Free Republic

Germany’s flag carrier Lufthansa posted a 55-percent jump in profits for 2015, benefiting from low oil prices. The result comes despite protracted industrial action by pilots and flight attendants throughout last year. Adjusted EBIT jumped by 55 percent to €1.8 billion ($2 billion) for the full year. Net profit came in at €1.7 billion, 30 times higher than in 2014. …

The U.S. Government’s arm that oversees energy statistics and projections, Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its 2009 Winter Heating expenditure forecast for households and it states the average expenditure per household to be $960 this winter, October 1-March 31. This is a decrease of $84 or 8% from last year.

<p>Diesel prices are rising again after having fallen below those of gasoline in recent weeks, piling more financial pressure on recession-stricken manufacturers and truckers.</p> <p>Prices for crude oil and the gamut of petroleum products have been rising, in part because traders expect an economic recovery to boost demand and in part because fuels look like a good hedge against widely expected monetary inflation and a weak dollar.</p>

The International Air Transport Association has doubled its estimates for global airline industry losses compared to its figure of three months ago. That presages another round of carrier bankruptcies similar to these in the early part of the decade. Reuters reports that the IATA expects the red ink at the world’s airlines to hit $9 billion this year. The main culprit is the same as it was last year–rising fuel costs. That is now married to a sharp drop in traffic. Most of the Chapter 11 filings during the 2008 affected small airlines, at least in America. That could change...

Driving down to Austin lately has become a real trip. I-35 is usually packed for most of the 185 miles, and what used to take three or four hours now can take five or six. Flying down can take almost as long, when you figure in airline security delays, more flight delays, and the time it takes getting into and out of crowded airports. But what if it took 45 minutes to travel from the Metroplex to Austin by train or an hour to make a trip to Houston? Advocates of high-speed rail lines are floating these ideas once again...

HELENA, Montana (Reuters) - Montana's governor wants to solve America's rising energy costs using a technology discovered in Germany 80 years ago that converts coal into gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. The Fischer-Tropsch technology, discovered by German researchers in 1923 and later used by the Nazis to convert coal into wartime fuels, was not economical as long as oil cost less than $30 a barrel. But with U.S. crude oil now hitting more than double that price, Gov. Brian Schweitzer's plan is getting more attention across the country and some analysts are taking him very seriously. Montana is "sitting on...

The prospects of oil prices dropping back below $40 per barrel now appear to be running neck and neck with Michael Jackson getting Babysitter of The Year Award. Delta Air Lines, which up until this latest spurt in fuel prices was heading out of the financial woods, has warned that it may not have sufficient liquidity to meet its needs in 2005. Translating that: they're running out of cash. Reason: skyrocketing fuel costs are draining the airline's coffers. Fast. Delta is just the first to sound the alarm. OPEC has all but said that $50 or higher will be the...

LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Nigerian oil unions began an unexpected two-day strike at Royal Dutch Shell Group facilities to protest against feared job cuts in the world's seventh largest oil exporter. Shell, which pumps about a million barrels a day of Nigeria's 2.3 million bpd output, said output and exports had not been affected. Unions said the action could be suspended early on Friday if talks between the two sides resumed, as expected. "The unions PENGASSAN and NUPENG have commenced a two-day industrial action. Efforts are being made to minimize the impact of this on the company's operations,'' a Shell...