Peak Oil Linkfest - 07/28/07

Oil Rises on Signs U.S. Gasoline Supplies Dropped a Fourth Week

Crude oil in New York rose to the highest close since Aug. 15 on speculation that U.S. gasoline supplies declined for a fourth week.

Gasoline supplies fell 2.3 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 24, according to the median of responses by 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. The crude-oil market often follows gasoline during the summer. Prices were down earlier on speculation that subprime-mortgage losses in the U.S. will spread through the economy, reducing growth and demand for fuels.


The Gasoline Crisis in Iran

In late June 2007, the Iranian government launched a comprehensive gasoline rationing policy, necessitated, in part, by the growing demand for gasoline in Iran's domestic market that could not be met by its oil production infrastructure.

Although Iran is among the world's major exporters of crude oil, it has limited processing and refining facilities, and thus must import most of its refined oil for domestic use. There has been no significant investment in developing its oil refining facilities since the Shah's era, and Iran depends entirely on imported gasoline.


Tomgram: Dilip Hiro, America on the Downward Slope

Pick up the paper any day and you'll find tiny straws in the wind (or headlines inside the fold) reflecting the seeping away of American power. The President of the planet's "sole superpower" and his top diplomats and commanders have been denouncing Iran for months as the evil hand behind American disaster in Iraq as well as Afghanistan.


Energy Report is Handgrenade in Bubblewrap

The working draft of the National Petroleum Council’s forecast of global oil and gas trends runs to nearly 500 pages. Weighing as much as the chunk of foam that brought down the Space Shuttle Columbia, this curious document reads like a hand grenade encased in Bubble Wrap. Since its release, the report (and a more digestible 40-page executive summary) has received 750,000 hits. (www.npc.org.).

Facing the Hard Truths About Energy is perplexing, even schizophrenic. In maddening fashion, it blends numerous cautions about the “accumulating risks” to global oil and gas production with repeated, rosy reassurances that we “aren’t running out,” as if anyone said we were.


The last straw? Alongside debt, rising food prices threaten industrial growth

Just when the world economy seemed to have found immunity to rising world fuel prices, the rising world grain price may be the shock that finally ends its long upturn, as costlier food baskets eat into household budgets.

A surge in world oil prices - to over $70 per barrel this month, almost double the level of two years ago – has not caused a return to the production downturns and price rises (‘stagflation’) that followed previous petroleum shocks in 1973 and 1979. The global economy continues to grow strongly, with emerging markets expanding fast and a pick-up in the EU offsetting signs of slowdown in the US. Relocation of industrial production, and a widening range of services, to low-cost countries is suppressing northern hemisphere inflation rates. Among the biggest of the emerging markets, Russia’s boom is being fed by oil, China’s is still largely powered by coal, Brazil is rapidly substituting its fossil energy needs from biofuel, and India’s rising exports and capital inflows have stopped its growth being checked by rising oil demand.


Meat prices set to soar as production costs mount: analyst

The price of meat may soon increase as production costs mount and demand outstrips supply, a British analyst said Tuesday.

Richard Crane, a London-based analyst with the consulting firm Deloitte, said beef, pork and poultry producers are struggling with rising feed costs. Grain prices reached an unprecedented peak of $7.44 U.S. a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade market last week after climbing steadily for months.


How Weak Dollar Affects OPEC

When oil price spikes have occurred in the past, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has quickly increased supply, taking advantage of the high U.S. dollar selling price, but also thereby eventually driving down the oil price, making Americans and everyone else who uses oil happy.

But now, even with oil prices nearing a record high, opec is not stepping up production. Why?


OPEC has set unofficial target price of 70 usd per barrel for oil - IEA

OPEC has set an unofficial target oil price of around 70 usd per barrel, which could weigh on growth, said Claude Mandil, director general of the International Energy Agency, in an interview with the Arab Oil & Gas monthly.

'The market has become aware' that OPEC 'has set an implicit new objective of keeping prices at or around 70 usd per barrel and that the organisation is trying to defend this level,' said Mandil.


July oil output drops at Mexico's Cantarell field

Crude oil output dropped in July at Mexico's aging Cantarell offshore field, according to data published on the energy ministry's Web site on Monday. Cantarell, closely watched by the oil industry after sharp dips in output in recent months, produced an average of 1.526 million barrels per day versus 1.570 million bpd in June.

