Free Republic

Leadership: As Palin jousts with Biden on energy independence, the government reports that we lead the world in energy reserves. From oil to gas to coal, we are sitting on prosperity. So why are we importing anything? One of the interesting sidelights of the NY-23 race was an exchange on energy independence between Vice President Joe Biden and the former governor of energy-rich Alaska, Sarah Palin. Biden, who came in to campaign for Democrat Bill Owens, was reminded of the issue of energy. "The fact of the matter is that Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy was 'Drill, baby,...

Ecology: The administration creates the mother of all protected habitats for a species whose numbers have increased since Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." It's our hopes for energy independence that are drowning. When filmmaker Phelim McAleer, whose documentary "Not Evil Just Wrong" takes apart the myths of global warming, got to ask Gore a question at the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, McAleer brought up the nine critical errors in Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth." A British court two years ago listed them and said they must be righted before the film could be shown in schools...

Energy: An amazing number of oil finds have been made this year, including the biggest in California in 35 years. If the world is running out of oil, why do we keep finding more of it? The mantra of the anti-drilling crowd has been that oil companies like to sit on their leases and the oil in the ground, hoping to drive up the price. They should use the leases they have or lose them, these critics say. They also like to add that the world is running out of oil so it doesn't matter anyway. Occidental Petroleum hasn't been...

Energy: An amazing number of oil finds have been made this year, including the biggest in California in 35 years. If the world is running out of oil, why do we keep finding more of it? The mantra of the anti-drilling crowd has been that oil companies like to sit on their leases and the oil in the ground, hoping to drive up the price. They should use the leases they have or lose them, these critics say. They also like to add that the world is running out of oil so it doesn't matter anyway. Occidental Petroleum hasn't been...

Energy Policy: Ignoring peak-oil Cassandras, BP has made another giant oil find in the Gulf of Mexico. We're not running out of oil. Our government just doesn't want us to look for it.The world is running out of oil and good riddance. That's the environmentalists' mantra. But since the first well was drilled near Titusville, Pa., 150 years ago, the prophecy has gone unfulfilled. Trouble is, those darn greedy oil companies keep finding the stuff. Oil has been produced in the Gulf of Mexico since the first well was drilled by Kerr-McGee Corp. in 1947. Some of the wells are...

Energy: We balk at importing "dirty" oil from Canada, but others aren't so reluctant. Exempt as a "developing" nation from Kyoto-like agreements, China has decided to help Canada develop its energy-rich oil sands.The Financial Post reports that PetroChina International Investment Co. has struck a deal to buy a 60% interest in Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.'s McKay River and Dover projects for $1.9 billion. China has been establishing energy beachheads around the world in its quest to keep its growing economy fueled. With possible conflict brewing between Israel and Iran, Beijing recognizes the need for reliable suppliers like Canada in an...

Energy Policy: A new study shows that Waxman-Markey will increase prices at the pump, deepen our dependence on foreign oil and shred our ability to turn crude into gasoline. Even fuel-efficient cars will still need fuel.Oil may bubble up out of the ground, but gasoline does not. It's made in those ugly little NIMBY places called refineries we are loath to build anymore because we're too busy trying to save the Earth rather than our economy and American jobs. When Hurricane Katrina shut down 20% of our refining capacity in a single day and raised gas prices in a single...

Here is video of President Obama today talking to his "Organizing for America" ground troops where he likened his present circumstances to where he was a year ago when he said everyone was "all wee weed up" about Gov. Sarah Palin being nominated for the Republican Vice-Presidential nomination. He said "Everyone was saying Obama has lost his mojo. Remember that?" The clear implication is that Obama believes he is going to prevail on getting the Government Health Care Bill that he wants, and will emerge victorious as he did in the election last year. I don't think Obama grasps that...

Cap-And-Trade: The administration likes to defend bad policies with analogies to the post office. New studies from a business group and the administration itself confirm that cap-and-trade belongs in the dead-letter bin.Along with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Rep. Ed Markey likens the cost of the Waxman-Markey cap-and trade bill to "about a postage stamp a day," based on estimates made by the Congressional Budget Office and the EPA. But as we and others have shown, they arrive at this magical number in part by ignoring the hit on gross domestic product and employment that will occur. As Garret Vaughan, economist...

Stimulus: Brazil, a leader in the use of biofuels such as ethanol and in the face of falling oil prices, still plans to spend huge sums to expand its offshore oil resources. Drilling rigs are infrastructure too.With oil prices scraping the bottom of the barrel, pun intended, there wouldn't appear to be much incentive to pursue the development of new oil resources. And in tough economic times worldwide, the necessary investment required would appear to be prohibitive. As the U.S. seeks to get its economy going by building roads, bridges and bicycle paths, Brazil has decided to create jobs and...

Energy: As Russian attack submarines patrol our eastern seaboard, Moscow signs a deal to help Castro's Cuba drill for oil off the Florida coast. In Moscow and Havana, the cry is "Drill, Comrade, Drill!"Two Russian nuclear attack submarines have taken up positions along our East Coast in recent days, another sign of renewed assertiveness by the former communist giant. The move comes as Moscow inks a deal with the communist relic of Cuba to drill for oil we refuse to go after. The submarines are of the Akula class, a counterpart to the Los Angeles class attack subs of the...

As Palin pointed out to Salazar, the USGS assessment "estimates that Arctic Alaska has mean technically recoverable resources of approximately 30 billion barrels of oil, 6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids and 221 trillion cubic feet of conventional natural gas."

Energy: Will oil hit $250 a barrel? The Russians think so, as crude prices climb to an eight-month high. Meantime, House Republicans advance a plan to help the administration keep a domestic energy promise.The cost of July deliveries of crude bounced over $73 Thursday as the American Petroleum Institute reported shrinking U.S. inventories as the dollar weakens against the euro. Alexei Miller, chairman of the Russian energy giant Gazprom, is repeating his prediction of a year ago that oil may eventually reach the $250 mark.

Energy Policy: 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. In an interview with the Independent, Dr. Birol says that based...

Energy: With Ahab-like determination, environmentalists have once again blocked oil exploration in the American Arctic. They may just have succeeded in putting the American economy on ice.On Friday, a three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals Court panel in Washington, D.C., struck down the Bush administration's five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing off Alaska's northern coast. The plan was vacated, the panel ruled, because of allegedly insufficient environmental review because its "environmental sensitivity rankings are irrational." What is irrational is that despite a more than three-decade long record of environmental sensitivity at Prudhoe Bay and elsewhere, and despite booming polar...

The recent discovery of a massive oil field in the Gulf of Mexico has crude oil refinery companies projecting its potential output to be well over 15 billion barrels. If these projections are true the impact of this discovery will be much greater than the actual discovery itself and may have encouraged continued crude oil dependency in the midst of a universal push for alternative fuel sources. It would certainly have a significant impact on crude oil consumption in the United States. According to the US Energy department, Americans consumes roughly 5.7 billion barrels of crude oil annually with reserves...

Why I Walked Out of ‘Year One’ Crying by Victoria JacksonI had a date with Judd Apatow. It was around 1991 and I was between husbands: the out-of-work-Jewish-Gypsy-fire-eater-musician, and the high-school-sweetheart-Baptist-helicopter-police-pilot. I needed a date to a premiere. I knew the rules of engagement for a Hollywood career, and I tried to follow them. It’s difficult to do this when you carry the burden of ethics around with you, but I tried to do it and stay within the bounds of morality. 1) Go to the right places. I went to the Playboy Mansion to find an agent, and I...

. Legendary oil man T. Boone Pickens says that if the U.S. doesn’t take major steps to curb its reliance on foreign oil, the consequences will be drastic. “Let’s say in 10 years, you do nothing,” Pickens tells Fortune. “You will be importing 75 percent of your oil (up from 68 percent now), and you’ll be paying $300 a barrel.” .

