Lionel Badal was working on his undergraduate dissertation when he suddenly found himself privy to information that he knew must be made public

When will we reach the peak of global oil production? It’s a question of crucial importance as governments around the world prepare for a world of declining oil resources, in which we will be much more reliant on alternative sources of energy.

The body on which the UK and others rely heavily to make that assessment is the International Energy Agency (IEA) based in Paris and set up in the aftermath of the oil crisis between 1973 and 1974.

In a finding that may speed efforts to conserve oil and intensify the search for alternative fuel sources, scientists in Kuwait predict that world conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014 — almost a decade earlier than some other predictions. Their study is in ACS' Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal.

The fuel injection system was developed by a startup company Transonic Combustion and their goal is to increase fuel efficiency of existing gasoline engines. The cost for this ultra-efficient system would be as much as high-end fuel injection systems currently on the market today.

By heating and pressurizing gasoline before injecting it into the combustion chamber places it into a supercritical state that allows for very fast and clean combustion. This in turn decreases the amount of fuel needed to run the vehicle. The gasoline is also treated with a catalyst to further enhance combustion.

...It's Ghawar that is of utmost interest to the industry. The biggest oilfield ever found, it has been producing for five decades, often putting out more than 5 million bpd, a level that Aramco has been able to maintain by injecting millions of barrels a day of water into the field to push up the oil. Cynics in the Peak Oil crowd say that an ulterior motive of Aramco adding so much unneeded capacity is to prepare for the pending collapse of Ghawar.

As signs of climate instability increase, radical and rapid action is becoming ever more urgent...Yet even within the environmental movement there is no unanimity on this thorny question: should the countries of the South have the right to increase their emissions as they industrialize and "develop"?

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Google has added biking directions, bike lanes and bike trail data for 150 U.S. cities to Google Maps, the online search giant announced Wednesday.

The new feature helps bikers determine the best, most efficient bike routes and allows riders to customize their trip, according to a posting on Google's Web site. The feature makes use of bike lanes and dedicated bike trails where they are available and calculates "rider-friendly" routes that avoid big hills.

The piece builds on Lynas’s previous much publicised conversion to nuclear power, arguing that if we are to apply the scientific rigour that underpins climate science to all other areas of life, in the same way that nuclear power is supported by the science, so is GM. While I strongly disagree with him on both, I want here to challenge Lynas’s conversion to GM, and the belief that if we are serious about climate change, we have no option other than to embrace GM.

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Rolfe Winkler wrote some good stuff in the wake of the Make Markets Be Markets conference held in the Imperial capital last week. I'll get to that in a moment. The purpose of the get together, which was hosted by the Roosevelt Institute, was to push for much needed financial reform. Many of the usual suspects were there, including Simon Johnson and Elizabeth Warren. Rob Johnson, Senior Fellow and Director of the Project on Global Finance at The Roosevelt Institute, wrote the introduction to the conference report (big pdf).

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-US EPA chief concerned about gas drilling fluids
-Europe the new frontier in shale gas rush
-The true cost of shale gas production
-The Natural Gas Shopping Spree Quickens

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It’s Wednesday, and the week’s U.S. oil inventories numbers will soon be out. I have no clue what they will say, nor much interest, either. But others do.

Exactly why oil traders and speculators think the data has anything to do with the state of world oil demand is beyond me. I suppose, like Pavlov’s dog, they’re only doing what they’re trained to do. But their training comes from a world that no longer exists.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has stopped gasoline sales to Iran, oil traders said on Wednesday, the latest addition to a growing list of firms that have halted supplies under threat of future U.S. sanctions.

The Anglo-Dutch oil firm will join the likes of BP, Reliance Industries, and independent Swiss trader Glencore, among suppliers that have either stopped fuel sales to Iran or have made a decision not to enter into new trading agreements with the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

This is a guest post by Richard Heinberg. It is a shortened version of a longer post published by the Post Carbon Institute.

What if the economy doesn’t recover?

In 2008 the U.S. economy tripped down a steep, rocky slope. Employment levels plummeted; so did purchases of autos and other consumer goods. Property values crashed; foreclosure and bankruptcy rates bled. For states, counties, cities, and towns; for manufacturers, retailers, and middle- and low-income families, the consequences were—and continue to be—catastrophic. Other nations were soon caught up in the undertow.

In late 2009, the economy showed some signs of renewed vigor. Understandably, everyone wants it to get “back to normal.” But here’s a disturbing thought: What if that is not possible? What if the goalposts have been moved, the rules rewritten, the game changed? What if the decades-long era of economic growth based on ever-increasing rates of resource extraction, manufacturing, and consumption is over, finished, and done? What if the economic conditions that all of us grew up expecting to continue practically forever were merely a blip on history’s timeline?

It’s an uncomfortable idea, but one that cannot be ignored: The “normal” late-20th century economy of seemingly endless growth actually emerged from an aberrant set of conditions that cannot be perpetuated.

That “normal” is gone. One way or another, a “new normal” will emerge to replace it. Can we build a different, more sustainable economy to replace the one now in tatters?

Let’s be clear: I believe we are in for some very hard times. The transitional period on our way toward a post-growth, equilibrium economy will prove to be the most challenging time any of us has ever lived through. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we can survive this collective journey, and that if we make sound choices as families and communities, life can actually be better for us in the decades ahead than it was during the heady days of seemingly endless economic expansion.

