Energy

Over the weekend, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin E. Dempsey commented that at this stage the U.S. did not believe Iran had decided to pursue the development of nuclear weapons per se and that it was …

Iran seems to have found a new and valuable angle to outmaneuver the world community’s – predominantly the West – latest attempt to ‘deal’ with Iran’s gradually progressing nuclear weapons program.
The playbook is as follows: If your back is against the wall, it is time to get creative! So, how …

The cold snap that has frozen most of Europe solid has created some tensions over Russia’s role as supplier of natural gas to its neighbors. On Friday, a Gazprom official claimed that Ukraine was taking more than its share from the pipeline that runs through its …

The International Energy Agency has reduced its forecast for growth in oil demand in 2012 to 1.1 million barrels per day from 1.3 million bpd. The lower demand will stem from the weak economic conditions in the OECD nations, off-set in part by continued heavy demand …

Any suspicions that the US went into Afghanistan to secure access to resources went out the window last week. On Wednesday, Tom A. Peter over at the Christian Science Monitor reported, “China’s National Petroleum Corporation became the first foreign company to tap into Afghanistan’s oil and gas reserves. Chinese officials have …

With the arrival of December, it’s time to check the rear-view mirror to see where we have been in order to have some clue as to where we are going. In the energy realm, 2011 was the Year of the Three Fs: Fukushima, Fracking and Finance.
Japan is used to …

Iraq has agreed to a $17 billion deal covering the next 25 years with Royal Dutch Shell and Mitsubishi to capture the natural gas that is currently being flared off in its southern oil fields. The BBC reports “The new venture will be called Basra Gas …

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced her intention of lifting her country’s ban on sales of uranium to India. Although this will set up a clash within the Labor and Green coalition, she probably doesn’t have to muster the votes to push this through the …

The Keystone XL Pipeline extension proposed by TransCanada is current in planning limbo after the November 10 decision by the Obama administration not to make a decision on going ahead with or killing it. If and when built, it would bring crude from Alberta, Canada’s oils …

On October 19, seven American solar manufacturing companies asked the government to slap 100% tariffs on Chinese solar imports alleging unfair trading practices. The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing’s President Gordon Brinser said, “Chinese producers have used – and continue to use – continuous increases in production capacity and output, …

The International Energy Agency’s chief economist, Fatih Birol, stated yesterday that the oil industry needs about $38 trillion in investment to meet global demand for energy through 2035. He was speaking at a two-day ministers’ meeting foreshadowing the contents of the World Energy Outlook, due out …

Vladimir Putin was at a ceremony a few days ago at which he pressed the button that began the process of delivering natural gas to Germany through the Nord Stream pipeline. According to Gazprom, Nord Stream is the first direct link between Russia and the European …

Oil giant Exxon Mobil has secured a contract with Russia’s state oil company, Rosneft, to explore the floor of the Arctic Ocean for oil. At a surprise signing ceremony in Sochi, site of the coming Winter Olympics, Vladimir Putin stated, “The scale of the investment is …

Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national train operator, currently gets about 20% of its power from wind, hydro and solar generation. It has just announced its intention to raise that to 28% in 2014 and to be carbon free by 2050.
Nuclear had been the favored source of electricity …

As if we needed more proof that the world is now a single market, 800 British workers will lose their jobs at the nuclear fuel processing plant in Sellafield, Cumbria, UK, because of the uncertain future of nuclear power in Japan. The plant takes used …