Kuwait oil reserves only half official estimate

energybulletin.net, peakoil.com (thread) -> today.reuters.com :

OPEC producer Kuwait's oil reserves are only half those officially stated, according to internal Kuwaiti records seen by industry newsletter Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW). "PIW learns from sources that Kuwait's actual oil reserves, which are officially stated at around 99 billion barrels, or close to 10 percent of the global total, are a good deal lower, according to internal Kuwaiti records," the weekly PIW reported.

It said that according to data circulated in Kuwait Oil Co (KOC), the upstream arm of state Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Kuwait's remaining proven and non-proven oil reserves are about 48 billion barrels. It said the data it had seen show that of the current remaining 48 billion barrels of proven and non-proven reserves, only about 24 billion barrels are so far fully proven - 15 billion in its biggest oilfield Burgan.

Ford's fight for survival

peakoil.com -> money.cnn.com :

When Ford Motor announces its North American restructuring plan, the headlines will be about the number of plants closed - as many as ten - and the number of people who will lose their jobs - up to 30,000 over the next five years - if published reports are correct. But the layoffs and the plant closings are just the beginning of a needed overhaul at Ford. Ford needed to get smaller yesterday. It has been losing market share for ten years, and sales of some of its most popular vehicles from the past like Taurus and Explorer have slumped so alarmingly they will probably never recover.

Observers will be looking hardest for some sense of plan, direction and persistence from Chairman and CEO Bill Ford. The company has seemed almost rudderless over the past five years with numerous management changes - Field's job seems to turn over on an annual basis - and a sense that even lumbering old General Motors was moving more smartly and aggressively in the marketplace. Earlier in January, Bill Ford declared that it was time for Ford to stabilize its market share after its long decline.

My Web 2.0 : american auto-makers
Google Base : american auto-makers

(2006-01-21 17:18:52 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

Earth's limited supply of metals raises concern

peakoil.com -> news.yahoo.com :

If all nations were to use the same services enjoyed in developed nations, even the full extraction of metals from the Earth's crust and extensive recycling may not be enough to meet metal demands in the future, according to a new study. The study, led by Thomas Graedel of Yale University, was detailed in the Jan. 17 issue of the journal for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To investigate the environmental and social consequences of metal depletion, researchers looked at metal stocks thought to exist in the Earth, metal in use by people today, and how much is lost in landfills.

According to the study, all of the copper in ore, plus all of the copper currently in use, would be required to bring the world to the level of the developed nations for power transmission, construction and other services and products that depend on the metal. For the entire globe, the researchers estimate that 26% of extractable copper in the Earth's crust is now lost in non-recycled wastes. For zinc, that number is 19%.

Scarce metals, such as platinum, face depletion risks this century because of the lack of suitable substitutes in such devices as catalytic converters and hydrogen fuel cells. The researchers also found that for many metals, the average rate of usage per person continues to rise. As a result, the report says, even the more plentiful metals may face similar depletion risks in the future.

Diamond Energy enters Singapore wholesale electricity market

business-times.asia1.com.sg :

A new player, Canadian-Australian-backed Diamond Energy, has joined Singapore's $3 billion-plus wholesale electricity market. Diamond, a privately-owned boutique energy services company, is the first to secure a 10-year 'wholesale' trading licence from the Energy Market Authority since the electricity industry here was liberalised in 2003. Asked why Diamond has entered a market that is already oversupplied - with total generating capacity easily double peak-hour demand - the managing director of Diamond Energy's Singapore operations, Dallon Kay, said the surplus capacity is in generation, not trading. 'In Singapore our target in the first year will be to try to make some inroads into the reserve market here, worth about S$30 million annually,' Mr Kay said.

'Reserve' is one of three main electricity products traded in the wholesale market. The other two are 'energy' - that is, electricity generated by the generating companies - and 'regulation', which is generation on standby to fine-tune the match between production and load. Reserve capacity is procured from the market to ensure there is standby capacity that can be drawn when there is an unforeseen shortage of supply. Three classes of reserve products are traded. They are primary reserve (8-second response), secondary reserve (30-second response) and contingency reserve (10-minute response onwards).

(2006-01-21 16:56:13 SGT) [Energy] Permalink Comments [1]

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