Tuesday - November 04, 2008

News From The North

dateline Oslo Norway

The Norwegian government’s operating profit on its direct investment in the Nordic countries offshore oil fields rose 27 percent in the third quarter to 35.6 billion kroner ($5.3 billion) on high crude prices, Petoro AS announced Tuesday.

The government company Petoro AS, which manages investments but does not operate fields, also said the government’s net income for the first nine months of 2008 of 118.9 billion kroner ($17.7 billion) already exceeded net income for all of 2007 by 6.6 billion kroner ($985 million).

“The fact that we have already exceeded last year’s very good result after nine months reflects the very high prices we have enjoyed during 2008,” said Marion Svihus, Petoro’s chief financial officer. “But the sharp fall in prices this autumn is a matter of concern, particularly since we still don’t know if the decline has bottomed out.”

Crude oil prices peaked at a record $147 per barrel in July, at the start of the third quarter, but have now fallen to about $64 per barrel on a slowdown triggered by the global financial crisis.

“Even after this dramatic drop, however, oil prices remain historically high,” she said. Svihus said the turbulence “makes it all the more important to take care of these huge national assets in a professional, commercial manner.”

Meanwhile, Norwegian oil company Petoro AS is trying to get at least one more oil rig up and running, and is willing to partner with other oil companies to share the cost. What the above article does not tell you is that the Norwegian’s production in the Barents Sea is rapidly declining. They need more wells in more places to maintain production. Also they are looking into using nanotechnology to increase the output of old wells by a significant percent. Oh, and all of this is being done without spilling a drop, and they’ve managed to cut their other pollutants 95% in the past 7 years, though the level of CO₂ has gone up a bit per unit volume of oil pumped. Read more about all of it here. For more on the nanotechnology bit, go here. If the Norskis can do it, so can we. Drill here, drill now, drill smart. You betcha!

Posted by Drew458     on 11/04/2008 at 09:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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   Monday - October 27, 2008

Well, gollleeee!

From GasBuddy.com:

This map is probably already out of date. GasBuddy relies on volunteers to submit gas prices to them. I know that the station down the street has regular for $2.39.9; zooming in on their map shows the average price around here to be at least .25 higher.

But dayum, $1.97 in Tennessee! How cool is that?

Huh, funny, it looks like the red states are the greenest right now. Coinkydink?

Posted by Drew458     on 10/27/2008 at 03:27 PM   
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   Wednesday - October 22, 2008

Crude Oil Price Plummets Again

Oil prices tumbled below $68 a barrel Wednesday after the government reported big increases in U.S. fuel supplies—more evidence that the economic downturn is drying up energy demand.

The Energy Information Administration said crude inventories jumped by 3.2 million barrels last week, above the 2.9 million barrel increase expected by analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts. Gasoline inventories rose by 2.7 million barrels last week, and inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, rose by 2.2 million barrels.

In morning trading, light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $4.03 to $68.15 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, it sank as low as $67.50 a barrel, the lowest level for a front-month contract since June 2007.

The energy markets have also been weighed down by the weak stock market, as investors grow more pessimistic about how long it will take the economy to recover from the current global financial turmoil.

“Oil is now highly correlated with the stock market,” said Clarence Chu, a trader with market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. “People are looking to the Dow for sentiment on the economy.”

The price of crude oil has tumbled 54 percent from its peak of $147.27 reached in mid-July.

In London, December Brent crude fell $3.72 to $66 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Around here gas is going for $2.62.9 a gallon. If the crude price stays at this level for awhile I expect that price to drop to $2.35 or less. And it ought to cost less to heat your home this winter too. So there is a little bit of a silver lining to this recession at any rate.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/22/2008 at 12:22 PM   
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   Friday - October 17, 2008

Oh this terrible economy!!!11!!!

I’ve been driving around all week on less than a quarter tank, watching the gas prices fall. Tonight, 25 miles after the “Get Gas NOW Or You’ll DIE!!!” light came on, I filled up. $2.69.9/gal for regular.
That’s almost exactly 2/3 of what I paid once, ONCE, when gas was at it’s peak. Now to get the price to drop another 80-90¢ per gallon, so it will cost what it ought to. Yeah, $1.79.9 seems about right; run my little car just about dry and then fill it up for $20. Not $30. And certainly not $45.

185,000 miles on my little Saturn, and it still gets me a touch over 30mpg on the tank. And that’s driving New Jersey style the whole time. I can’t complain about that.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/17/2008 at 07:49 PM   
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   Sunday - October 12, 2008

Silliest News Magazine Article of the Month

Time Magazine: “Is Cheaper Oil A Good Thing?”

Um, yes. You moron. Sure, gas is below $3 per gallon. Finally. But only just. When the price of regular falls below $1.50, and regular goes back to being 89 octane and not the 87 octane goat pee that used to be called Economy, then you can reprint your article. Until then ... STFU.

Yes, it would be utterly stupid for the Detroit car makers to go back to pushing gigantomongo trucks again, and even utterly stupider to stop pushing for more domestic oil production and more nuclear power. It’s time the US remembered the Alamo so to speak, and had our own little Never Again epiphany. American oil for American refineries, and not one drop for export.

But that was common sense speaking. Right now I’m talking about Time magazine. The two have very little to do with each other. And what is Time’s real worry? That the falling price of crude oil could hurt the economy ... in Iran and Venezuela. Because that would be bad. Excuse me, WHAT??? And bad for the environment too. Gheex. What a bunch of sniveling leftards.

How far can it fall? People have been anxiously wondering as they watch the plunging stock market. But increasingly the same question is being asked about another crucial figure: the price of oil. It has plummeted nearly 40% in just three months, from about $147 a barrel in July to below $83 on Friday, with no obvious bottom in sight. If that sounds good, you are probably a driver who winces these days at filling your gas tank. But the downward spiral could mean trouble for oil-rich countries and for the environment.
...
For oil-rich countries the slump has come at a bad time.
...
For some countries there is a fear far greater than an economic recession: political turmoil. Iran, which earns 80% of its revenues from oil exports, set this year’s budget on the assumption that oil would trade at $90 a barrel — a figure which seemed conservatively low until recently, but which is now above the world price. “If the price stays there a while Iran would cut spending,”
...
Hugo Chavez could face similar problems in Venezuela if oil prices drop below $75 a barrel — the rate at which the country calculated this year’s budget. The problems lower prices could cause in those countries could be more visceral than those posed so far by the current financial upheaval.

Gosh, we wouldn’t want pore old ‘ugo to lose any dinero would we? Or that Moldhumid Achmadinnerjacket be down to his last pair of elevator shoes? Terrible! Raise the gas price back up, quickly! Screw the USA, we’ve got to save the planet! And the whole world!!!!111!!

Leftards.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/12/2008 at 08:03 PM   
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   Tuesday - September 30, 2008

Now it’s methane that will kill us all

Oh noes!!!

The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists.

The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats....
Underground stores of methane are important because scientists believe their sudden release has in the past been responsible for rapid increases in global temperatures, dramatic changes to the climate, and even the mass extinction of species. Scientists aboard a research ship that has sailed the entire length of Russia’s northern coast have discovered intense concentrations of methane – sometimes at up to 100 times background levels – over several areas covering thousands of square miles of the Siberian continental shelf.

In the past few days, the researchers have seen areas of sea foaming with gas bubbling up through “methane chimneys” rising from the sea floor. They believe that the sub-sea layer of permafrost, which has acted like a “lid” to prevent the gas from escaping, has melted away to allow methane to rise from underground deposits formed before the last ice age.

They have warned that this is likely to be linked with the rapid warming that the region has experienced in recent years.

Methane is about 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and many scientists fear that its release could accelerate global warming in a giant positive feedback where more atmospheric methane causes higher temperatures, leading to further permafrost melting and the release of yet more methane.

“The conventional thought has been that the permafrost ‘lid’ on the sub-sea sediments on the Siberian shelf should cap and hold the massive reservoirs of shallow methane deposits in place. The growing evidence for release of methane in this inaccessible region may suggest that the permafrost lid is starting to get perforated and thus leak methane… The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed.”

The Arctic region as a whole has seen a 4C rise in average temperatures over recent decades and a dramatic decline in the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by summer sea ice. Many scientists fear that the loss of sea ice could accelerate the warming trend because open ocean soaks up more heat from the sun than the reflective surface of an ice-covered sea.

Hey, way ahead of you there buddy! The Japanese have already mostly figured out how to do it. But, surprise!, the eco-whackos are against it.

Japan is celebrating a groundbreaking science experiment in the Arctic permafrost that may eventually reshape the country’s fragile economy and Tokyo’s relationships with the outside world.

For an unprecedented six straight days, a state-backed drilling company has managed to extract industrial quantities of natural gas from underground sources of methane hydrate - a form of gas-rich ice once thought to exist only on the moons of Saturn.