The figure meant Cantarell accounted for just 48.2 per cent of Mexico's overall crude oil output last month, continuing a steady decline over the past year at the field, which once produced around 60 per cent of the country's oil.


The end of oil is not a possibility but a certainty

Regardless of how long you've been alive, whether you're 16 or 60, it's never been a problem to get gasoline. The ability to fill our gas tanks has often felt as guaranteed to Americans as free speech and free press. However, the privilege of gas may become a thing of the past quicker than we may think.

There is one fact often overlooked when dealing with the issue of oil and that is this: We cannot make a finite resource infinite.


How Corn Ethanol Could Pollute the Bay

Despite rising food prices, it seems that nearly everyone is turning to corn-based ethanol as their choice for alternative fuel. Hidden behind these headlines, though, is an equally important but less visible cost: water pollution.

Corn is a "leaky" crop, losing more nitrogen per acre than most other crops. In the Washington region, much of this excess nitrogen ends up polluting the Chesapeake Bay and robbing fish, crabs and oysters of oxygen.

Energy Briefs : From Peak Oil Review

• The Yemeni government's share of the country’s oil output declined by 42% in the first half of this year. Total oil production fell to 20 million barrels in the six months to June 30 from 34.5 million barrels in the year-earlier period
• Lebanon is on the verge of a blackout within three to four days due to the lack of fuel in most of the power stations. Rationing of electricity consumption began in Beirut and areas in the north and south regions of the country, with suspension periods reaching over 14 hours a day,
• The median price of American homes is expected to fall this year for the first time since federal housing agencies began keeping statistics in 1950.
• Cultists killed 20 people in Rivers state, Nigeria leading to imposition of a curfew. Since January, 2006, armed gangs have abducted more than 200 local and foreign oil workers in the Niger Delta. Total SA fired a geologist earlier this month after he refused a job in Nigeria.
• Saudi Arabia's domestic oil consumption last year grew by 6.2 per cent to 2 million b/d up from 1.89 million b/d in 2005. Analysts attributed the growth to the surge in economic development, especially the decision to set up economic cities, industrial estates and IT parks in different parts of the Kingdom.
• Chevron's largest U.S. refinery continued production at reduced levels while teams assessed damage caused by a fire last week. There are already reports that crude shipments to the refinery have been diverted elsewhere.
• Refinery maintenance in Europe next month is expected to shut in about 630,000 barrels of oil a day, double the amount of production that was idle in August. Globally, the number of refineries undergoing scheduled maintenance is expected to increase in September, with around 1.85 million barrels a day off line.
• Kazakhstan's environment ministry has ordered a halt to all work at the giant Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea, which is being developed by an Eni-led consortium, over violations of the country's environmental laws. ENI’s CEO said "friendly negotiations" with the Kazakh government over the Kashagan oil field will begin today.
• OPEC's newest member Angola is likely to stay free of the group's output constraints so long as oil prices remain strong, giving the country scope to start up several new oilfields in coming months. Under the most optimistic estimates, Angola could reach 3 million bpd by the end of 2010.
• Japan is forming a program that will allow countries in East Asia to share oil reserves in the event of a disaster. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry believes that an emergency-oil-sharing program in East Asia, where demand for oil continues to soar, will help stabilize oil prices and the region's economies when shortages hit.
• Venezuela exported to the US an average of 1.31 million b/d of crude oil and byproducts in June, a drop of 202,000 bpd, or 13.2 percent, compared with May.
• Venezuela’s parliament has given initial approval to reforms proposed by President Chavez, including an end to presidential term limits. The proposals still require a final endorsement by parliament, and must then be put to a referendum.
• GM may build as many as 60,000 of its Volt electric cars for their inaugural year on the market. Production at that level may allow GM to sell the plug-in Volt for less than $30,000.
• Myanmar authorities moved swiftly to crush the latest in a series of weeklong protests against fuel price hikes.
• Global warming will cut China's annual grain harvest by up to 10 percent by 2030, state press reported. China will likely need an extra 10 million hectares (247 million acres) of farmland by 2030, the year that China’s population is expected to peak at 1.5 billion people.
• U.S. natural gas storage grew last week and is about 13 percent above the five-year average for this time of year. Forecasts for warmer-than-normal early winter temperatures may chill the prospects for a rally in U.S. heating oil and natural gas futures prices.
• BP said it may be forced to cancel plans to increase the use of Canadian crude at its giant Whiting refinery if it can't appease environmentalists in a way that maintains the project's "viability." The company was recently granted a permit from Indiana to allow for higher wastewater discharge limits as it prepares for the $3.8 billion upgrade project.
• Alberta's revenues from selling exploration rights have slumped more than 60% so far this year. The drop was caused by low natural gas prices, rising oil sands development costs and weak equity markets.
• Landowners in north-central Alberta will be voting on a proposal to build Alberta’s first nuclear power plant. Energy Alberta was established in 2005 to bring nuclear technology to the province. The company says it has lined up financing and clients. Environmental groups have expressed concern about the proposed facility saying the nuclear reactors require huge amounts of fresh water and have a serious problem disposing of nuclear waste.
• A climate-change bill from the House Energy Committee will be a hybrid of ``cap-and-trade'' and new carbon taxes, said Rep. John Dingell, the measure's main sponsor. According to Dingell, the bill, expected next month, would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent to 80 percent by 2050. The Committee is also proposing a cutoff of mortgage-interest tax deductions for all houses with more than 3,000 square feet.
• Nicaragua’s U.S. ambassador insisted that the government immediately return a storage terminal seized from Esso, saying the takeover threatens foreign investment and is a ploy to promote Venezuelan petroleum products. A judge embargoed the assets owned by Exxon-Mobil, on Aug. 18, saying the company owed $3 million in taxes, which the company denies.
• Militant groups have formed a coalition in preparation for another round of kidnapping of foreign workers and bombing of oil installations in the Niger-Delta beginning the first week of September. Their complaint remains that the government and oil companies have failed to meet their demands for development of their areas.
• A nuclear cooperation pact Iran struck with the International Atomic Energy Agency has "real limitations" a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. Washington was not impressed by the promise of Iranian transparency -- hailed as a "milestone" by the IAEA .

