(2 comments) SHARE        Tuesday, August 17, 2010
They Died Before the Oil Ran Out There is an open secret in the oil industry that dare not speak its name: peak oil. Well, two did speak its name and gained no acclaim for it. One, M. King Hubbert, died years ago. The other and the most controversial, Matthew Simmons, died at his Maine summer home Aug. 8. The peak oil idea is simple: Oil is a finite commodity, and one day we are going to use up all of it.

SHARE        Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Enduring Middle East Strategic Framework Begins to Emerge as Iran Surges, and the US Resiles The lingering impact of August 3, 2010, clash on the Israeli-Lebanese border lies in the greater context of, and wider strategic dynamics in, the Middle East. These aspects were highlighted by HizbAllah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in his speech later that day.

SHARE        Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Informational Advantage- What do you Know that Other People Don't Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Kiyohiko Nishimura discusses "informational advantage" this week at the Lujiazui Forum on economics and finance in Shanghai: "In my understanding, the Volcker Rule [proposed legislation restricting banks from making certain speculative investments] is designed to deter banks from taking excessive risk in capital markets, where volatility is inherently high and in which bankers do not

(4 comments) SHARE        Friday, June 25, 2010
Government Insiders: Get Ready for the Gulf Dead Zone Bad news concerning the Gulf oil disaster continues to come from WMR's federal government sources in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Emergency planners are dealing with a prospective "dead zone" within a 200 mile radius from the Deepwater Horizon disaster datum in the Gulf

SHARE        Friday, June 25, 2010
A Bankrupt BP - Worse For The Financial World Than Lehman Brothers? The BP crisis in the Gulf of Mexico has rightfully been analysed (mostly) from the ecological perspective. People's lives and livelihoods are in grave danger. But that focus has equally masked something very serious from a financial perspective, in my opinion, that could lead to an acceleration of the crisis brought about by the Lehman implosion.

SHARE        Sunday, June 20, 2010
Crude Oil Holds on to Week's Gains After High Inventories Threaten Rally Crude oil futures held on to strong gains for the week in lackluster Friday trading, after higher-than-expected inventories earlier in the week threatened to cut short the rally. At the same time, with the front-month July contract set to expire on Tuesday, analysts didn't see much incentive for prices to move above current levels next week.

(1 comments) SHARE        Monday, June 14, 2010
Geothermal Elbowing its Way into the Mainstream The U.S. Department of Energy announced it will provide developer U.S. Geothermal with a $102 million loan to help construct a 22 MW power plancompany's Neal Hot Springs project in Oregon.

SHARE        Saturday, June 12, 2010
Oil price rally stumbles Friday on negative economic news After clawing its way back above $75 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in four weeks, the benchmark oil futures contract fell back again on Friday on news of an unexpected decline in retail sales in the U.S.

(1 comments) SHARE        Wednesday, June 2, 2010
BP's Continued Existence Seen Coming Under Threat as Gulf Oil Spill Continues The continued failure of BP's efforts to stop the Gulf oil spill and mounting political pressure are putting the very future of the British-based oil giant in question. BP shares plunged again on Tuesday, wiping $17 billion off the market capitalization of the company. Premiums on credit default swaps to insure the company's debt soared 75% to $178,000 for $10 million as analysts began to question whether the company

(2 comments) SHARE        Thursday, May 27, 2010
Canada's Oil Sands Set to Become Biggest Source of U.S. Oil Imports, Report Says Canadian oil sands will probably become the No. 1 source of U.S. crude oil imports this year, and could make up more than a third of the nation's oil and refined product imports by 2030, according to a new study.

SHARE        Saturday, May 22, 2010
BP Gets Pass From Obama Administration To Potentially Pollute Lake Michigan The Obama administration, already charged with providing political cover for BP in the Gulf of Mexico mega-oil disaster, is also charged with allowing BP to renege on agreements between the firm, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the state of Indiana to prevent pollution of Lake Michigan from the firm's Whiting, Indiana refinery near Hammond.

(1 comments) SHARE        Thursday, May 20, 2010
Psychological Plunge in Oil Prices Makes OPEC Nervous, Official Says The plunge in oil prices in the wake of the euro crisis has OPEC worried. Qatar oil minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah emerged as an unofficial spokesman for the oil cartel over the weekend in a series of news agency reports from the Gulf that signaled the group's concern.

SHARE        Sunday, May 16, 2010
Oil Prices Drop Further in Week as Euro's Travails Continue Crude oil prices plunged nearly 4% on Friday and were off almost 20% from their 18-month high less than two weeks ago, as the euro continued to lose ground against the dollar and U.S. oil inventories continued to build.

SHARE        Thursday, May 13, 2010
Chesapeake Energy investment signals sovereign wealth fund appetite for global resources One of Asia's most active sovereign wealth funds is investing up to $1 billion in the U.S. company that helped pioneer production of shale gas, Chesapeake Energy. Temasek Holding, a $172-billion fund owned by the government of Singapore, will buy $500 million in preferred shares in Chesapeake, and has an option with Hopu Investment Management, a private equity firm in Beijing, to place another $500 million in Chesapeake

(2 comments) SHARE        Thursday, May 13, 2010
Exotic investment Vehicles: An Unproductive Abuse of Capital Michael Lewitt has an interesting new book out, called "The Death of Capital". In it, Lewitt attacks speculative investment activities such as private equity buyouts. He notes that such speculation "has been a prime abuser of capital as it has diverted an inordinate amount of capital into unproductive uses while producing (at best) mediocre returns and charging unjustifiably exorbitant fees."

SHARE        Thursday, May 13, 2010
U.S. to Restructure Offshore Drilling Regulatory Agency in Wake of Oil Spill The Obama administration said it will restructure the little-known agency overseeing offshore drilling, splitting is regulatory oversight duties from its lease management responsibilities -" a joint task critics say is rife with conflict of interest.

SHARE        Monday, May 10, 2010
Vanishing Uranium Resources There was a mysterious disappearance of uranium in South Australia last week. Uranium mining hopeful PepinNini Minerals reported a new resource estimate on its Crocker Well project. And something was missing.

(2 comments) SHARE        Monday, May 10, 2010
Crude Oil Plunges as Turbulence Rocks Financial Markets In a week of market turmoil resulting from Greece's fiscal crisis, oil went from an intraday high above $87 on Monday -" its highest point in more than a year and a half -" to plunge briefly below $75 on Friday.

SHARE        Sunday, May 9, 2010
Greenland Proceeds with Plans for Offshore Drilling in Arctic Waters While the oil spill from a sunken drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico threatens to become an environmental disaster, plans are proceeding for opening up new drilling territories in the iceberg-infested waters off Greenland.

SHARE        Saturday, May 8, 2010
The Cover-up: BP's Crude Politics and the Looming Environmental Mega-Disaster WMR has been informed by sources in the US Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Florida Department of Environmental Protection that the Obama White House and British Petroleum (BP), which pumped $71,000 into Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign -- more than John McCain or Hillary Clinton, are covering up the magnitude of the volcanic-level oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico