Savio Carvalho | Oct 27 | Reuter blogs

In the early 1970s, rich countries committed to give 0.7 percent of their income in the form of aid to poor developing countries as Overseas Development Assistance. In the past decade a few countries have actually reached this target and others have plans to achieve it in the next few years. This money is used primarily for poverty reduction and long-term development goals in developing countries.

But climate change is now creating additional burdens on poor communities across the world. This means that poor communities need additional support to adapt and cope with climate-related changes, including increases in the frequency and severity of weather-related disasters and other slow changes such as sea-level rise, melting glaciers and shifting seasons.

The poor are least responsible for causing climate change but are most affected. Under the laws of natural justice, that suggests richer nations need to stem climate change, and help poorer nations cope with the damage done.

This week leaders from the European Union are debating if the money they will offer to help developing countries adapt to climate change should be part of the 0.7 percent they promised decades ago or additional funding. That this is even up for debate is deeply worrisome.

Ashley Seager | Oct 20

The Guardian - * US light crude oil futures pushes above $79 a barrel
* Report blames government for ignoring supply problem

World oil prices hit their highest point for a year yesterday, as a major new report urged governments around the world to take drastic action to head off an approaching oil supply crunch.

US light crude futures pushed above $79 a barrel, supported by the view that a recovering world economy would raise demand for crude. Oil prices have more than doubled from the low point they hit in the spring, but are still around half the all-time high of nearly $150 a barrel they reached in early summer last year.

Analysts have been surprised at the recent resilience of oil prices given the impact on energy demand of the global recession. In spite of this year's volatility in the oil price, the underlying trend for a decade has been for it to rise steadily.

A report from the non-governmental organisation Global Witness – famous for its exposé of so-called "blood diamonds" – pointed to an impending supply shock that could be so severe that many of the world's poor countries would simply be shut off from the world of energy by sky-high prices.

Two years in the preparation, Global Witness's report, Heads in the Sand, accused governments of ignoring the fact that the world could soon start to run short of oil. This would lead to huge consequences in terms of price shocks and much higher levels of violence around the world than last year's food riots.

The Report: Heads in the Sand: Governments Ignore the Oil Supply Crunch and Threaten the Climate

Clifford Krauss | Oklahoma City | October 9

NYT - A new technique that tapped previously inaccessible supplies of natural gas in the United States is spreading to the rest of the world, raising hopes of a huge expansion in global reserves of the cleanest fossil fuel.

Italian and Norwegian oil engineers and geologists have arrived in Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania to learn how to extract gas from layers of a black rock called shale. Companies are leasing huge tracts of land across Europe for exploration. And oil executives are gathering rocks and scrutinizing Asian and North African geological maps in search of other fields.

Washington | Oct 6

UPI - Boeing and international academic and business partners are looking into ways of producing commercially viable aviation fuel from saltwater plants in a push toward reducing carbon emissions from air travel.

The Boeing Co. said scientific studies were focused on salicornia bigelovii and saltwater mangroves -- plants known as halophytes.

Research conducted in the United States, Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates and other locations showed the plants thrive when irrigated with seawater and can be produced in large quantities to extract biofuel suitable for aircraft.

Aviation industry analysts said a biofuel substitute for hydrocarbons used in air travel could help ease environmentalist concerns over aviation's carbon footprint.

A switch from expensive, high-octane aviation fuel to biofuels could also help counter a rising global aversion to air travel because of the perceived damage to the Earth's ecology, said the analysts.

Michael Casey | Bangkok | Oct 8

AP - There are plenty of needy countries at the U.N. climate talks in Bangkok that make the case they need financial assistance to adapt to the impacts of global warming. Then there are the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia has led a quiet campaign during these and other negotiations -- demanding behind closed doors that oil-producing nations get special financial assistance if a new climate pact calls for substantial reductions in the use of fossil fuels.

just great, more bailing out of the rich and greedy :D

Sarah Mukherjee | Oct 8

BBC - There is a "significant risk" that global production of conventional oil could "peak" and decline by 2020, a report has warned.

The UK Energy Research Council study says there is a general consensus that the era of cheap oil is at an end.

But it warns that most governments, including the UK's, exhibit little concern about oil depletion.