David Walker on Fiscal Responsibility ( lack of it )

Credit Bubble Update - 08/26/07

'Notional' value - like trying to nail down Jell-O

It's hard to think of anything more discretionary, non-vital or even downright unnecessary than a BlackBerry.

Oh sure, they're convenient. Your spouse can e-mail you a to-do list and you can't pretend you didn't get it. You can settle bar bets on the spot with a quick Google search. You can thumb away on the putting green like a big shot. Sometimes you even get work done with it.


Drowning in debt? Lifeguard is credit counseling service

The good news for the Consumer Credit Counseling Service is it's hiring like crazy.

The bad news is, it has to do that.

overwhelmed by desperate homeowners across the country teetering on the brink of foreclosure as the subprime mortgage industry implodes.


Indian outsourcers start to feel subprime fallout

Ripples from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis have reached India's back-office outsourcing sector, where mostly smaller firms are feeling the pinch as U.S. companies cut back or stop some spending on services.

Already struggling with a stronger rupee and rising wages, the fear for outsourcers is that the subprime woes will spread, although larger players such as Infosys Technologies say this could open up new opportunities.


Sub-prime mortgages catalyst for freefall

For a while there, it seemed like the fair-weather types on Bay Street, and elsewhere in the financial world, had it right. We could all sit back, put our feet up and relax.

The tempest that convulsed the world's capital markets in late July and early August would be short-lived. Even those of us who were enjoying family vacations when the turbulence hit could hardly overlook the alarming reports on TV and radio newscasts and the startling headlines that appeared on the front pages of our newspapers.


Foreclosure fallout: Rescue scams

Jennifer Falke and her family had been in their Columbus, Ohio, home for nearly 12 years when they hit a rough patch in 2006. Falke was out of work and fell behind on the mortgage.

Falke said a flood of mailings and flyers then arrived at her door promising help from foreclosure rescue companies claiming to act as an intermediary between her and her lender to keep her from losing her home.


Moody's cuts 120 subprime RMBS tranches from 2005

Moody's on Wednesday cut the ratings on 120 subprime residential mortgage-backed securities tranches, citing higher-than-anticipated delinquency rates of first-lien subprime mortgage loans securitized in the second half of 2005.

The action affects over $1.5 billion of securities.


