Where Has All the Oil Gone? (Wall Street Journal)
A Quest for Energy in the Globe's Remote Places
"There are no easy barrels left."
"[T]he world’s fast-rising use of fossil fuels, by contributing to global warming, could eventually make the Arctic more accessible for oil and gas production."
Belgian Court Reportedly Reopens Case Against Total in Myanmar
Myanmar is the latest in a series of conflicts that appear to be about democracy and oppression but are really about oil. Not that the oppression isn't real; just that world censure is selective.
Kurds Reach New Oil Deals, Straining Ties with Baghdad
The tri-partite division of Iraq -Kurdish in the North, Sunni in the middle and Shia in the South - proceeds according to FTW prediction and Neocon plan.
Nuclear Industry Gets Burst of Energy: GAO Report
Equatorial Guinea Energy Profile
U.S. Called Lax at Handling Bio Hazards
Marshals Arrest NH Tax Evaders
What would the late Aaron Russo have said about this? Perhaps the couple in question (and now in custody) were inspired by his movie.
Pataki Named to Global Warming Task Force
Fall of the Consumer Economy
All That Glisters [sic] May Not Be Gold
At Least Someone Has Energy To Burn: Man Circumnavigates Globe on Own Power
We may all need to take a leaf from his book and a deep breath.
In the oil deal between the Kurds and four oil companies, the NY Times says the government will get 85 percent of profits and the companies 15. This is at variance with predictions of those opposing Iraq's oil law. Does this mean that the multi-nationals are backing away from a large-scale oil grab?
ReplyDeleteOne wonders how much capacity OPEC really has. Last year OPEC said that about $60/b is an appropriate price for oil. If so, why have they allowed it to rise above $80, while announcing a piddling 500,000 bd production increase? Does OPEC really have the 2 mbd spare production capacity that it claims to have?
ReplyDeleteA related question is: What's with all these idle tankers?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601072&sid=aPcY7nNI9J.0&refer=energy
Today's media ran stories about La Nina, noting that usually this means a hard winter for Japan. Hokkaido just got its first snow, which is more or less "on time." Last year we had a warm winter, and kerosene (used for space heating here) prices were tolerable. But the winter before that was cold, steadily driving up the price of kerosene and finally inducing the government to import kerosene from South Korea to flood the market and stabilize the price. The public was screaming bloody murder about the cost of space heating. Either way, I have put away lots of firewood.
ReplyDeleteMedical books - FTW has suggested the book "Where There is No Doctor" from the Hesperian Foundation (which can be purchased or downloaded free as pdf files) for some time. There are more books available from them now. "Where the is No Dentist" and "Women Where There is No Doctor" among them. Also available in Spanish.
ReplyDeleteAnd, remembering Anne Scott's story of her emergency situation with her dog (August 09 post on this blog), pet owners can buy "Dog First Aid", which comes with an instructional DVD, from the American Red Cross. They promise to come out with Cat First Aid sometime this month.
While we're at it, how about taking a first aid and CPR certification course.
Health is your most valuable asset. Knowledge your best investment.
Europe feel the bite of dollar plummit.
ReplyDeletehttp://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/10-10-2007/98501-dollar_plummet-0
Only a fool would bomb Iran.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XQan1qo8T4
"Where There is No Doctor" reminds me of a big social controversy here in Japan right now: the shortage of doctors. My wife (a nurse) has the same lament. In fact, there are considerably fewer places for women to give birth now.
ReplyDeleteThere has been talk for some time of bringing in nurses from the Philippines, but the language barrier is a considerable impediment. Foreign nurses speaking broken English would be worse than useless here. At any rate, once the economy degrades to a certain point, foreign workers will be quite unwelcome.
On a different topic, Robert Rapier at R-Squared Energy Blog was asking for questions from readers, and I asked about the ethanol industry.
Canadian Natural Gas Output to Plummet
ReplyDeletehttp://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=118893ff-4c8d-4ae9-a2db-eaec24021905&k=59392
Canadian natural gas output -- At first glance it appears that there's more than enough natural gas, so producers stop drilling because the price is too low. But after looking around a bit, it seems that the market glut is just seasonal, and that the royalty situation and gas field depletion are behind the drilling slowdown, which could well have disastrous consequences in the near future.
ReplyDelete