Anyone interested in the changing geo-political landscape and China’s growing influence on oil politics should listen to Tom Mangold’s second programme in his excellent series, “Driven By Oil”. The programme explores how the emergence of a thirsty China will reshape our world over the coming decades. It will lead, in all probability, to increased conflict … Read More
Author: Andy Rowell
The Gathering Storm: We are to Blame for More Powerful Hurricanes
As Hurricane Florence pounds the Caribbean, the most authoritative scientific study of its kind has concluded what many people have suspected: that increasing sea temperatures caused by global warming are responsible for more intense and devastating storms, such as hurricanes and tornados.
US EPA Promotes Biofuels
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken a big step towards implementing one of the most contentious parts of last year’s Energy Policy Act by proposing a regulatory system that will nearly double domestic ethanol use. Called the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the regulation establishes a credit-trading system that will mandate the use of 7.5 … Read More
Can Wind and Solar Meet Global Energy Demand?
Over 50 per cent of the expected rise in global energy demand over the next twenty five years will be met by oil and gas, according to new forecasts by the International Energy Agency. However wind and solar energy could meet a substantially greater proportion of global demand by 2030 if the right policies are … Read More
Putin: We are Not An Energy Superpower
President Vladimir Putin has denied that Russia is acting like a superpower by throwing its weight around to control prices and supplies of oil and gas to countries like Ukraine. “We’re not behaving like an energy superpower,” he said yesterday at the Russian-organised Valdai Club. “We just want negotiations that are fair. We don’t need … Read More
Can We Transition Away From Oil?
Slowly but surely people are beginning to talk about a taboo- what happens when the oil runs out. What are we going to do? How are we going to live? How will we feed, power and house ourselves? How can we transition our society away from oil to a secure energy future? These kind of … Read More
Bubbling Tundra Spells Disaster
So what do you know about methane? Yes, yes, we have heard all the old jokes about farting cows, but have you heard the one about the bubbling tundra? New scientific research shows that thawing Siberian bogs are releasing more of the greenhouse gas methane than previously believed.
Vortex of Violence Continues in the Niger Delta
If anyone still denies the existence of the “resource curse”, maybe a trip to the Niger Delta wouldn’t go amiss. They should also read the Stakeholder Democracy Network’s latest depressing news on what happened in August in the Niger Delta:
BP’s Day of Reckoning
Later today, some of BP’s most senior executives will face their first Congressional grilling over their corrosion problems at Prudhoe Bay. Although BP’s embattled CEO Sir John Browne won’t be testifying, Bob Malone, the new head of BP America will be grilled by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The hearing is called “BP’s … Read More
Chad Orders Oil Firms to Quit
Chad has become the latest country to expel foreign companies operating in its country, after the country’s president kicked energy giants Chevron and Petronas, out of a World Bank-backed project. Ironically, Chad-Cameroon pipeline project was meant to serve as a model for oil extraction in Africa. The President, Idriss DĂ©by accused the American and Malaysian … Read More