http://priceofoil.org Oil Change International campaigns to expose the true costs of oil and facilitate the coming transition towards clean energy. We are dedicated to identifying and overcoming political barriers to that transition. Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:51:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So the most iconic oilman of his generation, Lord Browne, has finally published his memoirs of his time at BP in a book called "beyond business". Whilst most of the reviews so far concentrate on him being gay and his fall from grace, we also get glimpses of the power of ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/02/09/lord-browne-reveals-all/ Last month a group of pension funds and asset managers filed a resolution asking Royal Dutch Shell to reconsider its controversial involvement in the dirty tar sands. And now the investors are targeting BP asking it not to invest a massive $10 billion in its Sunrise tar sands development. A group of ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/02/08/now-bp-faces-shareholder-revolt-over-tar-sands/ [caption id="attachment_4356" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="WTI Meltdown on Friday Feb. 05 2010"][/caption] Two stories from Canada’s Globe and Mail this week highlight the emerging reality that the oil industry in North America is downsizing; although the commentary mostly misses the underlying trend that is staring it in the face. Firstly, the G&M highlighted ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/02/06/big-oil%e2%80%99s-race-to-the-bottom-is-underway-and-tar-sands-producers-have-a-head-start/ Various blogs on the site over the last few months have warned about what peaking global demand will do for the oil industry. Last August in the blog “What About the Demand-Side Warning?” we quoted Lorne Stockman, the author of report on how reducing oil demand might affect the tar sands. ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/02/04/peak-demand-will-happen-before-peak-supply/ When we talk about wars for oil, the first and second Gulf wars spring to mind. First it was Kuwait and then Iraq. But cast your minds back even further to the Falklands conflict in the eighties. You could ask the question was Margaret Thatcher’s defining conflict about securing British sovereignty ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/02/03/falklands-oil-row-escalates/ Timing, they say, is everything. Click on a copy of Canada’s National Post and one of the banner adverts today is from Shell talking about the “New Energy Future”. Part of Shell’s “new Energy Future” is the Canadian tar sands, where it has been investing heavily (although it may be shifting ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/02/02/canada%e2%80%99s-reputation-%e2%80%9cat-risk%e2%80%9d-over-tar-sands/ Things are hotting up in the Niger Delta again and once again Shell finds itself at the centre of the vortex of violence and conflict. On Saturday the company had to shut three oil flow stations in the Delta region after a pipeline was sabotaged by armed gun-men. It was the same ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/02/01/as-violence-starts-again-shell-off-loads-nigerian-assets/ Remarks made by Shell CEO, Peter Voser to the Financial Times Energy Editor that his company has “clearly scaled down” its plans for a massive expansion of tar sands production should send waves of anxiety through the Canadian oil industry and a serious rethink among energy security hawks in Washington. Since ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/01/27/the-%e2%80%9cshock-waves-of-anxiety%e2%80%9d-over-shells-tar-sands-move/ Predicting political speeches is always fraught with difficulty, but there have been enough leaks to suggest that Barack Obama’s State of Union address will  scale back his ambitious plans on both health-care as well as climate change. Instead the President will focus on the economy and helping recession-hit families. Although the White ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/01/27/climate-change-%e2%80%9ccould-be-left-out%e2%80%9d-of-obamas-speech/ A shocking new analysis by the respected Earth Policy Institute has revealed that over a quarter of the total US grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year. The figure has tripled since 2004. Because the US is by far the largest grain exporter, the fact that it is ... http://priceofoil.org/2010/01/26/a-quarter-of-us-grain-goes-to-biofuels/