NEW YORK -- Oil prices rose above $65 per barrel Thursday as OPEC maintained crude production levels as expected and a pair of economic reports suggested an economic rebound may push energy prices higher. Benchmark crude for July delivery added $1.56 to reach $65.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a six-month high. In London, Brent prices gained $1.80 to $64.30 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Retail gas prices have shadowed oil prices, ticking higher every day this month. Gas prices are not only rising because of crude. Refiners, stung by falling demand for gasoline, have...

Crude rises as U.S. inventories fall unexpectedly By Moming Zhou & Nick Godt, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures were slightly higher Wednesday, with gains capped as investors looked past a surprising decline in last week's U.S. crude inventories and focused instead on weak demand and lower refinery production levels. The decline in crude inventories was not driven by higher demand but by lower imports, Energy Information Administration data showed. Meanwhile, the decline in gasoline inventories was driven by lower production, with refineries reducing their utilization level to the lowest since September. Total petroleum consumption was still markedly lower...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices fell Tuesday as investors respond to the expiration of the May futures contract and ongoing economic concerns. Light, sweet crude for May delivery was down $1.06 to $44.85 a barrel in pre-market, electronic trade in New York. The May contract, which expires Tuesday, tumbled nearly 9% in the previous session. Oil for June delivery was down $3.96 to $48.51 a barrel. Trading is often volatile in the days leading up to the expiration of monthly futures contracts as investors not wishing to take delivery of physical oil roll positions into the front-month contract. Meanwhile,...

HOUSTON - Plunging crude prices have begun to play out in favor of Western oil companies in one regard, giving them leverage with oil-rich countries that only months ago had no reason to compromise. > But there are risks involved. >

President Obama on Saturday struck back aggressively at critics of his $3.6 trillion budget proposal, casting himself as a populist crusader whose "sweeping change" has angered Washington's entrenched special interests, and promised to fight them. "I realize that passing this budget won't be easy. Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington," Mr. Obama said in his weekly video and radio address. Mr. Obama's language was combative and confrontational, as he promised to fight for "American families." "I know these steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists...

President Barack Obama's first budget includes $15 billion a year for renewable energy programs and an ambitious plan to raise $646 billion from a carbon reduction proposal. "Because our future depends on our ability to break free from oil that's controlled by foreign dictators, we need to make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," Mr. Obama said Thursday morning. "That's why we'll be working with Congress on legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy." The plan uses money from a cap-and-trade program — which would allow companies to...

Barack Hussein Obama will propose a massive business tax on greenhouse gases in his FY 2010 federal budget to be presented this week.The massive tax increase and power grab was buried at the end on article on Obama's forthcoming budget proposal in The New York Times:On energy policy, Mr. Obama’s budget will show new revenues by 2012 from his proposal to require companies to buy permits from the government for greenhouse gas emissions above a certain cap. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the permits would raise up to $300 billion a year by 2020. Since companies would pass their...

VIENNA - Surging crude inventories and investor skepticism over the U.S. stimulus package dragged oil prices below $36 ($35) per barrel Thursday. Investors seemed more wary than relieved after U.S. lawmakers finally agreed overnight to a $790 billion stimulus bill designed to pull the economy out of recession.

It seems like only yesterday that 'Drill, Baby, Drill' was the incantation heard throughout the land. Memorably pushed during the presidential election by Sarah Palin and supported with slightly more nuance by John McCain, opening up new sites for oil exploration, offshore and elsewhere, was said to be utterly essential. Drilling would reduce American dependence on foreign oil and feed the ever-expanding domestic demand. That was when gas was $4 a gallon at the pump. Today, it is selling for less than $2, although that is a rise from the low point it had reached recently. Politicians are no more...