Four Propositions

The following summary statements are fundamental both to grasping our current situation and managing our way toward a desirable future:

1. We have reached the end of economic growth as we have known it. The “growth” we are talking about consists of the expansion of the overall size of the economy (with more people being served and more money changing hands) and of the quantities of energy and material goods flowing through it. The economic crisis that began in 2008 was both foreseeable and inevitable, and it marks a permanent, fundamental break from past decades—a period in which economists adopted the unrealistic view that perpetual economic growth is necessary and also possible to achieve.

As we will see, there are fundamental constraints to ongoing economic expansion, and the world is beginning to encounter those constraints. This is not to say the U.S. or the world will never see another quarter or year of growth relative to the previous year. Rather, the point is that when the bumps are averaged out, the general trend-line of the economy (measured in terms of production and consumption of real goods) will be level or downward rather than upward from now on.

2. The basic factors that will inevitably shape whatever replaces the growth economy are knowable. To survive and thrive for long, societies have to operate within the planet’s budget of sustainably extractable resources. This means that even if we don’t know exactly what a desirable post-growth economy and lifestyle will look like, we know enough to begin working toward them.

3. It is possible for economies to persist for centuries or millennia with no or minimal growth. That is how most economies operated until recent times. If billions of people (cumulatively) through countless generations lived without economic growth, we can do so as well—now and far into the future. The end of growth does not mean the end of the world.

4. Life in a non-growing economy can be fulfilling, interesting, and secure. The absence of growth does not imply a lack of change or improvement. Within a non-growing or equilibrium economy, there can still be a continuous development of practical skills, artistic expression, and technology.

In fact, some historians and social scientists argue that life in an equilibrium economy can be superior to life in a fast-growing economy: while growth creates opportunities for some, it also typically intensifies competition—there are big winners and big losers, and (as in most boom towns) the quality of relations within the community can suffer as a result. Within a non-growing economy it is possible to maximize benefits and reduce factors leading to decay, but doing so will require pursuing appropriate goals: instead of more, we must strive for better; rather than promoting increased economic activity for its own sake, we must emphasize whatever increases quality of life without stoking consumption. One way to do this is to reinvent and redefine growth itself.

The transition to a no-growth economy (or one in which growth is defined in a fundamentally different way) is inevitable, but it will go much better if we plan for it rather than simply watching in dismay as institutions we have come to rely upon fail, and then try to improvise a survival strategy in their absence.

In effect, we have to create a desirable “new normal” that fits the constraints imposed by depleting natural resources. Maintaining the “old normal” is not an option; if we do not find new goals for ourselves and plan our transition from a growth-based economy to a healthy equilibrium economy, we will by default create a much less desirable “new normal” whose emergence we are already beginning to see in the forms of persistent high unemployment, a widening gap between rich and poor, and ever more frequent and worsening financial and environmental crises—all of which translate to profound distress for individuals, families, and communities.

Journey to a New Economy

The propositions described above are the starting points for a search that can be summarized in a single question: What are the guideposts toward a livable, inviting post-growth society?

This search has in many instances entailed a literal, geographic journey. During the past few years, as I traveled the lecture circuit, I met thousands of people who had already concluded on their own that the global stage was being set for an economic crash of epic proportions. They had passed through the psychological stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. They were thinking creatively, building new lives, and experimenting with a wide range of strategies for meeting basic human needs while using much less of just about everything.

Some of these folks, like me, had been thinking along these lines for a long time—since the 1970s. Many were much younger, though, had learned about Peak Oil or climate change just within the past few years, and had recently decided to devote their lives to building a post-hydrocarbon world. Some were clearly members of what was known in the 1970s as the “counterculture.” Others were mainstream citizens—investment bankers, real estate sellers, high school teachers, small business owners, corporate middle managers—who had chanced upon information that awakened them forcibly from their routines. Many of these folks lived in large cities, but others in small towns or on farms; some were rich, some poor (a few by choice); some were devout, others agnostic or atheist; some were working alone on survivalist projects, while others were building community organizations; some saw the transition as a business opportunity while others were working through non-profit organizations. Here are just three examples that stand out.

In 2005, while on a lecture tour in Ireland, I met a young college teacher named Rob Hopkins who believed that life could be better without fossil fuels. He had led his students in developing an “Energy Descent Action Plan” for their town, and believed he had the seed for something larger and more significant. He soon moved back to his native England to earn his Ph.D., and designed his thesis project around helping the village of Totnes begin a cooperative, phased process of transitioning away from its dependence on fossil fuels. This project in turn led to the start of a series of Transition Initiatives in villages, towns, and neighborhoods throughout the U.K. In 2007, a version of Rob’s written Ph.D. thesis was published as a book (The Transition Handbook) that quickly began inspiring others to take up this strategy. Today there are hundreds of Transition Initiatives at various stages of development in a dozen countries (including about 60 in the U.S.).

While in Montana for a speaking engagement at the University of Montana in Helena in spring 2009, some local Peak Oil activists drove me to the town of Ronan and introduced me to Billie Lee, who had helped start Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center. The Center is housed in a fairly small, non-descript building and features medium-scale food processing equipment that local small food producers can rent at reasonable rates. This enables small farmers to produce value-added products (everything from canned soups to herbal tea bags) that are profitable and are price-competitive with those made by industrial food companies located hundreds or thousands of miles from Ronan. Local food has become an obsession for the sustainability-minded during the past few years, and local food systems will be a necessary pillar of post-growth economies. Yet aspiring small-scale farmers often have a hard time getting started because they cannot afford the equipment to enable them to produce profitable value-added products. Here in the tiny hamlet of Ronan was an ingenious solution to the problem, and one that deserves to be replicated in every agricultural county in the nation.