The report's authors also state that the 10 largest oil producing fields in the world are all in decline.

As this report points out, the debate about peak oil is a polarised one.

On one side, there are those who say that global supplies have already reached their zenith, and we are unprepared for the crisis that will hit world economies in the years to come.

On the other, there are oil companies and many energy analysts who dismiss the notion that supplies are running out.

The report's authors admit it is hard to tell who is right, as the world lacks a reliable gauge with which to measure oil depletion.

Pepe Escobar | Brussels | Oct 4

Asia Times Online - Oil and natural gas prices may be relatively low right now, but don't be fooled. The new great game of the 21st century is always over energy and it's taking place on an immense chessboard called Eurasia. Its squares are defined by the networks of pipelines being laid across the oil heartlands of the planet. Call it Pipelineistan. If, in Asia, the stakes in this game are already impossibly high, the same applies to the "Euro" part of the great Eurasian landmass - the richest industrial area on the planet. Think of this as the real political thriller of our time.

The movie of the week in Brussels is: When NATO Meets Pipelineistan. Though you won't find it in any headlines, at virtually every recent summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Washington has been maneuvering to involve reluctant Europeans ever more deeply in the business of protecting Pipelineistan. This is already happening, of course, in Afghanistan, where a promised pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India, the TAPI pipeline, has not even been built. And it's about to happen at the borders of Europe, again around pipelines that have not yet been built.

If you had to put that Euro part of Pipelineistan into a formula, you might do so this way: Nabucco (pushed by the US) versus South Stream (pushed by Russia). Be patient. You'll understand in a moment.

Cahal Milmo | Sept 26

The Independent -

Tankers full of oil its owners don't want to sell. Shady deals with brutal regimes. Vast profits. Pollution scandals. Cahal Milmo investigates a very murky business

With a combined capacity for 313,000 tonnes of oil, the Delta Ios and the NS Burgas supertankers were launched two months ago to criss-cross the globe in search of trade. Instead, the vast vessels were to be found yesterday lying idle off the coast of Singapore after their owners were paid by two of the world's richest and most secretive oil companies to turn them into floating petrochemical warehouses.

At first glance, the decision by Trafigura Group and Vitol Holding BV to charter the newly built ships at an estimated cost of £47,000 a day to do nothing for up to four months in South-east Asia while laden with cargos of diesel worth at least £77m per vessel makes little economic sense.

When this is combined with the fact that the Delta Ios and the NS Burgas are just two ships in an enormous fleet of tankers which are currently being paid about £80m a month by independent oil traders like Trafigura and Vitol, as well as giants such as Shell, to stay anchored around the globe with anything between 50 and 150 million barrels of redundant crude on board, it seem that the ruthless barons of black gold must be losing money as fast as they can make it.

Far from it. The phenomenon of "floating storage", which has been brought about by a huge over-supply of global tanker capacity and unusual market conditions, is just one example of the multitude of ways in which a small group of private, mostly Swiss-based companies have become adept at turning vast profits from the closed and often murky world of independent oil trading.

Ronald D. White | Sept 24

LA Times - Oxy oil discovery could spark new interest in California's energy potential
The biggest find in the state in 35 years, somewhere in Kern County, could herald new exploration in California and the U.S., experts say. But some worry it could lead to a false sense of security.

A few years ago, Occidental Petroleum Corp. executive Stephen I. Chazen sounded like a cryptologist out of a Dan Brown novel as he told investors that an oil bonanza awaited any outfit that could "crack the code" of California's seismically fractured underground.

Occidental's engineers may have done it.

The Westwood company revealed in July that it had found the equivalent of 150 million to 250 million barrels of oil and natural gas in an undisclosed part of Kern County using techniques that the oil company's executives would rather not talk about. It was California's biggest find in 35 years.

Some experts say it could herald a period of new exploration in California and the U.S.

Stephen Leahy | Uxbridge | Sept 24

IPS/Tierramérica - Millions of trees, especially from the developing countries of the South, are being shipped to Europe and burned in giant furnaces to meet "green energy" requirements that are supposed to combat climate change.

In the last two months alone, energy companies in Britain have announced the construction of at least six new biomass power generation plants to produce 1,200 megawatts of energy, primarily from burning woodchips.

At least another 1,200 megawatts of wood-fired energy plants, including the world's largest, in Port Talbot, Wales, are already under construction.

Those energy plants will burn 20 to 30 million tonnes of wood annually, nearly all imported from other regions and equivalent to at least one million hectares of forest.

"Europe is going to cook the world's tropical forests to fight climate change; it's crazy," Simone Lovera, of the non-governmental Global Forest Coalition, which has a southern officed in Asunción, Paraguay, told Tierramérica.

Daily Mail - A new type of solar panel using human hair could provide the world with cheap, green electricity, believes its teenage inventor.

Milan Karki, 18, who comes from a village in rural Nepal, believes he has found the solution to the developing world's energy needs.

The young inventor says hair is easy to use as a conductor in solar panels and could revolutionise renewable energy.

'First I wanted to provide electricity for my home, then my village. Now I am thinking for the whole world,' said Milan, who attends school in the capital, Kathmandu.

The hair replaces silicon, a pricey component typically used in solar panels, and means the panels can be produced at a low cost for those with no access to power, he explained.

Milan and four classmates initially made the solar panel as an experiment but the teens are convinced it has wide applicability and commercial viability.

'I'm trying to produce commercially and distribute to the districts. We've already sent a couple out to the districts to test for feasibility,' he said.

The solar panel, which produces 9 V (18 W) of energy, costs around £23 to make from raw materials.

But if they were mass-produced, Milan says they could be sold for less than half that price, which could make them a quarter of the price of those already on the market.

Melanin, a pigment that gives hair its colour, is light sensitive and also acts as a type of conductor. Because hair is far cheaper than silicon the appliance is less costly.
solar panel

The solar panel can charge a mobile phone or a pack of batteries capable of providing light all evening.

Sept 11

Asia Times/IWPR -

A summit of Caspian states this weekend could foreshadow the emergence of a new regional economic grouping, according to Central Asia commentators.

On September 11-13, the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan will meet in the Kazakh city of Aktau, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The fifth country with a Caspian coastline, Iran, will not be represented.

Kazakhstan's ambassador to Azerbaijan, Serik Primbetov, told a press conference in Baku that the four presidents will discuss border issues and regional cooperation, the Caspian Energy website reported.

Analysts say that one of the main topics for discussion is likely to be Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's proposal to set up the Caspian Economic Cooperation Organization.

He first floated the idea last October, but after some initial interest, no further progress was made. Medvedev revived the plan at a meeting on Caspian issues in early August.

Experts say one of the Kremlin's motives for creating a regional bloc is to forestall plans by Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to export oil and gas to the West without it going through Russia.

Guy Adams | Los Angeles | Sept 6

The Independent - Exploration of remote Peruvian region could spell disaster for hitherto uncontacted tribespeople

It sounds like a recipe for environmental catastrophe: 42,000 bags of cement, 10,000 planks and a fleet of tractors being airlifted deep into the Amazon rainforest to establish whether a remote and unspoiled region of northern Peru can be turned into Latin America's next great oilfield.

It could also spell human tragedy. That, at least, is the claim before Lima's constitutional court, where a British energy company will this week stand accused of orchestrating an exploration project that will "ethnically cleanse" two of the world's last remaining uncontacted tribes.

Perenco, a London-based oil and gas firm, is being sued by Peru's 350,000-strong native Indian community over plans to bring its chainsaws, incinerators and heavy-lifting equipment into "Lot 67," a vast, secluded area of the Marañon basin near Peru's border with Ecuador.

The company wants to establish whether the region has exploitable oil reserves. But rooting around in the area may also result in the Pananujuri and Taromenane tribes, who are said to inhabit the jungle's deepest reaches, coming into contact with outsiders for the first time.

That would represent a humanitarian disaster. So-called "first contact" with tribes that have never encountered the outside world typically kills 50-80 per cent of their population, since they have no immunity to diseases that are perfectly common elsewhere.

Holly Williams | Sept 2

Press Association - BP was given a shares boost today after the group announced a "giant" oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico.

The find was made at BP's Tiber well, which was drilled to a depth of more than 35,000 feet - making it one of the deepest wells ever drilled in the oil and gas industry, according to the firm.