When oil rocketed past $100 on its way to $147 a barrel last summer, analysts frequently commented that prices "were not supported by the fundamentals." Now, with oil trading between $35 and $50 in recent weeks, a few questions keep crossing my mind. Do the current "fundamentals" support $40 oil? What price do the "fundamentals" support? In 2009, with the world a different place after an economic meltdown, just what the heck are the modern "fundamentals" of the energy market? I called John Olson, the co-manager of Houston Energy Partners, for some answers. Olson told me that the fundamentals of...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Oil prices fell below $40 per barrel Friday for the first time this year as the government reported the nation's worst annual job losses since World War II. People are traveling less, manufacturers are slashing production and there are job cuts across almost every sector of the economy, leading to a severe drop-off in energy use.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices slid 12 percent on Wednesday, the largest percentage drop in seven years, after a U.S. government report showed crude inventories rose much more than expected in the world's top energy consumer. Crude oil stocks swelled by 6.7 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, more than seven times the 900,000-barrel increase analysts had expected. Gasoline and distillate stocks also rose as refinery utilization climbed and demand remained sluggish. U.S. crude for February delivery settled at $42.63 a barrel, down $5.95 or 12.25 percent, the biggest single-day loss, percentage-wise, since prices plunged 15.25 percent...

NEW DELHI, Dec 24 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Industries (RELI.BO) is set to double its capacity by starting up its new 580,000 barrels per day plant (bpd) this weekend, creating the world's biggest refinery just as global oil demand collapses. The $6 billion project will make the oil complex in Jamnagar in western Gujarat the world's single biggest supplier of fuels to the global market, pumping out 1.24 million bpd of ultra-clean fuels to Europe, Africa and the United States. The project is a triumph for Chief Executive Mukesh Ambani, who helped break India's heavy reliance on imported fuel a...

Crude is down no matter what OPEC does Because no matter what promises each member makes to limit production and reduce production...... You have a situation where where each OPEC member has to pump and sell much much more to pay for their hare brained schemes. Hugo Chavez and Ahmadinejad come to mind. Pooty is hurting too

Over the next year, the U.S. government will need to borrow somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 trillion, the most ever by far. Estimates go as high as $2 trillion, depending on how quickly the economy cools and how fast tax revenues fall. The simple question most of America has not asked is this: Where is the money going to come from? The federal government already knows the answer to that question, and it has implications Americans are not ready for but will soon be faced with. America is going cap in hand to Middle East oil exporters. What government...

The chasm between those who want President-elect Barack Obama to produce his birth certificate to verify his eligibility to hold the nation's highest office and those who simply support the Democrat is widening. "The Constitution means what we today decide it means," opined one participant on a new WND forum that offers readers an opportunity to express their opinion on the birth certificate dispute.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Crude prices tumbled Friday and a gallon of gasoline fell below year-ago levels for the first time in 2008, even as OPEC announced a huge production cut in an attempt to halt the declines. --snip-- Gathered in Vienna, Austria, on Friday to stanch plunging oil prices, OPEC announced it would slash oil production by 1.5 million barrels a day. Oil prices plunged more than 5 percent. --snip-- Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $3.69 to settle at $64.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had fallen as low as $62.85 earlier in the...

As of 11:07 Pacific Time: Crude Oil 116.24 +11.69

...and it *was* down to $94.13! Wouldn't it be great to see it go below $89.99 by the end of the day? ;OD

I cannot post the content, but here's the link to the Bloomberg news story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aoNw5BZAk8Uc&refer=home Hopefully, this does not contravene the rules.

The price of Crude Oil was $99.57 as of 11:15AM EDT today! And on a Sunday, no less. :oD

Large and dangerous Hurricane Ike approaching the Upper Texas coast. Mandatory evacuations began in earnest Thursday as an estimated one million coastal residents headed inland. There were widespread reports of gas stations running out of fuel. The National Weather Service posted dire storm surge predictions of 20-25 ft storm surge along the coast and bay heads. Hurricane warnings covered a 400 mile swath of the Gulf of Mexico. Wholesale gasoline prices spiked 30 percent Thursday, or nearly $1 a gallon, out of fear of what Ike might do. Public Advisory Updated every 3 hours Discussion Updated every 6 hours Buoy...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil futures tumbled nearly $7 a barrel on Tuesday after Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf region with less force and apparently less damage than nitially feared. Prices were also pulled lower by a strengthening dollar and a return to concerns that an economic slowdown has crippled demand for energy. U.S. crude futures for October delivery dropped $6.81 a barrel to $108.65 at 11:40 a.m. ET.