On a trip to New England in 2007, I met Lynn Benander, a community energy activist and entrepreneur who had started a project called Co-op Power to bring renewable energy to low-income and multi-ethnic communities throughout the Northeast. Typically, renewable energy projects cost more to get going than conventional coal or gas power projects, and so they tend to be found in wealthier communities and regions. Conversely, the most polluting energy projects tend to be sited in or near poor neighborhoods or regions. Co-op Power aims to change that imbalance of power—in a way that any community can copy. A typical project: You help four people put up a solar hot water system and everyone comes to help you put up yours; you save 40 to 50 percent off your total system price, get to know your neighbors, and learn how your system works. Co-op Power had also pioneered a cooperative financing method that cuts through the usual roadblocks to renewable energy projects in poorer neighborhoods by leveraging member equity.

Individually, these initiatives and projects may seem to be on too small a scale to make much of a difference. But multiplied by thousands, with examples in nearly every community, they represent a quiet yet powerful movement.

Few of these efforts have gained national media attention. Most media commentators who address economic issues are focused on the prospects—positive or negative—of the existing growth-based economy. These projects don’t seem all that important within that framework of thinking. But in the new context of the no-growth economy, they may mean the difference between ruinous poverty and happy sufficiency.

The trends are already in evidence: as the financial crisis worsens, more people are planting gardens, and seed companies working hard to keep up with the demand. More young people are taking up farming now than in any recent decade. In 2008, more bicycles were sold in the U.S. than automobiles (not good news for the struggling car companies, but great news for the climate). And since the crisis started, Americans have been spending much less on non-essentials—repairing and re-using rather than replacing and adding.

Many economists assume these trends are short-term and that Americans will return to consumerism as economic crisis shifts into recovery. But if there is no “recovery” in the usual sense, then these trends will only grow.

This is what the early adopters are assuming. They believe that the nation and the world have turned a corner. They understand something the media either ignore or deny. They’re betting on a future of local food systems, not global agribusiness; of community credit co-ops rather than too-big-to-fail Wall Street megabanks; of small-scale renewable energy projects, not a world-spanning system of fossil-fuel extraction, trade, and consumption. A future in which we do for ourselves, share, and cooperate.

They’re embarking on a life after growth.

* * *

The realization that growth is at an end raises many questions. Will the financial impact be inflationary or deflationary? Will some nations fare better than others, leading to protectionist trade wars? Will the “down-sizing” of social and economic complexity lead also to a substantial die-off of the human species? How quickly will all of this happen?

There simply are no hard and fast answers to such questions. The financial, energy, food, transport, and political systems on which we rely are complex, so it is almost impossible to reliably model their response to a shock such as a resource limits-imposed end to economic growth. The only reasonable response, it seems to me, is to act as if survival is possible, and to build resilience throughout society as quickly as can be, acting locally wherever there are individuals or groups with the understanding and wherewithal. We must assume that a satisfactory, sustainable way of life is achievable in the absence of fossil fuels and conventional economic growth, and go about building it.

World crude oil production may peak a decade earlier than some predict In a finding that may speed efforts to conserve oil and intensify the search for alternative fuel sources, scientists in Kuwait predict that world conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014 — almost a decade earlier than some other predictions. Their study is in ACS' Energy & Fuels, a bi-monthly journal.

Ibrahim Nashawi and colleagues point out that rapid growth in global oil consumption has sparked a growing interest in predicting "peak oil" — the point where oil production reaches a maximum and then declines. Scientists have developed several models to forecast this point, and some put the date at 2020 or later. One of the most famous forecast models, called the Hubbert model, accurately predicted that oil production would peak in the United States in 1970. The model has since gained in popularity and has been used to forecast oil production worldwide. However, recent studies show that the model is insufficient to account for more complex oil production cycles of some countries. Those cycles can be heavily influenced by technology changes, politics, and other factors, the scientists say.

The new study describe development of a new version of the Hubbert model that accounts for these individual production trends to provide a more realistic and accurate oil production forecast.

Shale Gas Can Transform U.S. Power Generation, IHS CERA Says (Bloomberg) -- Technology to develop natural gas from hard-to-access rock formations can expand U.S. supplies, shift the price outlook for gas and realign choices for fueling power generation, according to a study by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Gas locked in shale formations is expected to account for 50 percent of U.S. supply by 2035, up from 20 percent today, according to the report released today at the CERAWeek Conference in Houston. Shale gas is produced by a technique known as hydraulic fracturing in which millions of gallons of chemically treated water are forced into wells to break up rock and allow gas to flow

Skepticism Over OPEC's Demand Forecast One analyst is skeptical about reports of consumption increases in China. While the OPEC report states that oil demand in China is expected to grow 4.7% year-over-year in 2010, Mark Gilman, an oil analyst with The Benchmark Company, thinks that is an overstatement.

While many reports have pointed to China as the center of spiking oil consumption, Gilman contends that the increased demand is actually a factor of inventory building rather than increased consumption. Moreover, he points out that OPEC has an interest in increasing supply in the market.

How a 22-year-old student uncovered peak oil fraud Lionel Badal was working on his undergraduate dissertation when he suddenly found himself privy to information that he knew must be made public.

The Three most IMMINENT Economic Disasters. How to survive... Disaster #2: Peak Oil Is Rushing Toward Us Like a Runaway Train. The only reason oil prices aren’t higher right now is because of weakness in the U.S. and European economies.

Meanwhile, however, the two most populous countries in the world — China and India — are adding to their fuel demand at a rip-roaring pace.

