Energy Links Jamboree - 05/24/07

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Minimum Operating Level

There has been much discussion about gasoline inventories in the US lately and rightly so. Every Wednesday morning the Department of Energy releases a snapshot of US oil and product inventories at the end of the preceding week. As US gasoline inventories fell dramatically during the past few months, it is this report, as interpreted by many buyers and sellers of gasoline, that is largely responsible for the record high prices we are paying for gasoline.

House passes gasoline gouging bill

Congress is desperate to show it feels your pain at the pump.

The House today voted, 284-141, to pass a bill that would make gasoline price gouging a federal offense.

In the Senate, Democratic leaders were scrambling to introduce a new energy bill, the first since they took control of Congress. A committee also held a hearing on whether oil industry mergers had contributed to higher fuel prices.

How to win the energy war

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.

E85 Ethanol: Money Saver or Big Hoax?

With gas prices soaring past $3 a gallon this spring...A growing number of drivers are taking a serious look at E85 Ethanol, the fuel made from corn!
Is it worth trying...If your car can handle it? You may be surprised what some drivers are finding.

Russia: Energy profile

In 2006, Russia’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by approximately 6.7 percent, surpassing average growth rates in all other G8 countries, marking the country’s seventh consecutive year of economic expansion. Russia’s economic growth over the past seven years has been driven primarily by energy exports, given the increase in Russian oil production and relatively high world oil prices during the period. Internally, Russia gets over half of its domestic energy needs from natural gas, up from around 49 percent in 1992. Since then, the share of energy use from coal and nuclear has stayed constant, while energy use from oil has decreased from 27 percent to around 19 percent.

Can Humans Control Global Climate?

Global climate is always changing. It has always been so, and it is bound to continue changing long after man has come and gone. As the global climate changes, so does the distribution of temperature and atmospheric gas composition around and about the Earth. And the converse is also true. For whatever reasons yet to be learned by scientific study, changes in the Earth’s temperature and atmospheric composition will lead to global climate changes regardless of what the Sun is doing.

Iraq's oil production on the decline

The American Inspector of Reconstruction in Iraq said that Basra's oil port, one of the most significant transportation facilities in the country, will soon be capable of working at its optimum oil production rate of 3 million barrels per day (bpd) if the docks secondary oil pipelines are repaired, , Iraq Directory reported.

Peak Oil Passnotes: The American Driver Pays Up

When U.S. gasoline hit record heights, it is now at a national average of $3.10 per gallon President Bush decided it was time to say something. But instead of coming out with anything concrete President Bush waddled around the subject of energy with all the clarity of a man high on PCP.

Saudi Arabia: Energy profile

Between mid-2003 and mid-2006, Saudi Arabia showed strong economic performance due to high oil prices, increasing oil production and export earnings, paired with structural reforms, economic diversification, and stable macroeconomic policymaking.

Saudi Arabia remains heavily dependent on oil and petroleum-related industries, including petrochemicals and petroleum refining. The IMF reported that in 2005, oil export revenues accounted for around 90 percent of total Saudi export earnings, 70-80 percent of state revenues, and 44 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). In order to defend their most significant source of economic growth, national oil company Saudi Aramco is increasing its oil production capacity to 12.5 million barrels per day (bbl/d), by 2009.

Mexico oil output flat at 3.182 bpd in April

Mexican crude oil output was unchanged in April at 3.182 million barrels per day compared to March and exports fell, state-run oil monopoly Pemex said on Monday.

Crude production held at its highest level since last September but was still well below the 2006 average of 3.256 million bpd as Pemex struggles to keep up output from its giant but aging Cantarell oil field.