Ben Bernanke Walks the Line

Much of what Ben Bernanke spends his days doing oscillates between the incomprehensibly arcane and the unspeakably dull. Lately, though, the Federal Reserve chairman has a stark, even exciting task at hand. He's been imitating Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life and trying to halt a bank run.

While Stewart's George Bailey had to make do with his powers of persuasion and his honeymoon fund to save the Bailey Building and Loan, Bernanke has the full faith and credit of the U.S. government behind him. The Fed can effectively print U.S. dollars at will. It can even, as Bernanke famously suggested in 2002, drop them out of helicopters, if that's what it takes.


Realtor numbers thin during slump

Victoria Rodriguez was not only a thriving real-estate agent in recent years, she was honored as one the area's top-selling real-estate agents four years in a row.

That was in the boom time, and that spigot shut down to a trickle nearly two years ago.


Mortgage Mess Hurts Main Street, Beyond

The walls are bare, the closets are empty, and Connie and Timothy Pent and their two teenage children are living out of boxes as they wait for a dreaded knock at the door of their three-bedroom house in Ocala, Fla.

They've fallen behind in payments on a their home loan, and their lender told them in July that foreclosure was imminent.

Peak Oil Linkfest - 08/24/07

Economist Sees Peak Oil Near

Peak oil, the point at which production of oil worldwide begins a progressive decline, is probably coming soon, economist George Littel told members of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association at their annual convention this morning.

Further, Littel said, when peak oil arrives it will be an economic, not a geologic, event because demand for energy is a strong driver of new exploration and production.


Current global challenges and alternative energy futures for South Africa

The combined effect of depletion of global oil and natural gas reserves, climate change and global monetary imbalances and financial instability is likely to have significant impacts on the global and South African economies throughout the 21st Century.

These impacts are likely to include far reaching consequences for energy, food security, settlement patterns and social stability.


Corn, ethanol rush relies on dwindling water

The field came to life in the August wind, dense stalks swaying in tandem, silky tassels swirling like so many kite tails in the sun.

Duard Fix shouldered his way through the lush stand, stopping to break off and husk a prize he'd been waiting for since May: The perfect ear of corn — nearly 800 light yellow kernels in 16 neatly symmetrical rows.


Saudi domestic oil consumption up 6.2pc in ’06

Saudi Arabia's domestic oil consumption last year went up by 6.2 per cent to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.89 million bpd in 2005 in the wake of economic boom, while its oil production for the international market declined by 2.3 per cent during the same period, according to the ŒBP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2007' released recently.

Economic analysts attributed the growth to the surge in economic development, especially the decision to set up economic cities, industrial estates and IT parks in different parts of the Kingdom.


Iran's hangmen work overtime to silence opposition

Stonings, hangings, floggings, purges. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might claim that United Nations sanctions can't hurt his country, but that is not how it feels for Iran's long-suffering population which now finds itself on the receiving end of one of the most brutal purges witnessed since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The most visible manifestation of the new oppression sweeping Iran has been the wave of public executions and floggings carried out in Teheran and provincial capitals over recent weeks in a blatant attempt by the regime to intimidate political opponents. The official government line is that the punishments are part of its "Plan to Enforce Moral Behaviour".


World oil prices climbing again

Crude oil prices rose on Thursday after earlier losses as a steady stock market performance alleviated worries about dampening consumer demand caused by the slowdown in economic growth.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude for delivery in October closed 57 cents higher at 69.83 dollars per barrel. In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery settled 1.16 dollars higher at 69.86 dollars per barrel.


Industrial Agrofuels Have No Future; Does Food?

The E.U. has set absurdly high targets for agrofuels in its transportation fuel mix. By 2020, the E.U. intends to sate 10 percent of its transportation demand with agrofuels, and it is counting on cellulosic ethanol for most of that new fuel.
It won’t work. Advocates claim that cellulosic ethanol has a positive energy return – that is, the magnitude of energy required for biomass production and conversion is smaller than the magnitude of energy displaced by the ethanol produced. And this claim has been carefully crafted to convey the idea that (a) cellulosic ethanol can replace fossil fuels, and that (b) we should be happy with this new technology, because cellulosic ethanol is an energy-positive fuel and therefore, the more we drive the more we save.