The Myth of Energy Breakthroughs Renewed belief in the concept of Energy Breakthrough seems resurgent these days, as a versatile scientist now helms the Department of Energy, and famous people such as Bill Gates invoke the need (and thus our quest) for energy miracles. The notion of a technological breakthrough was also, unsurprisingly, at play this weekend when I attended the MIT Energy Conference. And of course, in February, the world was treated to the roll out of Bloom Energy’s Bloom Box.

The problem with energy breakthroughs is that they actually require a Built Environment breakthrough. Energy transition, or the notion of disruptive energy technologies, are affairs that occur at the interface between an energy-source, energy-tools, and the built environment. I suppose coal was a kind of breakthrough for early 18th century (and wood-based) England but the barrier to coal adoption was that alot of England’s built environment was running on wood. You see, new energy sources or new energy technologies don’t distribute easily, or quickly, through the built environment.

How to Reduce Foreign Oil Imports It makes no sense for Americans to have to ditch their $30-40K SUVs in order to purchase an electric car. What we should be doing is converting these vehicles to run on natural gas. These conversion kits would cost much less than buying a new electric car and the cost of the kits would be drastically reduced were the volume to go up with prudent government policy changes.

Norway Oil Output Falls, May Signal Lower Statoil Production (Bloomberg) -- Norway’s crude production fell for a second consecutive month in February from a year earlier, possibly signaling lower-than-estimated output at Statoil ASA in the first three months of the year.

Norway’s oil production dropped 7.4 percent to 2.007 million barrels a day in February from a year earlier, after a 5.7 percent annual decline in January, according to preliminary figures published today by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Stavanger-based Statoil operates about 80 percent of the Scandinavian nation’s petroleum production.

Argentina May Limit Fuel Exports to Ensure Supply (Bloomberg) -- Argentina may limit fuel exports and force refineries to step up production to ensure domestic supplies after Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc cut output.

Petrobras and Shell pared refinery output in Argentina to push up gasoline prices, Planning Minister Julio de Vido said today in a statement.

“There’s been a decision by these companies to refine less oil to cause this shortage situation,” de Vido said in the statement. The government may “regulate fuel exports so that local markets may be properly supplied” and “intervene so that these refineries utilize their maximum capacity.”

Where Policy Starts for Right Now Here in the United States, consumers expect to have a reliable and affordable supply of energy that helps them heat their homes and fuel their transportation needs. Consumers today also are grappling with a serious economic environment. Job losses and uncertainty make it difficult to plan for the future. Having a stable source of energy can help. In fact, expanding energy exploration and production can have a positive impact on the U.S. economy and the lives of all Americans.

Google Maps now features bike lanes MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Google Inc. is adding a bike lane with its latest online mapping option.

The new bicycling directions available on Google Maps starting Wednesday supplement the guidance already provided to motorists and pedestrians. The biking directions initially will be available only for the United States.

Oil King Warns Of 'Green Bubble' It's Ghawar that is of utmost interest to the industry. The biggest oilfield ever found, it has been producing for five decades, often putting out more than 5 million bpd, a level that Aramco has been able to maintain by injecting millions of barrels a day of water into the field to push up the oil. Cynics in the Peak Oil crowd say that an ulterior motive of Aramco adding so much unneeded capacity is to prepare for the pending collapse of Ghawar.

Al-Khalid says that couldn't be further from the truth. Ghawar is currently producing above 5 million bpd, and he says it will be able to do 4 million bpd for more than a decade. "Ghawar still has recoverable reserves equivalent to 55 billion barrels. As we improve our technology we will add to Ghawar's reserves." This is not a homogeneous field, he says. "There are reservoirs in the north that are in gentle decline. While some areas of the field like Haradh are nearly virgin."

Official: Saudis have plenty of oil capacity as demand returns Arabia’s 4 million barrels a day of spare capacity can easily be absorbed into the market when global energy demand recovers after the recession, the head of the kingdom’s state-owned oil company said today.

“Oil supply will decline if there is no investment, so that 4 million could be absorbed by demand alone,” said Khalid al-Falih, chief executive officer of the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., in a speech today at a Cambridge Energy Research Associates conference in Houston.

CERAWEEK - Oil companies take more risks with price rebound HOUSTON (Reuters) - A rebound in oil prices has encouraged oil and gas companies to take more risks in their quest for reserves, drilling deeper in more remote waters or finding new sources of energy, top executives said on Tuesday.

After the trauma of oil's 2008 collapse and tentative recovery last year, oil executives at the CERAWeek annual conference brimmed with confidence in the future of oil, particularly in the wake of high-profile successes in the ultradeep waters in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and offshore Brazil.

CERAWEEK 2010: On ‘Oil Day,' most see a future in fossil fuels On one side was the oil and gas industry, which said fossil fuels will be the dominant energy source for decades and that improving technology and abundant natural gas supplies hold the potential to extend that life further.

Vastly outnumbered on the other was Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who said the U.S. must accelerate efforts to wean itself from oil in what will amount to a “new industrial revolution,” or risk losing the clean technology race to other countries and doing further damage to the environment.

Top oil user, producer agree on oil dominance HOUSTON (Reuters) - The world's top oil producer and consumer agreed on one thing when they took the podium at a high-profile energy conference on Tuesday: The world is unlikely to kick its oil habit anytime soon.

Jeff Rubin: Looking for oil demand in all the wrong places It certainly wasn’t U.S. fuel demand that took oil prices over $100 (U.S.) in the first place, and it won’t be U.S. fuel demand that will push them back into that range any time soon. U.S. oil consumption is almost 3 million barrels per day short of its pre-recession peak -- a level never to be regained, just as U.S. motor vehicle sales will never again see the levels that prevailed before the recession. Ditto for oil consumption in Canada, Western Europe, Japan, or, for that matter, anywhere in the OECD economies.