It is now looking to verify the size and potential of the oil discovery, made around 250 miles south-east of Houston, Texas.

BP shares raced 4 per cent ahead at one stage, making it one of the day's biggest risers in a difficult session for the FTSE 100 Index.

The Tiber well find marks the firm's second major discovery in that area of the Gulf of Mexico.

Andy Inglis, chief executive of BP exploration and production, said the two finds helped "support growth of our deepwater Gulf of Mexico business into the second half of the next decade".

Roman Kupchinsky | Sept 1

Asia Times - Pipelines running along the bed of the Black Sea are the frontline for Russia in its attempt to impose its energy policies on the European Union. Now nationalism and alleged corruption over hydrocarbon resources beneath the seabed highlight energy anarchy on the EU's frontier.

McLean | Aug 26

UPI - Two Alion Science and Technology-operated Information Analysis Centers have release a journal chronicling U.S. Defense Department energy security initiatives.

The Alion-operated Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, and Testing Information Analysis Center and the Weapon Systems Technology Information Analysis Center announced the release of a journal documenting the latest research on efforts to advance energy security.

The 92-page journal, titled "Powering the Future Force: New Power & Energy Technologies for the Warfighter," chronicles energy security technology advancements, programs and efforts to support a secure power and energy supply for the military.

AMMTIAC - Energy is a force multiplier – and a limitation. Energy efficiency increases maneuverability, agility, and makes our forces more expeditionary. However, our new systems require ever increasing energy, during a time when getting fuel to forward locations is considered an operation, with vulnerable supply lines requiring additional security forces. — DoD Energy Security Task Force

This special edition of the AMMTIAC Quarterly focuses on new power and energy initiatives currently underway to energize the current and future forces. Articles focus on power and energy challenges, policies, organizations devoted to improving energy security, new and innovative technologies, and testing and integration programs.

Syed Fazl-e-Haider | Quetta | Aug 13

Asia Times - Cash-strapped Pakistan, which has had to accept more than US$11 billion from the International Monetary Fund, is threatened with the loss of a huge foreign investment after China said it had shelved its multi-billion dollar coastal oil refinery project at Gwadar, in southwest Balochistan province.

China has formally informed the Pakistani authorities that the refinery project has been deleted from the list of financial development plans agreed with Islamabad for the financial year ending next June as there has been no progress on the project, according to a Business Recorder report.

The decision, which follows suspension in January by the United Arab Emirates state-run International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of work on the $5 billion Khalifa Coastal Refinery (KCR) project at Hub, also in Balochistan, creates uncertainty about the future of the planned $12.5 billion mega oil city project in Gwadar, of which the refinery there was to be a key element.

It also casts doubt over plans for a corridor carrying energy pipelines and refinery products the length of Pakistan from Gwadar onto western China.

The global recession was a factor in forcing the Chinese and UAE governments to shelve their refinery projects, the Business Recorder report said, citing sources in Pakistan's Petroleum Ministry. Local analysts, however, believe that security concerns were also an important factor.

Hilmi Toros | Istanbul | Aug 12

IPS - Once the worst of enemies, involved in 12 wars in three centuries, Turkey and Russia have suddenly become the best of friends, forging strong bonds that could be a counterpoint to the European Union if it freezes Turkey out of full membership.

The countries call their ties "multi-dimensional co-operation," somewhat short of a "strategic partnership", but that too may be in the offing.

On an eight-hour visit to Turkish capital Ankara last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed 20 deals with his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. These are mostly commercial contracts in energy, collectively worth some 40 billion dollars.

The two leaders also declared that rival gas pipelines Nabucco and South Stream to bring natural gas to European markets would be "complimentary" rather than "conflicting".

In the end, conflicting or complimentary, if both projects are realised, Russia and Turkey would play a major role in meeting Europe's growing gas needs. For Europe, either an unfriendly Turkey or Russia would endanger energy security - and it would be much worse if both were ever to gang up on the EU together.

Aug 6

BBC - The prime ministers of Turkey and Russia have signed a series of agreements regarding co-operation on major oil and gas projects.

One deal is for the construction of a pipeline through Turkish waters in the Black Sea.

