Oil supplies: we’re on a knife-edge
OIL supplies are now so tight that just 1.5 million barrels of oil a day – less than 2% of global production – is keeping another potentially devastating surge in energy prices at bay, experts have warned.
Geopolitics & Military
What if…
It’s 2006. Bin Laden conquers Arabia. Crude prices are nudging $100. A far-off fantasy? Don’t you believe it, writes Oliver Morgan
Present oil trouble not without a past
Carter was serious about energy alternatives and paid a significant price — and wise politicians have avoided the problem ever since.
Rights group denounces Australia over Timor oil
A US-based rights group denounced Australia yesterday, saying Canberra should be “ashamed” for allegedly robbing East Timor of much-needed oil and gas revenues from the disputed seabed between the two nations.
Blast hits Russian oil depot
A bomb blast has ripped through an oil storage depot in the town of Neftekumsk in Russia’s Stavropol region.
US navy ‘plans W Africa exercise’
A US defence official says the US navy is planning an unusual task force deployment off the West African coast.
Iraq receives $800m to boost crude production
Iraq’s new Oil Minister Thamer Ghadban welcomed yesterday the injection of $800 million from the US-led coalition to achieve his main goal of hiking production.
Syria welcomes U.S. oil deals despite sanctions
Syria continues to sell oil to U.S. companies and encourage U.S. investment in its energy sector, despite Washington’s unilateral sanctions, Oil Minister Ibrahim Haddad told Reuters.
Iraqi PM tells nation occupation forces must stay
BAGHDAD – Iraq’s new prime minister told the nation that U.S-led coalition troops should remain even after the June 30 handover of power to an Iraqi government.
Libya supplies US with oil again
Libya has cemented its return to the international mainstream by resuming its former role as a supplier of oil to the US.
Bush and the Axis of Oil
The U.S. animosity toward the Islamic Republic of Iran became evident again when a top U.S. diplomat underlined Tuesday Washington’s opposition to a French-backed plan which, if realized, would see a pipeline built from Kazakhstan to Iran to export the massive oil reserves underneath the Caspian Sea.
Once seen as an alarmist fear, an attack on key Saudi oil terminal could destabilise west
Saudi Arabia is the linchpin for world crude supplies, a key to setting prices and yet sitting on a political tinderbox due to internal dissent and having trouble securing itself against terrorism.