Back in the 1990s, that kind of demand contraction in the OECD would have foretold a big decline in oil prices, since those countries accounted for almost three quarters of global oil demand. Today, they account for barely half, and tomorrow they will account for even less.

Is East Africa the Next Frontier for Oil? According to local lore, Portuguese travelers as far back as the late 19th century suspected oil might lie beneath parts of East Africa after noticing a thick, greasy sediment wash up on the shores of Mozambique. More interested in finding cheap labor, though, the explorers had little use for oil.

A century on, it turns out the Portuguese were right. Seismic tests over the past 50 years have shown countries up the coast of East Africa have natural gas in abundance. Early data compiled by industry consultants also suggest the presence of massive offshore oil deposits. Those finds have spurred oil explorers to start dropping more wells in East Africa, a region they say is an oil and gas bonanza just waiting to be tapped, one of the last great frontiers in the hunt for hydrocarbons.

Gazprom Neft Posts $638 Million Quarterly Net, Reversing Loss (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia’s state gas producer, posted profit in the fourth quarter as crude prices and output rose.

Net income increased to $638 million after a net loss of $543 million in the year earlier period, the St. Petersburg- based oil producer said today in an e-mailed statement. Adjusted for a loss on asset sales, net came to $861 million. The result missed the $955 million median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Europe Needs to Push Gas Infrastructure Spending, Scaroni Says (Bloomberg) -- Europe should promote spending on infrastructure to deliver natural gas to consumers from new sources of the fuel from Africa, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, Eni SpA Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni said.

FACTBOX - Facts about Venezuela's energy crisis (Reuters) - Venezuela's worsening electricity crisis, caused in part by a drought linked to the El Nino climate phenomenon, puts its $300 billion economy at risk of contraction and may cut the OPEC country's oil product exports.

Report: Egypt imports 47% of its diesel fuel A recent report issued by the state-run Egyptian General Petroleum Authority (EGPA) revealed that Egypt imported 5.6 million tons of diesel fuel in the 2008/2009 fiscal year at a total cost of LE9.5 billon, accounting for 47 percent of total domestic consumption. The figures suggest that the country is suffering from a serious shortage of petroleum resources.

Diesel shortage claims first fatality Shortages of diesel fuel and gasoline continued for the third consecutive day in Cairo and the governorates. The crisis claimed its first fatality on Tuesday in Sharqiya, where a local resident was reportedly killed in a fight with his relatives over who would be first to fill up their tractors.

Argentina to import gasoline for first time in 30 years Argentine oil company YPF has said that it plans to import 50 million litres of gasoline as demand outstrips supply in the South American nation.

Argentina, an oil-producing country where fuel is subject to government price controls, has not imported gasoline in 30 years.

Indonesia: Natural gas supply to see 23.3 percent deficit this year Natural gas supply and demand in 2010 will see a deficit of 23.3 percent based on demand specified in contracts and commitments combined in relation to available supply. The shortage equals to 2,554 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), an official says.

Monbiot vs. Leggett duking it out over solar panels and feed-in tariffs Those who hate environmentalism have spent years looking for the definitive example of a great green rip-off. Finally it arrives, and nobody notices. The government is about to shift £8.6bn from the poor to the middle classes. It expects a loss on this scheme of £8.2bn, or 95%. Yet the media is silent. The opposition urges only that the scam should be expanded.

North Korea Trying to Reverse Urbanization The North Korean authorities are reportedly offering an incentive to city dwellers, cadres of the party apparatus and the People’s Security Agency in an attempt to encourage them to move to rural areas.

...In the lectures, the authorities explained that a severe shortage of manpower in agricultural areas needed to be made up, and asked cadres to step forward and help.

Korea faces a long road in resources race Korea’s state-run energy companies, such as the KNOC, are now struggling to secure independent supplies, but the country lacks China’s financial resources. Government officials who toured oil-rich nations in Africa said they now realize how aggressive China has become.

“I was puzzled after hearing from Angolan government officials that there was no point in talking unless we were going to invest billions of dollars,” Lee Jae-hoon, a former vice minister of knowledge economy, said at a seminar, discussing a trip to explore and acquire rights to African oil fields. “China was easily offering billions of dollars, while we only suggested hundreds of millions maximum. We were simply no competition for China.”

China's Feb copper, oil imports surprisingly strong BEIJING - Copper and oil were in surprisingly strong demand in China in February, with imports rising despite a week-long Lunar New Year holiday and a crippling winter freeze that iced up many of the country's northern ports.

Trade in other commodities, such as iron ore, steel, and soybeans, slowed or remained close to sluggish January levels.

World Bank Gives South Africa Lumps of Coal In case you didn't catch it, the World Bank's top official for Africa just thumbed her nose at the dozens of renewable energy companies lining up to build clean energy in Africa's dirtiest economy.

Obiageli Ezekwesili, the Bank's Vice President for Africa, defended a controversial $3.75-billion loan to build a massive coal plant in South Africa with this head-in-the-sand statement: "There is no viable alternative to safeguard South Africa's energy security at this particular time."

Alternative energy 'needs to be proven' Australia will struggle to reduce its contribution to global greenhouse emissions unless a viable alternative energy source can be developed within the next decade, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson says.

The federal government is investing in biofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS) research, but beyond that, it insists it does not want to pick winners in the alternative energy sector.

German fishing boat flies giant kite to save fuel Germany's largest fishing vessel will leave the Netherlands this week, towed by a giant kite harnessing trade winds for South America that will help cut its fuel consumption by up to a third.