The Peak Oil Crisis: Hurricanes and Meltdowns

Earlier this week Hurricane Dean slammed into the Yucatan peninsula and crossed over into the Bay of Campeche where some 1.5 million of the 10 million barrels the U.S. imports every day are produced. While it is too early for a full damage assessment, at best a few days of production will be lost and possibly quite a bit more if any of the production platforms, pipeline systems and nitrogen injection facilities have been damaged.


"Peak oil" becomes burning issue

Swiss scientists say politicians and the public should have a greater awareness of "peak oil" – the moment when the world's maximum crude oil output is reached.
Researchers at Basel University warn that although climate change is grabbing more headlines than the possible exhaustion of fossil fuels, a conflict is brewing over crude oil.

This suggests that U.S. imports will be less than normal over the next few weeks. While some of these imports might be made up by increased shipments from other countries, the tight overall oil market suggests that this will be difficult.


Share slump and credit crunch: passing peak oil

Regular readers may be surprised to see me offer commentary on the financial markets, given my dim view of such factories of speculation and greed. This is no sideshow, however. The unfolding turmoil may eventually be seen as a historic event. Another turning point, the worldwide peak in oil production, is a key player in this unfolding drama, although its role goes unnoticed by most in the audience.

Crack Up Boom!

One of the greatest free market economists that ever lived, Ludwig von Mises, had this to say about credit expansion ( a.k.a Ponzi finance )

The boom can last only as long as the credit expansion progresses at an ever-accelerated pace. The boom comes to an end as soon as additional quantities of fiduciary media are no longer thrown upon the loan market. But it could not last forever even if inflation and credit expansion were to go on endlessly. It would then encounter the barriers which prevent the boundless expansion of circulation credit. It would lead to the crack-up boom and the breakdown of the whole monetary system.

The credit expansion boom is built on the sands of banknotes and deposits. It must collapse. If the credit expansion is not stopped in time, the boom turns into the crack-up boom; the flight into real values begins, and the whole monetary system founders. Continuous inflation (credit expansion) must finally end in the crack-up boom and the complete breakdown of the currency system.

Of course, Milton Friedman would disagree. Friedman, and his socialist counterparts, believe that ponzi finance schemes can continue forever without ever causing a credit contraction (deflation) or even a crack up boom ( hyperinflation ). He even won a nobel prize for that theory. Central bankers have revered Friedman ever since, but, have we gotten rid of bubbles and their subsequent busts? Answer is a resounding No!

In 1967, Ayn Rand published her non-fiction book, Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal. In it, she included Gold and Economic Freedom, the essay by her close friend Alan Greenspan (Mr. Bubbles). In that essay, Greenspan argues persuasively in favor of a gold standard and against the concept of a central bank. Is it ironic that the Maestro became a central banker himself and precided over the biggest expansion of money supply ever witnessed in America? Printing Press Benny has taken over the reigns from Easy Al, and, we get more of the same. Will it work for Benny the way it did for Easy Al? I doubt it!

Credit Bubble Update - 08/20/07

Capital One to Shut Unit, Cut 1,900 Jobs

Capital One Financial Corp. said Monday it will cut 1,900 jobs and shutter its wholesale mortgage banking business, a move that comes as lenders continue to struggle in the nation's housing and mortgage markets.

Capital One said it will shut down GreenPoint Mortgage and eliminate most of the jobs by the end of year. The McLean, Va.-based company will close 31 GreenPoint locations in 19 states and "cease residential mortgage origination" effective immediately but said it will honor commitments to customers with locked rates who have loans already in the pipeline.


Countrywide Cuts 500 Mortgage Jobs

Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, said Monday it has eliminated about 500 jobs as it tries to ride out problems from a credit crunch that has rocked the home loan industry.

The company said the cuts came in the subprime lending unit of its Wholesale Lending Division and its Full Spectrum Lending unit, which handles mortgages given to customers with minor credit problems or who can't provide full income documentation required for traditional prime loans.


Central banks are stealing from the average citizen

As regular readers know, I have been a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve. Not too far back, that view was a decidedly minority one.

But as our credit bubble undergoes an ugly unwinding, it's dawning on folks that central banks lie at the epicenter of the problem. Andy Xie nailed it in Tuesday's Financial Times, which is why I've chosen to begin my column with quotes from his article "It's time for central banks to stop bailing out markets."