In fact, the seabeds around the Japanese coast turn out to conceal massive deposits of the elusive sorbet-like compound in their depths, and a country that has long assumed it had virtually no fossil fuels could now be sitting on energy reserves containing 100 years’ fuel. Critically for Japan, which imports 99.7 per cent of the oil, gas and coal needed to run its vast economy, the lumps of energy-filled ice offer the tantalising promise of a little energy independence.

Environmentalists, though, are horrified by the idea of releasing huge quantities of methane from under the seabeds. Although methane is a cleaner-burning fossil fuel than coal or oil, the as yet untapped methane hydrates represent “captured” greenhouse gasses that some believe should remain locked under the sea. The mining of methane ice could also wreak havoc on marine ecosystems.

And they aren’t alone. There is methane hydrate under the seafloor all over the world. Off all the coasts. The US has loads of it. Zillions of tons of the crap. Why? Because it’s naturally produced! It’s the half decayed remains of billions of years worth of sea critters. All we have to do is figure out how to get it up, either in a frozen state, or thaw it out and suck it up and bottle it. And that’s exactly what the oil companies are working on right now.

Anchorage, Alaska - Scientists from the U.S. Energy Department are looking for ways to tap a new and unusual source of natural gas underneath the frozen ground near Prudhoe Bay. 
Gas hydrates—methane gas trapped in ice—were recently drilled by oil giant BP near its Milne Point well.

Have you ever seen ice burn? It will, when the ice contains methane gas, and that simple fact has scientists from around the globe looking to Prudhoe Bay and a new test well drilled by BP.

“You would probably say it looked like snow,” said Scott Digert. 

What to most may look like an especially hard-hitting snowball could be a source of energy for researchers at BP, including Digert, who is BP Alaska’s Milne Point Resource manager.

“It’s a gas molecule contained in an ice lattice, which provides quite a good storage for methane molecules inside a frozen zone,” said Digert. 

Methane gas trapped in ice. And it burns.  Scientists with the federal Energy Department paid $4.6 million to drill for the hot ice just below the surface of the Milne Point well, which is situated northwest of Prudhoe Bay. Methane will only stay in its solid or frozen state at extremely cold temperatures and under lots of pressure, both of which are abundant in Alaska’s frozen grounds.  Until recently, though, hydrates were seen as a drilling hazard.

“When you warm it up or you take the pressure off of it, it starts to thaw, basically. So you get free water and free gas, the methane, and so we try to control the release of that gas,” Digert said. 

Now, scientists from around the world are waiting for pieces of this strange ice to conduct their own tests and determine whether Alaska’s frozen grounds contain untapped, clean-burning energy. BP says it found two separate layers of gas containing ice at Milne Point, each about 25-feet thick.  Operators drilled it many times over to come up with about 400 feet of 3-inch diameter ice cores that will be sent via cryogenic packaging to labs around the world for further study. But if gas hydrates contain clean burning energy, why hasn’t any one done test drilling to find them on the North Slope before? Methane needs extremely cold temperatures and pressure to stay in its solid form. BP says it new this form of methane was under the tundra all along. On the surface, it is a flammable gas, and only recently have scientists determined how to safely bring the ice to surface without melting it first.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/30/2008 at 11:51 AM   
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   Monday - September 22, 2008

PANIC !!!

Stop reading this post and go fill up your gas tank! Take gas home in your pockets if you can! Crude oil prices are going nuts today, skyrocketing over 20%, more than $20 already! Gas prices will leap by this evening!!

Meanwhile, gas shortages continue in a few areas around the country.

It’s the end of the world! For the 3rd time in 10 days!!!!!!!!!!!11111elventy one!!!!

Posted by Drew458     on 09/22/2008 at 02:00 PM   
Filed Under: • Inflation and High Prices • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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   Tuesday - September 16, 2008

Unctuous Pusillanimous Prevaricating Twits

WASHINGTON — The House has voted to allow oil drilling off the nation’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts if states agree — but only 50 or more miles out. Republicans called the bill a ruse, saying that’s well beyond where most of the estimated 18 billion barrels of oil is located.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the bill — approved late Tuesday 236-189 — marked “a new direction in energy policy” as it also funnels billions of dollars to be collected from new taxes and royalties on large oil companies to promote alternative fuels and energy efficiency in an attempt to move the country away from polluting fossil fuels.

