If anything good is to come from the devastation caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and Australia’s Montara oil and gas leak the year before, it is that we learn from our mistakes…
The re-imagining of the Silk Road appeals to local ideologies and advances China’s quest for global influence.
Sourced from AAP images
As intense negotiations between Moscow and Washington draw to a close, the Chinese Government will be heaving a sigh of relief that diplomacy seems to have triumphed over the use of force in Syria. China’s…
There’s plenty of oil, but at what price?
arbyreed/Flickr
You might have heard that peak oil - the theory that one day crude oil production will stop increasing, even as demand grows - is dead. Shale oil production is surging in the US. The premiere peak oil…
Unrest in Syria has raised concerns about world oil supplies.
potomo
Prospective US and UK military action in Syria has created jitters in the financial and commodities markets around the world. Stock markets have experienced significant losses, whereas commodities and…
A missile submarine conducts tests.
Official US Navy Imagery
Since last week’s gas attack on a Damascus suburb, the political class has been gripped by the idea that “something must be done.” Meanwhile Wall Street, already declining through early August, fell further…
Two years ago South Sudanese were partying as the country split from Sudan.
Tim Freccia / Enough Project
The second anniversary of South Sudan’s independence is overshadowed by the release of the annual State Failure Index by the Fund for Peace, which ranks the country as the world’s fourth most failed state…
The offshore industry need not be so dangerous if safety is put first.
PA
The explosions and fire that completely destroyed the North Sea oil rig Piper Alpha and cost 167 workers their lives remains the world’s worst offshore oil disaster. Saturday, July 6, marks 25 years since…
Shell and BP in less competitive times.
flikr/recursion_see_recursion
When most of us think of cartels, we think of Colombian drug gangs rather than multi-national businesses. But not any more; if European regulators are to be believed, a cartel has been operating much closer…
The land under Coober Pedy is home to vast reserves of shale oil. Perhaps not $20 trillion worth though. edenink/Flickr.
Earlier this week, Linc Energy released two reports estimating the amount of oil in the Arckaringa Basin near Coober Pedy in South Australia. Independent reports from Gustavson Associates and DeGolyer…
If you don’t deal with road transport, you’re really not dealing with emissions.
Rachel Wray
Much of the recent debate over Australia’s new Energy White Paper deals with climate change, the planned growth of Australia’s coal and gas exports, and the future of electricity sector. And although when…
The IEA has made a sketchy prediction that the United States is to be the world’s biggest oil producer within five years.
Zoe52/Flickr
The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by about 2017 and will become a net oil exporter by 2030, the International Energy Agency (IEA) [recently predicted](http://iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/English.pdf](http://iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/English.pdf…
Our lives and lifestyles depend on mobility of people and freight; are we ready to lose that?
Martin Wurt
Over the next 50 years the world will increasingly confront a dilemma. On the one hand, the global economy and local lifestyles depend on the mobility of people and goods. On the other, that mobility depends…
The American people have spoken in favour of climate change by re-electing Barack Obama to a second presidential term.
Flickr/350.org
In his acceptance speech of November 6, Barack Obama at long last reaffirmed the need to address global warming. But unfortunately he also reaffirmed the spurious goal of US oil independence, which can…
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney share the goal of US “energy independence”.
Neil Kremer/Flickr
Energy policy featured only briefly in the first debate between President Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney. As became evident in the second debate, Romney’s case for restoring strong economic growth…
Republicans have dragged the US energy policy debate, on issues like foreign oil independence, far to the right.
micheleoneill/Flickr
That Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is locked into such an unalloyed pro-oil stance is not so surprising, given the alignment of the core Republican states with oil producers’ interests. However…
When I arrived in South Sudan in November 2005, the scars of war were everywhere. Intermittent power came from generators, there was no clean drinking water, schools were little more than benches under…
Plentiful carbon-based fuel and falling world energy prices are a mixed blessing.
Adrian Bradshaw/AAP
Since the middle of the last decade, well before the worldwide run-up in fuel prices during 2008, it has been widely believed that we are entering a new era of scarcity in carbon-based fuels such as oil…
Khartoum has resumed its bombardment of South Sudan despite the passing of a UN Security Council Resolution calling for a ceasefire. With military action escalating over the past few days, the two nations…