Thornburg Sells Securities to Revive Home Lending

Thornburg Mortgage Inc., the jumbo- mortgage specialist that stopped taking loan applications last week because of a cash crunch, sold $20.5 billion of securities at a discount to pay down debt it couldn't refinance.

The Santa Fe, New Mexico-based company will record a $930 million loss in the third quarter on the sale of the mortgage- backed bonds, resulting in a probable net loss for the year, President Larry Goldstone said in an interview. Thornburg's shares, which gyrated between $7.49 and $18.35 last week, dropped as much as 13 percent today.


Subprime lender NovaStar firing 37 percent of staff

NovaStar Financial Inc (NYSE:NFI - News), a subprime mortgage lender, said on Friday it will fire about 500 employees, or 37 percent of its work force, as it reduces home loans, given tough capital markets conditions.

The lender also said it will temporarily stop offering home loans through brokers, and instead continue to offer mortgages through its retail operations.


Stephen King: Manias, panics and costly chain reactions

Private Eye may have got it right. Its "economics editor" suggested the market turmoil of the last few days was tied to a run on grapefruit segments. For all the supposed "explanations", there remains at least three problems. First, few predicted the scale of the turmoil. Second, any explanation only works with the benefit of hindsight. Third, it's all too easy to make reassuring comparisons with previous episodes forgetting that those, too, were equally bewildering at the time. Nevertheless, useful frameworks exist to explain both the general principles and the specific mechanisms that have led to the latest market carnage.


Subprime Infects $300 Billion of Money Market Funds, Hikes Risk

Money market funds were invented 37 years ago to offer investors better returns than bank savings accounts while providing a high degree of safety. Most of the $2.5 trillion sitting in these funds is invested in such assets as U.S. Treasury bills, certificates of deposit and short-term commercial debt.

Unlike bank accounts, money market funds aren't insured by the federal government. They almost never fail.


German bank SachsenLB gets 17.3 bln eur bailout over subprime exposure

German publicly-owned regional bank SachsenLB said it had to be bailed out to the tune of 17.3 bln eur by the country's savings banks because of its exposure to the troubled US subrime loans market.

In a statement late Friday, the bank said due to 'ongoing market disruption in selling asset backed commercial papers', it had problems refinancing its Ormond Quay, a fund set up in Dublin by the bank's wholly owned subsidiary Sachsen LB Europe PLC.

Credit Bubble Implosion

Glen Beck Interviews Peter Schiff

Peak Oil Update - 08/18/07

Making do without

The growing recognition that the world is at or nearly at the all-time peak of conventional oil production (meaning from that point on, oil flows will inexorably decline at some unknown rate) has prompted a furious search for replacements, all intended to keep the high-carbon, high-flying, automobile lifestyle going.

Like crack addicts warned of a future shortage, we are literally searching the corners of the Earth to figure out how we're going to get our fix when times is tight.


The latest from peak oil land: ponies and lollipops!

I don't do much writing about peak oil here. It's horrifically depressing, for one thing, and for another I doubt I could add to the comprehensive work being done at the Oil Drum and elsewhere. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

If you're like me and you only tune in to the issue occasionally, check out the latest from Michael Klare over at TomDispatch: "Tough oil on tap." It's a nice, fairly concise roundup of the latest reports and news from the peak oil world. And yeah, it's depressing. Here's the conclusion:


U.S. Tough Talk on Iran: A Sign of Isolation

Washington's reported plan to name Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a "specially designated global terrorist" organization may be less about raising pressure on Tehran than about raising pressure on U.S. allies to support a tougher line with Iran. In fact, the move reflects Washington's relative isolation on the question of how to deal with Iran. The New York Times reported Wednesday that the move is primarily directed at appeasing Bush Administration hawks and U.S. legislators who have been agitating for a more aggressive posture on Iran, and at turning the screws on European allies who are reluctant at this stage to escalate U.N. sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program.


Tomgram: Michael Klare, Tough Oil on Tap

News stories just out report that the Bush administration is planning to designate Iran's entire Revolutionary Guard Corps a "specially designated global terrorist" in order to tighten sanctions on that country. This follows a many-months-long drumbeat of U.S. claims against Iran -- for arming not just Shiite militias (and Sunni insurgents) with the most sophisticated roadside bombs to attack American troops, but the Taliban as well (an especially unlikely charge).


