"Oil in Nigeria (and the Congo and Brazil and Kazakhstan and ...). Natural gas in Iran. Iron ore in Australia. China's hunt for natural resources around the globe, which began in earnest earlier this decade, has intensified as never before.
In September alone, China's sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corp. (CIC), shelled out nearly $1 billion to buy an 11% stake in JSC KazMunaiGas Exploration Production, a Kazakhstan oil and gas company. Just a week earlier CIC paid $850 million to acquire 14.9% of Noble Group, the Hong Kong commodity-trading powerhouse. Earlier this summer the China Development Bank lent Petrobras, the Brazilian national oil company, $10 billion to help fund exploration in deep waters off Brazil."
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Letters suggest oil was factor in bomber's release
From London Times
"The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.
Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.
The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release."
"The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.
Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.
The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release."
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
World is running out of oil - again
"The chief economist of the International Energy Agency says the world is running out of oil. We've been told that for the last 150 years. The only thing we're running out of is the will to drill.
Ever since the first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pa., in 1859, experts have been predicting we would soon run out of oil. The latest is Dr. Fatih Birol, chief economist for the International Energy Agency in Paris, whose job it is to assess future energy supplies by OECD countries."
(snip)
"But what we have is not peak oil, but peak government. Ronald Bailey has pointed out at ReasonOnline that "77% of the world's known oil reserves are in the hands of state-owned oil companies" that "do not respond to market signals and so are underinvesting in new production technologies and even in the production facilities they currently have."
There are friendlier places to find more oil, places such as Alaska, our Outer Continental Shelf and the Rocky Mountain West, if we had the political will. Our future should not be dependent on thugs like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in places like Venezuela and Iran, or on the political whims of OPEC.
Science magazine reports that the U.S. Geological Survey says the Chukchi Sea off Alaska holds more than anyone thought — 1.6 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered gas, or 30% of the world's supply, and 83 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, 4% of the global conventional resources.
The Green River Formation, an oil-rich region in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, has been called the "Persia of the West." This formation has the largest known oil shale deposits in the world, holding from 1.5 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of crude.
Then there are the riches beneath ANWR and the Outer Continental Shelf. Let us seek, and we shall find. We always have."
Ever since the first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pa., in 1859, experts have been predicting we would soon run out of oil. The latest is Dr. Fatih Birol, chief economist for the International Energy Agency in Paris, whose job it is to assess future energy supplies by OECD countries."
(snip)
"But what we have is not peak oil, but peak government. Ronald Bailey has pointed out at ReasonOnline that "77% of the world's known oil reserves are in the hands of state-owned oil companies" that "do not respond to market signals and so are underinvesting in new production technologies and even in the production facilities they currently have."
There are friendlier places to find more oil, places such as Alaska, our Outer Continental Shelf and the Rocky Mountain West, if we had the political will. Our future should not be dependent on thugs like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in places like Venezuela and Iran, or on the political whims of OPEC.
Science magazine reports that the U.S. Geological Survey says the Chukchi Sea off Alaska holds more than anyone thought — 1.6 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered gas, or 30% of the world's supply, and 83 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, 4% of the global conventional resources.
The Green River Formation, an oil-rich region in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, has been called the "Persia of the West." This formation has the largest known oil shale deposits in the world, holding from 1.5 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels of crude.
Then there are the riches beneath ANWR and the Outer Continental Shelf. Let us seek, and we shall find. We always have."
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