Tuesday June 20, 2006

Global energy crisis cooks to surface

peakoil.com -> rigzone.com :

The growing scarcity of oil and natural gas has provoked worldwide political conflict and a mad rush for renewable resources. Like a volcano before it erupts, the crisis has heated up for decades, out of sight of oil-heated homes and petrol-powered cars. But the signs of trouble are now evident, and not only at the pump, where $70-a-barrel prices eat into the pocketbook. War in Iraq, tensions over Iran's nuclear plans, the international standoff over genocide in Sudan, kidnappings and killings in Nigeria's oil fields - all give frenzied expression to the world's rocketing, insatiable thirst for oil. U.S. columnist Thomas Friedman regularly warns New York Times readers that America's appetite for fuel supports the very movements intent on its destruction.

At the upcoming G8 summit in St. Petersburg in July, energy issues are expected to dominate. Booming economic progress in places like China and India is a key factor, but the U.S. still sucks up one-quarter of the 80 million barrels of oil consumed every day by the world. The looming specter of "peak oil production" - the point at which oil production is expected to drop because reserves are too difficult to pump out - has combined with high prices and increasing political insecurity to boost the search for renewable energy sources.

Long-simmering warnings by environmentalists over global warming from carbon emissions were on their own not enough to provoke serious consideration of energy alternatives. But last year's Hurricane Katrina, which produced the world's first "climate refugees," went a long way to helping convince the general public of the need for change, said Lester Brown, head of the Earth Policy Institute environmental pressure group. "Two years ago, most persons wouldn't have known the price of a barrel of oil," Brown said in a telephone interview. "Now, there's insecurity both on the oil front and on the climate front, and it's beginning to affect people's thinking."

(2006-06-20 16:34:47 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Most popular blog postings on lowem.log :

1. Singapore SIBOR rate falls to 0.94% in Nov 2008, lowest since Jul 2004
2. Baltic Dry Index falls 93% as shipping rates plunge, signalling global economic collapse
3. Singapore SIBOR rate falls to 1.31%, lowest since Nov 2004
4. Singapore SIBOR interest rates fall to 1.5%, lowest since Dec 2004
5. Live spot gold price quotes chart on COMEX
6. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
7. Fuel prices seen stoking Malaysia inflation in 2008
8. How to insert currency exchange rates into Google Spreadsheets

Featured articles on lowem.log :

1. ABC Guide to Beating Inflation in Singapore and Elsewhere
2. Singapore inflation rate hits new 26-year high of 7.5% in Apr 2008
3. Baltic Dry Index falls 93% as shipping rates plunge, signalling global economic collapse
4. 67000 China factories closed in H1 2008 as global economic collapse takes hold
5. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
6. Peakoiler buys 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid FD3
7. NYMEX crude oil recovers from $32.40 low after 2.2 mbpd OPEC production cut announced
8. Singapore SIBOR rate falls to 0.94% in Nov 2008, lowest since Jul 2004