The 15,000 tonne 'Maartje Theadora' is the first fishing vessel to use the system, in which a 160 square metre blue and white kite similar to a paraglider pulls the ship on a 300 metre rope, assisting its main engine.

Impact of 'Cash for Clunkers' was underestimated, researchers say Search online for “Cash for Clunkers,” and here’s one thing you’ll find: stories about its negligible overall impact on the economy.

Wrong, says Maritz Automotive Research Group. The Toledo, Ohio, independent automotive research company recently surveyed participants in last summer’s federal program designed to stimulate new-car sales and get gas-guzzlers off the road. On Tuesday, the company shared its results.

One key finding: 90 percent of those participating in Cash for Clunkers said they would not otherwise have bought a new car.

Increased Solar Radiation Requires Additional CO2 Reduction of 50 Million Tonnes, Analysis Finds ScienceDaily — The recently observed reduction in air pollution implies that more solar radiation reaches the Earth's surface. This could lead to a far more rapid increase in the Earth's temperature in the coming decades than has previously been expected based on calculations of CO2 emissions alone.

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Looming Fiscal Storm All this says that despite the incessant media repetition that the economic situation is getting better, there is growing evidence that the economy is in fact growing worse. Federal Reserve support of the Treasury security market and purchases of mortgage backed securities is supposed to end in the next few months. Many fear that this action will send interest rates much higher before the year is out.

Where all this leaves oil prices is not yet clear. Gasoline has been rising in recent weeks and now averages $2.75 nationwide. If normal patterns pertain this year, we could see $3 gasoline by summer, but these are not normal times. Two years ago high gas prices are believed to have done much damage to the economy. Asian and Middle Eastern demand for oil appears to be on track to remain strong. But even China's leaders are becoming concerned about too much pointless growth. Geopolitical dangers ranging from the Venezuelan drought to Iran and political stagnation in Iraq remain.

Oil drifts near $81 amid mixed US inventory data Crude inventories jumped last week by 6.5 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday. Analysts, eyeing a cold weather spell in much of the U.S. this month, had expected a drop of 1.6 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

However, inventories of gasoline and distillates fell more than analysts expected, the API said.

Gas prices’ run likely won’t top $3 As the economy recovers, energy prices are rising and that is placing extra strain on families' budgets.

Each spring brings a familiar ritual in gasoline markets — rising prices — and this year won't be an exception. But motorists aren't likely to pay much more than $3 a gallon, on average, during the peak summer driving season.

OPEC Raises Forecast for Oil Demand on Lower NGL Estimate (Bloomberg) -- The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it will need to pump more crude than previously forecast this year after cutting its outlook for production of natural gas liquids.

OPEC, which produces about 40 percent of the world’s oil, predicts members will need to produce 28.94 million barrels a day to satisfy demand in 2010. That’s about 190,000 barrels a day more than last month’s projection. Still, OPEC expects demand for its crude this year to be lower than last year after it increased its estimate for 2009 by 200,000 barrels a day.

Saudi Aramco to Invest $90B in O&G Projects to 2015 The development and deployment of viable alternatives to fossil fuels "does remain an open question," Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Khalid Al-Falih said Tuesday.

Speaking at an IHS CERA conference in Houston, Al-Falih said that oil still underpins the global economy and is likely to remain at the core of the world's energy needs in the future. The conference, known as CERAWeek, reunites some of the world's top oil and gas executives.

OPEC President Vows to Reduce Oil-Price Speculation, Volatility (Bloomberg) -- OPEC President Germanico Pinto said he will seek to reduce price speculation and volatility during his term as leader of the oil cartel, adding to calls from the U.S. to Europe for measures to minimize market swings.

“The fact that there’s volatility produces difficulties in the markets and in defining a long-term strategy for public investment in the oil industry,” Pinto, who is also Ecuador’s minister of natural non-renewable resources, said yesterday in a statement.

Natural gas focus of oil conference, pointing to source of future For years, the so-called Oil Day of the annual IHS CERA energy conference, which draws thousands of industry executives to Houston, has been the highlight of this weeklong event. It comes first - before Gas Day and Power Day. The biggest names are keynote speakers that day (This year, for example, Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy, was among the keynote speakers). And attendence is at its highest.

But the irony of how natural gas is beginning to overtake oil in importance to the industry was underscored by the lunchtime keynote speaker Jim Mulva, chief executive of ConocoPhillips, the third biggest US oil and gas company. Even though Conoco is an oil company first and foremost, and Mr Mulva was speaking on Oil Day to a room filled with oil executives, his speech was called Natural Gas - The Gift.

Musings: Gas Shales May Change More Than U.S. Energy Markets The U.S. natural gas industry has been focused on the effect the commerciality of gas shale formations is having on the domestic industry. One result is that after years of declining gas production, the U.S. has experienced a rise in domestic supplies. Secondly, the Potential Gas Committee has suggested, based on its study, the country has huge gas resources that can be developed with today’s drilling and completion technologies. They did not, however, suggest that all the potential natural gas resources identified are commercial at current gas prices, and especially at the sub-$5 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) prices being experienced now. One of the key new basins that will supply this growth in natural gas production is the Marcellus Shale that extends from West Virginia through Pennsylvania and Ohio and into New York. Reportedly this is the largest basin in areal extent (95,000 square miles vs. 5,000 square miles for the Barnett Shale) and possibly in the amount of gas potential with an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of reserves.

Royal Dutch Shell stops gasoline sales to Iran - trade DUBAI (Reuters) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has stopped gasoline sales to Iran, oil traders said on Wednesday, the latest addition to a growing list of firms that have halted supplies under threat of future U.S. sanctions.

