Peak Oil News

The economic growth of many nations is exclusively linked to the international oil production economy. This fact results in increased resouce competition between the great powers, and as we have seen in recent U.S. foreign policy, war and conflict are born from these factors. The growing energy needs of Asian nations such as China and Japan are only likely to increase the political tension during the coming decades. America needs to lead by example by investing heavily in renewable energy research and technology. Not only will this leadership help lessen the growing energy needs in the continental United States, but it will also go ...

The United States Military is the the world's largest fuel-burning entity. More than half of the defense department's fuel budget is spent on fueling the U.S. Air Force. The Navy consumes about one third of defense oil resources and the Army uses around 12%. 25% of military energy is used to power and heat buildings and facilities - the remaining 75% is consumed for mobility purposes. This article gives a detailed breakdown of how much oil the military machine consumes. » Source: Whiskey and Gunpowder What will the world look like on the backside of Hubbert's Peak? What you see depends upon where you stand. If you happen to ...

World prices of oil and gas are showing a steeply rising trend. According to Matthew Simmons, a former White House energy adviser, the price of a barrel of petroleum may rise as high as $ 200 to $ 250 in the coming years from the present price of only $ 78. Such an extreme increase in price of oil and gas would unhinge the world economy and spell ruin for large corporations. In 2005, earth’s population consumed 83 million barrels of oil per day. This number is expected to rise to about 90 million by 2010 and to 115 million by 2030. On the other hand, the historical “peak” of oil production will be reached in 5-10 years despite improvements in production technology and the expansion of oil shales and sands. The consequent shortfall will be extremely large to be bridged by the renewable energies. In the long run, even if ...

An attempt by four suicide bombers to attack two oil refineries in Yemen has been foiled. The Yemeni interior ministry in a statement said the gunmen had attempted to attack the installations in four cars packed with explosives. Aljazeera's correspondent in Yemen said two refineries, in Marab and Hadramut, had been singled out for attack. » Source: Al Jazeera The four attackers and one security guard were killed in the incident, the interior ministry said. Friday's early morning attacks occurred 35 minutes apart, directed at a Yemeni oil refinery in the northeast province of Marab and a Canadian-Yemeni oil storage facility at the Dubba Port in Hadramut province - scene of a 2002 attack on the French tanker Limburg. The four men, two at each target, were dressed in uniforms similar to those worn by staff at the facilities and had timed their attacks to coincide ...

China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, hopes dialogue and conciliatory policies will blunt tensions caused by its growing energy needs, a Foreign Ministry official said on Wednesday. Liu Jianchao, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's chief spokesman, said China's growing appetite for natural resources would not put it in conflict with other countries, and that it was actively pursuing alternatives to imported oil. "At the moment we are trying to rely on ourselves for energy supply and at the same time trying to find clean, alternative energy resources," Liu said at the Reuters China Century Summit. » Source: Reuters China gets more than 40 percent of its oil from abroad and most of that oil arrives by sea. But Liu said that while China was concerned about the guaranteed supply of crude, its needs would not put it in conflict with other countries. "We are ready to work with the United States, with the European ...

Japan needs friends who are rich in natural resources, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made no bones about what he wanted from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan when he became the first Japanese premier to visit the two countries last month. The country is hardly alone, however, in looking to parts of the former Soviet Union to meet its energy needs from new sources, and indeed, rivalry among East Asian nations may well intensify as they compete to woo the region. Only days after Koizumi left the region last week, China National Petroleum Corp., China`s largest oil producer, said that together with Korea National Oil Corp., Malaysia`s Petronas, Lukoil of Russia, and local group Uzbekneftegaz, it had obtained a 20-percent stake in a joint oil and gas exploration project in Uzbekistan`s Aral Sea extending about 10,000 square kilometers that potentially has 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. » Source: M&C News Each ...