Oil Gains as Storm, Weather System Threaten Gulf Oil Production

Oil rose more than 1 percent in New York, the biggest gain in two weeks, on concern a tropical storm and a separate weather disturbance may damage oil platforms and pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc evacuated staff from the Gulf as a precaution because of a tropical disturbance near the Yucatan Peninsula. Atlantic Tropical Storm Dean may become a hurricane by the end of the week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. In 2005, hurricanes Katrina and Rita decimated platforms and pipelines along the Louisiana and Mississippi coasts.


Global Warming Is A Hoax Still Read

GLOBAL WARMING IS A HOAX STILL REAL....Remember the big foofaraw a few days ago when a global warming skeptic finally found a bug in some U.S. temperature calculations? 1998 was no longer the hottest year on record! The United States is cooler than it was in 1934!

All this was over a small Y2K correction that lowered a few years of data for the U.S. by about a tenth of a degree. And what about the correction for global warming? Well, it's in the chart above.


Analysis: evidence still shows global warming

The wrongly calculated temperature statistics have left Nasa with egg on its face, but should have little long term effect beyond handing global warming-deniers a propaganda coup.

However embarrassing the oversight may have been, the adjustment to the temperature records from the United States is a matter of hundredths of a degree and does not alter the overall trend.


The Oil Patch Cheers On Hurricane Dean

The price of crude oil is down some 8 percent since August 1. What the oil patch and every oil trader knows, one of the quickest ways to turn around this tumble is the drama of a good old fashioned hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico wending its way toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts. And Shazam! Here comes Hurricane Dean!

Hurricane Dean's every little ripple will be reported by the oil industry flacks and their willing mouthpieces in the media. The crescendo of ominous events will be forecast and analyzed, all with a unanimity of purpose leading to higher and higher oil prices. Whether the storm actually hits or not, one thing is sure. The mere specter of the event will have the oil industry and the oil trading community cheering, "Go Big Dean, Go".


Why ‘Peak Oil’ May Soon Pique Your Interest

Do a Google search of the Web on “global warming” and it calls up more than 80 million references. Search for “peak oil” and the number exceeds 10 million.

In two years or so, world concern over crude oils supplies should be so great that a Google search on that subject probably will top that of global warming, predicts Matthew Simmons, chairman of Houston-based Simmons & Company International, an investment banking firm for the energy industry.


The India nuclear deal: The top rule-maker bends the rules

The White House reached a deal late last month to provide India with U.S. civil nuclear cooperation, reversing a ban on such cooperation that had been in place since 1978.

After India's first nuclear test in 1974, the United States decided to halt nuclear exports to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and persuaded the rest of the world's nuclear suppliers to make this a global rule in 1992.

Jim Jubak on Peak Oil

Credit Bubble Update - 08/11/07

Japanese Stocks Drop on Concern Subprime Losses Will Spread

Japanese stocks dropped, joining a global sell-off, after BNP Paribas SA halted withdrawals from funds that owned subprime loan-backed securities.

Declines by lenders and brokerages including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. pushed the Topix index to an eight-month low. Exporters such as Canon Inc. declined on concern mortgage losses will lead to tighter lending conditions and slower global economic growth.


WaMu's shares decline on mortgage woes

Washington Mutual was among a group of U.S. mortgage companies whose stock fell Friday as demand for loans and sources of new money dried up.

The shares of Seattle-based Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. savings and loan, lost 81 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $35.95.

Shares of Countrywide Financial, the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, fell 2.8 percent, while MGIC, the No. 1 mortgage insurer, fell 13 percent.


German Prosecutors Probe Suspects Over IKB's Subprime Losses

German prosecutors opened a formal probe against several people in connection with IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, the German lender facing a bailout over subprime mortgage losses.

The Dusseldorf prosecution office is investigating whether they may have breached their fiduciaries duties at IKB, Peter Lichtenberg, a spokesman for the office, said in an interview. He declined to identify the suspects or say how many people are under investigation.


Yen Heads for Weekly Gain Against Major Currencies on Credit

The yen headed for a weekly gain against the 16 most-traded currencies as widening credit-market losses prompted investors to unwind carry trades.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars and Norway's krone fell the most against the yen as traders paid back loans in Japan used to fund investments in higher-yielding assets elsewhere. The Bank of Japan joined central banks in Europe and the U.S. in providing cash to ease a credit crunch as a stream of news on subprime mortgage losses roiled the market.


