas giant's longtime struggle for
control of Belarus' pipeline infrastructure.
4/04: Lack
of Staff and Equipment Hit Oil Output: (MSN Money) - The
energy services sector, which provides everything from drills to
submersible pumps, lacks the resources to meet the needs of oil
and gas groups, forcing up price inflation in some parts of the
sector to 100 per cent. Industry executives say the
squeeze has become so acute that energy companies are being
forced to scale back their production plans or put exploration
projects on hold.
4/04: Germany
Announces new Energy Plan: (EU Observer) - Under the
plans, up to €2 billion more will be spent on energy research
while more than €30 billion is expected to be invested in
building new power plants and distribution networks.
Industry is also to invest €33-€40 billion in renewable
energy sources such as wind and solar power.
4/04: EIA
Global Oil Production Results Graphically Shows Plateau::
(Oil Drum) - The EIA is out with the new International
Petroleum Monthly which covers through January. Here's the
updated plateau graph with the IEA and EIA numbers. As in
December, the EIA was slightly cheerier about January than the
IEA was. However, both agencies agree on a drop in production
from the high in December.
4/04: Ireland's
"Hirsch Report" Released: (Transition culture)
- The study paints a very clear picture of Ireland’s degree of
vulnerability. Having no indigenous sources of oil, and being
dependent on transport, by air, sea and freight for its
international connectivity, Ireland, they write, is “among the
most sensitive (nations) to rising oil prices and therefore
(will be among the) most vulnerable post-peak”.
4/03: Biodiesel
Industry Gets Boost From Big Oil: (Seattle Post
Intelligencer) - The tiny biodiesel industry received a boost
from Big Oil on Monday when a major petroleum refiner, Motiva
Enterprises LLC, began blending the soy-based alternative with
traditional motor fuel at a Dallas terminal.
4/03: Venezuela
Takes Back Oil Fields:
(BBC News) - Venezuela has taken control of two oil
fields operated by French firm Total and Italy's Eni. The
government said it had taken the step after the failing to agree
a deal with the two firms which would give it a majority stake
in new ventures.
4/03: Sinopec
Earnings Crippled by High Oil Prices: (International
herald Tribune) - China Petroleum & Chemical, Asia's biggest refiner, reported the slowest annual profit growth in three years on Monday after record crude oil prices cut earnings from making fuels and chemicals.
4/03: Demand
May Outpace Saudi Oil Capacity: (Assoc. Press) - The
world's only oil superpower boosted output last month, launching
a pair of projects that are part of a massive $55 billion
endeavor to keep pace with the world's ever-intensifying thirst
for oil. But demand for the world's premiere source of
energy is rising so fast — by around 2 million barrels per day
each year — that even Saudi Arabia's vast resources will be
unable to cope without drastic help, oil executives and analysts
say.
4/03: Chavez
Seeks To Peg Oil at $50 Per Barrel: (Guardian) -
Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez is poised to launch a bid to
transform the global politics of oil by seeking a deal with
consumer countries which would lock in a price of $50 a barrel.
A long-term agreement at that price could allow Venezuela to
count its huge deposits of heavy crude as part of its official
reserves, which Caracas says would give it more oil than Saudi
Arabia.
4/02: Open
Letter To Texas Newspapers About Peak Oil -- Why Aren't You
Listening?: (GraphOilogy) - The
US media have two choices regarding the Peak Oil issue. To
paraphrase Winston Churchill, you can now have either your honor
or the status quo. If you do nothing regarding Peak Oil, you
will soon have neither the status quo nor your honor. Published
April 4, 2006.
4/02: Demand
for Ethanol Grows: Prices Surge: (Journal Gazette) -
Growing demand for ethanol has boosted prices for the corn-based
fuel additive, worrying ethanol supporters just as they’re
making inroads getting motorists interested in the alternative
fuel. “I had been telling my customers that it was going
to be cheaper. Now, all of a sudden, I’m having to back
down,” Greg Boesch [of Mini Mart] told the Journal and Courier
of Lafayette."
4/02: True
Price of UK's Nuclear Legacy: (The Independant) - On
Thursday, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the body set up
to clean up the UK's nuclear sites, increased its estimate of
how much it would need by £14bn to £70bn. However, this
giant figure is only around half of what will be required. It
excludes decommissioning British Energy's seven nuclear power
stations, the first of which is due to close in 2011, dealing
with the Ministry of Defence's nuclear sites and the long-term
storage of the waste. Adding those all in would bring the total
cost to around £160b
4/01: Energy
Resources For Packaging Hit Hard: (Packaging Online) -
Energy is the lifeblood of our economy and is
critical to the paperboard packaging industry. Recent
energy shortages and price increases have hurt the
competitiveness of the corrugated and folding carton industry
and put additional pressure on already strained financial
resources.
3/29: Cereplast's
CEO Cited in Plastics News as Leader of the New Bio-Plastics
Movement:
(Cereplast, Inc) - a producer of proprietary bio-based resins
used as substitutes for petroleum-based plastics, today reports
that the company has again been featured in the industry's
premier US trade publication, Plastics News. The feature article
in the venerable trade journal cites three reasons why the
bio-plastics industry is in the early stages of a long term
sustainable growth cycle: technological advancements in the
plastics themselves, a narrowing price gap with petro-based
plastics and customer demand from those who convert the resins
into the final products.
Archived Articles
March,
2006
February,
2006
January,
2006
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