Moscow hopes the South Stream pipeline will become a viable new route to supply Russian natural gas to Europe.

Vladimir Putin sealed the agreement with Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a one-day visit to Ankara.

Among the other accords signed at the meeting was an agreement on peaceful nuclear co-operation, which included a push towards building Turkey's first nuclear power station.

Steve Connor | Paris | August 3

The Independent - Catastrophic shortfalls threaten economic recovery, says world's top energy economist

The world is heading for a catastrophic energy crunch that could cripple a global economic recovery because most of the major oil fields in the world have passed their peak production, a leading energy economist has warned.

Higher oil prices brought on by a rapid increase in demand and a stagnation, or even decline, in supply could blow any recovery off course, said Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the respected International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, which is charged with the task of assessing future energy supplies by OECD countries.

Kevin G. Hall | Washington | July 28

McClatchy - The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission signaled Tuesday that his agency is likely to limit financial speculators' ability to drive up prices for oil and other fuels.

Excessive speculation, suggested CFTC chief Gary Gensler, drove the price of oil to a record $147 a barrel a year ago, making it unnecessarily more expensive for Americans to heat their homes and fuel their cars.

Andy Checkley | July 27

The Guardian - The 700 million barrels of oil discovered in Uganda will be enough to provide for the country's needs, but there could be plenty more under Lake Albert, the vice-president of Tullow Oil Group claimed last week.

The New Vision reported that Tim O'Hanlon said the discovery may be the "tip of the iceberg", adding that "lots more oil" could be found under the lake between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Uganda consumes around 11,000 barrels a day and is dependant on Kenya for fuel. Disruption of supplies in Kenya affect price and availability, but the company is considering providing oil for power in Uganda. The company is also investigating the possibilities of establishing a refinery in the area to meet the demand of countries throughout the Great Lakes region.

It is hoped that a refinery would reduce public worries about the "oil curse". A local refinery would reduce conflict by creating worker skills, increasing tax income and creating more wealth for distribution, it is claimed.

How will the Congo handle oil wealth?

Ashgabat | July 11

DPA - Gas-rich Turkmenistan has indicated an interest in the Nabucco gas pipeline, just days before an accord for the multi-billion-euro European Union project is due to be signed in Turkey, reports said Saturday.

Geologists have determined that Central Asian country has enough natural gas to become involved in the supply of gas to Europe, President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov told Parliament, according to a report by the RIA Novosti news agency.

The countries involved in Nabucco pipeline - Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are due to sign an agreement in Ankara on Monday.

The EU intends to use the pipeline to reduce its dependency on Russian gas.

According to Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan has 'a surplus of natural gas that can be sold abroad. Local geologists had confirmed 'colossal' natural gas reserves, he said.

Tony Paterson | Berlin | July 12

The Independent -

It's decision day on a chain of solar generators across the desert that could supply a quarter of Europe's power

Concentrating solar thermal plants use an array of mirrors to capture and focus sunlight, which can then heat water and power turbines

The world's most ambitious green energy project is about to take shape. It is a plan for a chain of mammoth sun-powered energy plants in the deserts of North Africa to supply power to Europe's homes and factories by the end of the next decade.

In a few days' time a consortium of 20 German firms will meet in Munich to hammer out plans for funding the giant €400bn (£343bn) project, named Desertec. The scheme is being backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government and several German industry household names including Siemens, Deutsche Bank, and the energy companies RWE and E.ON. The Munich meeting will also involve Italian and Spanish energy concerns, as well as representatives from the Arab League and the Club of Rome think-tank.

Kiev | July 9

DPA - Ukraine's government is in talks with Japanese and Turkish energy corporations on the construction of a liquified natural gas terminal able to provide fuel to Europe and bypass Russia-controlled pipelines, the Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.

Representatives from Ukraine's Ministry of Energy, Japan's Mitsubishi Group Inc, and Turkey's Calik Group are discussing building a 750-800 million dollar liquified gas terminal on Ukraine's Black Sea coast able to receive natural gas deliveries by sea, according to the report.

The transshipment complex would enable Azerbaijan and Central Asian producers to deliver product to Europe via Ukraine's pipeline network, and at the same time give Ukraine an alternate to fuel delivered by Russia's natural gas pipeline network.