Gold futures close with gains on safe-haven buying

Gold futures rallied Friday, as traders recognized the metal's allure as a safe haven amid worsening credit market troubles that prompted a fresh injection of cash by several central banks.

"Suddenly, the world is realizing that gold is still a safe haven asset," said James Moore, metals analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. "We've seen pretty substantial losses in equity markets."


Shares plunge after ECB pumps a record €95bn into markets

Shares slumped again on both sides of the Atlantic today after the European Central Bank was forced to inject a record 95 billion euros (£65 billion) into money markets as mounting global credit jitters sparked an abrupt scramble for cash by financial institutions.

The unprecedented emergency action by the Frankfurt-based ECB outstripped even the scale of its intervention on the day after the September 11, 2001, terrorist strikes on the US, when it pumped in 69 billion euros of liquidity to stabilise credit markets.


BNP Freeze Causes Carry Trades to Plunge and Central Banks to React in Liquidity Squeeze

There is no denying the fact that the subprime problems have now gone global. This morning, France’s largest bank, BNP Paribas SA announced that they were freezing withdrawals from three of their investments funds following the “complete evaporation of liquidity.” For BNP, this may not be a big deal because the three funds represent only 1.6 billion out of the 356 billion euros that they have under management, but for the rest of the world, this is huge.

Peak Oil Linkfest - 08/07/07

Why 'peak oil' may soon pique your interest

Do a Google search of the Web on "global warming" and it calls up more than 80 million references. Search for "peak oil" and the number exceeds 10 million.

In two years or so, world concern over crude oils supplies should be so great that a Google search on that subject probably will top that of global warming, predicts Matthew Simmons, chairman of Houston-based Simmons & Company International, an investment banking firm for the energy industry.


Towns prepare for 'peak oil' point

Globally we are addicted to oil. Not only are we addicted, but we use it like there was no tomorrow.

We use it for heating and lighting, it powers 95% of our transportation, we use oil to take low value foodstuffs from one side of the world to the other, we use it for plastics, manufacturing, clothing, medicine. Oil is everywhere, but it's not infinite.


The World Energy Modeling Project

The following is a guest post about the need for global energy systems modeling, by ASPO-USA co-founder Dick Lawrence. Mr. Lawrence has a degree in Physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After a career at Digital Equipment and Intel he is focusing on the world energy model and starting a solar hot-water business in Massachusetts. In 1986 he read "Beyond Oil" (the original) which was his introduction to resource depletion, Hubbert's peak, and the power of computers to model the behavior of complex systems. In May 2004 he proposed a project to model global energy flow at the ASPO meeting in Berlin.


Kelpie Wilson: Paying the Peak Oil Power Bill

Sometime this week, the House will vote on a new "energy independence" bill designed by the Democrats. Even though Congress just passed an omnibus energy bill in 2005, there is growing agreement on both sides of the aisle that the need for "energy security" is growing and more must be done to ensure it.


Qatar says Opec can do nothing about oil prices

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) can do nothing about the high price of oil as there is no shortage of crude in the market, Qatar's oil minister said on Thursday.

"We can't do anything because this price is not related to a shortage of supply," Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah Al Attiyah said. "Inventories in industrialised countries are at high levels. That proves there is no shortage of supply at all."


Peak Oil Passnotes: To Sir With love

The U.K. has a problem: Its local oil and gas have peaked. There is no argument, it is not heresy in the local industry and you can say it without being dragged out of your office and exposed as a communist. U.K. North Sea production peaked some years back at about 3 million barrels per day and continues to decline at around 1.8 million barrels per day at the moment. The decline rate is around 7% a year.

The same thing has happened in the United States. Oil production peaked at the start of the 1970s and, despite the huge concentration of capital and wells, continues to decline. These are both basic facts.


The End Of Cheap Food

It looks like the era of cheap food is over. The price of maize has doubled in a year, and wheat futures are at their highest in a decade. The food price index in India has risen 11%, and in Mexico in January there were riots after the price of corn flour went up fourfold. The floods in England and India have devastated crops. In nearly every country food prices are going up, and they are probably not going to come down again.