August | 2008 | The Price of Oil

Posts in August 2008

“What we have now is geopolitical peak oil”
Andy Rowell
Aug19
“This is an industry in crisis,” Amy Myers Jaffe, the associate director of Rice University’s energy program in Houston tells today’s New York Times. “It’s a crisis of leadership, a crisis of strategy and a crisis of what the future looks like for the supermajors” Jaffe adds. “They are like a deer caught in headlights….
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Iraq “Abandons” Contracts
Andy Rowell
Aug18
The problem when you have been waiting years for the main prize is that if you get offered second or third best, its never going to be good enough. So when a host of international oil companies started discussions over short-term technical contracts in Iraq, they hoped that they would curry favour with the country…
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Talk to the birds …
Andy Rowell
Aug15
The uncomfortable truth for climate campaigners is that despite the increasing urgency of the issue, and despite the huge political and media coverage global warming has received over the last two years, the public is becoming LESS concerned about it. Let’s quickly look at Britain. In 2005, polling by the authoritative polling company MORI found…
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There’s nowt like high oil prices
Andy Rowell
Aug15
While all the indications are that we are heading for an oil crunch soon, in the short term the high oil prices have finally had an effect on demand. There is an old saying in the world’s financial institutions that “nothing cures high prices like high prices,” and it certainly seems as true today as…
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ASA tells Shell “You can’t greenwash tar sands”
Andy Rowell
Aug13
There was always going to be a massive problem for the oil industry over the massive gap between its green rhetoric and its recent investment in the most polluting fuel on the planet, tar sands. Moreover, how do you reconcile trying to be green whilst exploiting tar sands? Even more bizarrely why would you try…
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The Republican Horror Show…
Andy Rowell
Aug12
It could be the scene from a Hollywood horror movie. In a darkened cavern strange beasts make noises to please their masters. They know what they are saying makes no sense, but that does not stop their strange mutterings. But this is no movie, this is reality. Everyday, even though they are meant to be…
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The oil supply crunch is coming….
Andy Rowell
Aug11
For those who thought the oil price was on a steady downward spiral after its recent highs, it is time to think again. Prices have risen again as the conflict between Russia and Georgia raised concerns that Caspian supplies, especially through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, may be disrupted. But forget any short-term fluctuations, the big crunch…
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Offshore Drilling: Its All in How You Ask
Steve Kretzmann
Aug07
Why did Barack Obama soften his stance on offshore drilling last week? I asked this question of a campaign insider, who is also a long time environmentalist. The answer back was basically: “Don’t blame Obama, we (environmentalists) didn’t do our work well in the community, which is why the American people think that offshore drilling…
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