Oil prices have dropped about 20 percent in a little more than a month, but that may not mean it's time to put the pedal back to the metal for long recreational drives. It's true that a weakening economy, a sell-off by speculators and a stronger dollar have broken the momentum that sent crude near $150 a barrel hardly a month ago. But in this case, what goes down may come up once the drop in prices makes fuel consumption more attractive. Last summer, Americans breezed through once-unthinkable $3-per-gallon gasoline, driving as much as they did in 2006 while starting...

LONDON (AFP) - Crude prices continued their dizzying spiral down on Friday, shedding nearly four dollars to trade below 114 dollars a barrel as the US currency strengthened amid concerns about energy demand, dealers said. Brent North Sea crude for September delivery hit an intra-day low of 113.55 dollars a barrel. It recovered slightly to stand at 114.06 dollars, down 3.80 dollars, at about 1420 GMT New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September stood at 116.28 dollars a barrel, down 3.74. Oil futures have shed more than 20 percent in value since hitting record highs above 147 dollars...

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- India's Ministry of Coal has received 22 applications in response to the bidding process it commenced early last month for the allocation of captive coal blocks for coal-to-liquid (: 36.06, -0.16, -0.44%) projects. Industry majors hopeful of securing captive coal mines include the Tata Group (Mumbai), Reliance Industries Limited (BOM:500325) (Mumbai) and Reliance Power Limited (BOM:532939) (Mumbai). RIL had sent in an $8 billion investment proposal to set up a CTL project with a capacity of 80,000 barrels per day (BBL/d) of oil and requiring 1.5 billion tons of coal...

Call Congress back to have an up-or-down vote on a comprehensive energy bill which includes expanded drilling for oil. There is a petition here: http://www.callbackcongress.com/

Oil prices fell below $120 a barrel Monday, touching levels last seen in May, as investors began to rethink the idea that crude is on an inevitable march to $200. Light sweet crude oil fell as low as $119.50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid increasing evidence of falling U.S. demand and ample worldwide supplies. That helped drag down the shares of energy firms like Exxon, which fell 3% to near its 52-week low of $77.26 and oil-services giant Schlumberger, down almost 5% to $95. The pullback is vindication for analysts who for months have been saying that oil...

America's leading energy regulator has accused a Dutch oil trading firm and three of its employees - including British-born Christopher Dowson - of manipulating crude oil market for their own ends. In the first lawsuit of its kind since the agency began investigating alleged manipulation of the market in December 2007, the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed civil actions against Dutch-based Optiver Holdings and the three men, accusing them of making $1m in profit in just 11 days. The CFTC alleges that the defendants were involved in scheme known as "banging the close" where a sizeable position...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices fell Tuesday as a perceived decline in U.S. demand took hold again after worries subsided about disruption of production in the Gulf of Mexico. Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $5.09 to $125.95 a barrel at 11:35 a.m. ET. Trading of the August contract was set to conclude with the close of the market in New York. Economy: Analysts said remarks by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and a huge loss posted by banking company Wachovia Corp. contributed to the perception that demand for oil will drop in a weakened economy

Nearly two-thirds of Egyptian men admit to having sexually harassed women in the most populous Arab country, and most say women themselves are to blame for their maltreatment, a survey shows. The forms of harassment reported by Egyptian men, whose country attracts millions of foreign tourists each year, include touching or ogling women, shouting sexually explicit remarks, and exposing their genitals to women. "Sexual harassment has become an overwhelming and very real problem experienced by all women in Egyptian society, often on a daily basis," said the report by the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights. Egyptian women and female visitors...

Oil drops $5.31 to settle at $129.29 for biggest three-day dollar drop ever. Wall Street rallies as stocks reverse earlier losses.