Thursday July 05, 2007

Over 20 UK MPs and Lords form parliamentary peak oil group

peakoil.com -> powerswitch.org.uk :

On Tuesday 26th June 2007, Tony Blair's last full day as Prime Minister, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (APPGOPO) held its inaugural Annual General Meeting, ensuring that the issue of declining global oil supplies will feature much more prominently in Parliament in the Gordon Brown era.

APPGs are composed of politicians from all political parties and have members from the House of Commons and the House of Lords. APPGOPO will enable interested MPs and Lords to discuss Peak Oil and all its surrounding issues. The interest by MPs and Lords in Peak Oil, and indeed the All Party Parliamentary Group, was much higher than the average Peak Oil commentator would expect. Often it is charged that politicians are not willing to talk about such a difficult subject, but the APPGOPO has the support of over twenty MPs and Lords. This actually makes it the largest political grouping looking at Peak Oil in the world.

Educating key decision makers and challenging established views on the issue is a task this group must, and can, achieve. The formation group also provides further evidence that Peak Oil is far removed from the days of being a fringe subject. Many of those concerned about the impending decline of global oil supplies may take hope that a significant group of their representatives are finally going to speak about the Peak openly in the corridors of power.

(2007-07-05 12:52:00 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Investors urged to "sell Singapore, buy Taiwan" : Citigroup

news.monstersandcritics.com :

Investors have been urged to 'sell Singapore' and put their money into Taiwan, a US bank's strategy report said on Tuesday [26 Jun 2007]. In a turn-about in the bank's own position, Citigroup Research said Singapore is currently an expensive market in both an asset and cash-flow basis.

'Singapore has many things going for it,' said chief Asia Strategist Markus Rosgen. 'The equity market is not one of them.' In a recommendation running counter to market consensus, Rosgen called for a 'buy' on Taiwan. Regarding Singapore, Rosgen said the price to book value is currently the highest it has ever been since 1990. 'We have enjoyed the ride,' he said. 'It's time to get off.'

- It's kind of weird to hear Citigroup turn contrarian, isn't it? But the STI does seem to be having problems going above 3600 these days.

(2007-07-05 12:48:31 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

Gazprom bid to cut off China gas

peakoil.com -> newsvote.bbc.co.uk :

Russian energy giant Gazprom has asked the government to cancel an agreement to pipe large quantities of gas to China from fields in Siberia. Alexander Ananenkov, the group's deputy chief executive, said plans to deliver 80bn cubic metres of gas a year to China would leave Russia short.

The gas was due to be exported from Exxon Mobil's Sakhalin-1 project on Russia's Pacific coast. If the Russian government responds to Gazprom's proposal and intervenes in the export agreements on Sakhalin-1, China will not have any access to Russian gas, despite a growing need for energy supplies to power its booming economy.

Such an action will also heighten concerns over the growing influence of state-run Gazprom and the Kremlin's grip on its domestic gas industry. Russian gas accounts for 25% of supplies to the European Union (EU). But critically, it means that gas shortages in Russia must be more serious than what is being said, analysts believe.

(2007-07-05 12:35:53 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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