The Anglo-Dutch oil firm will join the likes of BP, Reliance Industries (RELI.BO), and independent Swiss trader Glencore, among suppliers that have either stopped fuel sales to Iran or have made a decision not to enter into new trading agreements with the world's fifth largest oil exporter.

"Shell has stopped selling gasoline to Iran, we have not seen them there for a while now," a gasoline trader said.

Russia lowers oil export tariff The Russian government said it had lowered its oil export tariff from the current 270.7 U.S. dollars per ton to 253.6 dollars, starting March 1.

Tullow Says Total, Cnooc to Help Ramp Up Ugandan Oil Production (Bloomberg) -- Tullow Oil Plc said the addition of China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Total SA as its partners in Uganda will allow the U.K. explorer to ramp up production from the African nation.

Ugandan oil output may exceed 200,000 barrels a day beyond 2014 after starting next year, Chief Operating Officer Paul McDade said today. Tullow expects Cnooc and Total to each take a one-third stake in its three blocks in the Lake Albert region, subject to government approval.

Land Rig Review: Land Rig Utilization Trends Although the recent land rig hiring spree has gone a long way towards improving utilization, total land rig utilization still has room for improvement. With the 2005-2009 construction cycle helping to increase available land rig supply by over 1,000 net units, a rig surplus remains despite the ongoing recovery. It is also worth noting that today's hottest onshore plays require higher spec rigs, thus some of the more marginal capacity has been left out of the recovery in demand and overall supply should be discounted to some extent due to legacy equipment.

OPEC's Oil Output on the Rise - Platts Survey The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' crude oil production rose to 29.31 million barrels per day (b/d) in February, an increase of 60,000 (b/d) from an estimated January level of 29.25 million b/d, according to a just-released Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts.

Excluding Iraq, which does not participate in the oil producing group's production agreements, output from the 11 members bound by quotas (OPEC-11) -- under a 24.845 million b/d collective target -- dipped by 10,000 b/d to 26.75 million b/d in February.

Increases totaling 170,000 b/d from Angola, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Venezuela were partly offset by decreases totaling 110,000 b/d from Libya and Nigeria, the latter's production dropping by 100,000 b/d to 1.98 million b/d in February.

PREVIEW - Arms, energy to dominate Russia's Putin India trip MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Premier Vladimir Putin will offer a traditional cocktail of arms and oil deals when he travels to India on Thursday to persuade a Cold War ally to buy new weapons amid rising competition with the United States.

The Russian economy shrank by 7.9 percent last year after a decade of oil-fuelled boom and Putin sees the defence sector as key to reviving growth. But Moscow often needs to offer incentives to sell its usually outdated military equipment.

India Is Seeking Coal Deals in Australia, ANZ Says (Bloomberg) -- Indian companies are stepping up interest to secure coal resources in Indonesia and Australia to meet the power needs of the world’s second-most populous country, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said.

Natural gas crystals: Energy under the sea NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It looks like ice -- but this ice could one day be used to heat your home.

It's actually not ice at all, but crystallized natural gas, and if scientists can figure out how to harvest it cheaply enough, it could become a vast new source of energy available in just about every country in the world.

Offshore wind farm a no-go in Jefferson County The head of the New York Power Authority addressed the Jefferson County Legislature Tuesday night to clear up misconceptions and encourage the board to entertain the idea of an offshore wind farm, but legislators were not swayed on their opposition.

A Rough Rollout for Smart Meters in Texas So-called “smart” electric meters, heralded as vital for an energy-conscious era, are having a rough rollout in Texas.

The devices, which enable utilities to vary their rates according to the time of day, allow consumers to save money — in theory. But according to The Dallas Morning News, hundreds of Texas customers have called to complain that the meters, which are being installed by a Dallas-based electric company called Oncor, are inaccurately raising their electric bills.

Japan, New Mexico collaborate on smart grid tech SANTA FE, N.M. – Two national laboratories, the state of New Mexico and a Japanese agency are developing smart grid technology to give homeowners and businesses more access to renewable energy sources by controlling the supply and demand of electric power.

US Department of Energy to grant $40m for development of next generation nuclear plant The award has been made to Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric and San Diego-based General Atomics.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has revealed selections for the award of approximately $40m in total to two teams led by Westinghouse Electric and General Atomics for conceptual design and planning work for the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP).

Debating the Nuclear Waste Problem With Nevada’s Yucca Mountain facility apparently out of the picture as a nuclear waste repository, government nuclear experts say interim measures might be needed for a very long time.

Drought Has Venezuela Looking at Alternatives to Hydropower A severe drought in Venezuela appears to be pushing the country’s president, Hugo Chávez, to ramp up efforts to diversify the country’s energy portfolio.

Up to now, hydropower has been the major energy source in Venezuela — providing residents and industry with up to two-thirds of the total electricity produced. But a record lack of rainfall has resulted in low water flows and several power interruptions — as well as angry recriminations of the government from some Venezuelans ahead of upcoming legislative elections scheduled for September.

New Zealand: Govt's $21 Billion Bet On Cheap Petrol This week, Shell CEO Peter Voser joined a growing chorus of voices announcing the end to cheap oil. When asked about whether the theory of "peak oil" was dead the theory that oil production will no longer be able to keep up with demand Mr Voser said "I think what is dead is cheap oil."

"This Government is placing all their bets on electric car technology to keep us moving in the future. But the new cars are expensive, their uptake will be slow, and they don't solve the problem of congestion or where the power will come from," said Dr Norman.

Rail summit rallies support Mark Robynowitz, was one of two attendees to frame the projects through the lens of peak oil projections, said he believed the federal money would probably only be enough to fix up existing wear and tear, and less highway- and automobile-related expenditures to fund the project should be considered.

“One of the ways that we could afford to improve the trains is to transfer funds from widening (Interstate 5), which the state has to spend billions on, towards fixing the rail ... The Amtrak Cascade is capable of going a 120 miles per hour, but it can barely go half that on most of the routes because the rail network is decrepit.”

Future of public transit in Orillia is now There are many reasons why limiting automobile useage is considered important -- in large cities gridlock is a multimillion-dollar problem; air pollution is far worse than many people believe (5,800 premature deaths due to smog in southern Ontario, according to the Ontario Medical Association in 2005); climate change; inactive lifestyles leading to fantastically spiking diabetes and obesity rates; parking problems; and recurrent "peak oil" concerns regarding how much petroleum is actually left in the earth to fuel our cars.

All of these problems were considered in a 2007 report titledHealthy Communities, Sustainable Communities: The 21st Century Planning Challenge.

Write a sequel to Ridge author’s book “GETI’s main objective in promoting the writing contest is to create awareness that peak oil and climate change are issues that will force change upon us,” said CEED director, Gerry Pinel.

“To prepare for those changes, GETI’s mandate is to build resiliency into our area through grassroots-driven, community-based initiatives. We have a positive vision of our community’s future and this writing contest is a great start in that direction.”

Athamas Hedge Fund Will Sell More Wood, Fewer Carbon Credits (Bloomberg) -- A forestry and carbon hedge fund proposed by Athamas SA will focus on wood rather than carbon credits after United Nations climate talks in December failed to set international targets after 2012.

First Climate Seeks $136 Million for Carbon Credits After 2012 (Bloomberg) -- First Climate AG said it signed letters of intent with major European utilities to invest in projects that may generate emission credits good after 2012.

Sun Activity Reaches Century Low, May Slow Warming ‘Slightly’ (Bloomberg) -- Solar activity is at its lowest level in almost 100 years and should that continue may slow the pace of global warming “slightly,” Potsdam Institute for Climate Research scientists said today in a study.

Climate Myths and Questions, Part II In Part One of our series, we looked at polar bears, hockey sticks, Medieval Warm Periods and Little Ice Ages, among other topics. Today our list includes water vapor, volcanoes, and CO2.

California global warming law may lead to job losses, report says Debate over the economic effects of California's first-in-the-nation global warming law flared this week, with a report saying short-term job losses can be expected.

China unsure on warming cause, to stick with CO2 cuts BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top climate negotiator said on Wednesday that the cause of global warming was still not clear but the problems it was creating were so serious that the world must anyway act to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

China urges greater US commitments on climate change, technical and financial support BEIJING - China told the United States on Wednesday to make stronger commitments on climate change and provide environmental expertise and financing to developing nations.

At the same time, China said its own efforts to reduce energy intensity have been hampered by its economic recovery in the latter part of last year, which brought growth in heavy energy-consuming industries.

At White House: 14 senators discuss climate-energy legislation The fate of President Obama's plan to shift America toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels may depend on the outcome of a crucial White House meeting Tuesday with 14 key senators, many from coal- and oil-producing states, who have long opposed curbs on carbon emissions.

Mr. Obama – often criticized for being too hands off on complex and controversial climate-energy legislation after it became stalled in the Senate last year – now appears to be making a full-court press to win the 60 votes he needs for Senate passage of revamped climate-energy legislation, several observers agree.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It looks like ice -- but this ice could one day be used to heat your home.

It's actually not ice at all, but crystallized natural gas, and if scientists can figure out how to harvest it cheaply enough, it could become a vast new source of energy available in just about every country in the world.

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According to local lore, Portuguese travelers as far back as the late 19th century suspected oil might lie beneath parts of East Africa after noticing a thick, greasy sediment wash up on the shores of Mozambique. More interested in finding cheap labor, though, the explorers had little use for oil.

A century on, it turns out the Portuguese were right. Seismic tests over the past 50 years have shown countries up the coast of East Africa have natural gas in abundance

China and India formally agreed Tuesday to join the international climate change agreement reached in December in Copenhagen, the last two major economies to sign up.

The two countries, among the largest and fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, submitted letters to the United Nations agreeing to be included on a list of countries covered by the Copenhagen Accord, a three-page nonbinding statement reached at the end of the contentious and chaotic 10-day conference.

While touting the development of alternative energy technologies such as solar power, the CEO of Saudi Arabia's national oil company stressed Tuesday that traditional fossil fuels -- oil, natural gas, coal -- will be kings of the energy world for a long time.

As he surveyed a standing-room-only audience at the CERA Week 2010 energy conference in Houston, Saudi Aramco chief Khalid Al-Falih, a Texas A&M University graduate, made no bones about his faith in oil and natural gas.

"We should undertake urgent focused research and development programs in next generation nuclear power," said atmospheric physicist James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and adjunct professor at Columbia University's Earth Institute in New York.

While renewable energies such as solar and wind were gaining in economic competition with coal-fired plants, Professor Hansen said they wouldn't be able to provide baseload power for years to come.

Germany's largest fishing vessel will leave the Netherlands this week, towed by a giant kite harnessing trade winds for South America that will help cut its fuel consumption by up to a third.

The 15,000 tonne 'Maartje Theadora' is the first fishing vessel to use the system, in which a 160 square meter blue and white kite similar to a paraglider pulls the ship on a 300 meter rope, assisting its main engine.