The bill rolls back $18 billion in oil industry tax breaks and imposes new oil and gas royalties, while giving tax incentives for wind and solar industries and for conservation. Even before the vote, the White House said President Bush would veto it if it passes Congress.

Pelosi, who not long ago characterized Republican demands to lift the ban on offshore drilling a hoax, shifted gears in recent weeks and conceded some drilling measure would have to be part of any energy package.

The Democrats’ bill would allow drilling in waters 50 miles from shore almost everywhere from New England in the Northeast to Washington state in the Northwest, so long as a state agrees to go along with energy development off its shores. Beyond 100 miles, no state approval would be required. The drilling ban would remain in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

But Republicans lashed out at the Democratic concession and accused Pelosi of trying to deceive the public and simply provide cover from Democrats this election year with a vote on offshore drilling.

They cited Interior Department estimates that 88 percent of the 18 billion barrels of oil believed to be in waters now under drilling bans would remain off-limits because they are within 50 miles of shore. And they said few states would be likely to agree to drilling since the bill does not provide states with any of the royalties from the new energy production.

It is a bill “written in the dark of night” that won’t do a thing about the supply of energy, said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. “It’s a hoax on the American people. This is intended for one reason ... so the Democrats can say we voted on energy.”

PS - who the fuck do the states think they are having any say whatsoever over what goes on at sea? Ain’t none of their God Damned business. Not one tiny little bit. Never was. Never will be. The state border stops at the beach. National Sovereignty extends out over the water. Because We The Nation have a NAVY to enforce that. What the snatch-whistle is wrong with people’s brains these days?

UPDATE: All hands on deck! All hands on deck! Now READ THIS. Juan McAmnesty is poised to sign onto this bullshit, just like he did before with his gang of 14 12 10 7 gang of dickless compromising idiots. STOP THEM NOW. To the batphone Robin!

It’s better to have no bill at all than a phony one which dishonesty “proves” there’s simply no point to drilling more American oil.

At least with no bill, we can keep fighting on this vital issue into the future, with some hope of success.

(innerquote borrowed from Vilmar, blockquote borrowed from Ace. Original article at The Corner at NRO.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/16/2008 at 09:40 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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   Saturday - September 13, 2008

Oil Down, Gas Up: Global Economy vs Hurricane Ike

Gasoline prices jumped at the wholesale level Friday as Hurricane Ike swept through Gulf of Mexico, prompting companies along the Texas coast to shut down refining and drilling operations.

Crude oil on the futures market, however, briefly sank below the psychologically important $100-a-barrel mark for the first time since April 2—showing that investors believe a worsening global economy will continue to drive down demand for some time in the United States and elsewhere.

The fact that U.S. fuel demand is so weak right now might mean the recent surge in the wholesale price of gasoline—which rose to about $4.85 a gallon in the Gulf Coast market Friday—might not be passed along to consumers unless Ike’s impact is severe and long-lasting.

“Major oil companies are sensitive to raising prices in this environment,” said Ben Brockwell, director of data pricing and information services at the Oil Price Information Service.

“Hopefully it’s a temporary phenomenon, but we won’t know until next week,” Brockwell said.
...
The average U.S. retail price for gasoline edged up less than a penny to $3.675 Friday from Thursday, according to auto club AAA, OPIS and Wright Express.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude for October delivery rose 31 cents to settle at $101.18 a barrel, after briefly sinking to $99.99.

October gasoline futures climbed 2.08 cents to settle at $2.7696 a gallon on Nymex.

“All week long, it’s been a gasoline story more than anything. If you just looked at the crude market independently, you wouldn’t know that we had a couple of hurricanes,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates, referring to Ike and last week’s Gustav.

“This dichotomy could persist for a few more days next week,” he said. But “once the storm factor subsides, we’ll see a much higher correlation between gasoline and crude oil.”

Gas prices in my part of NJ jumped 10 cents a gallon overnight. I’m hoping this is really really temporary because I’ve only got half a tank right now. Ike is making a big mess in Texas. It looks like as many as 100,000 people did not head the evacuation orders, even though Texas made a huge effort to assist folks who couldn’t evacuate themselves. Now I’m hearing that some of the rescue efforts are being suspended because the risk is too high to the rescue crews. So there are going to be some fatalities. Say a prayer for Texas and her soggy citizens.

The storm flooded Galveton’s historic district with 7 feet of water, which has since subsided to 4 feet, according to Galveston County official Margaret Bunch. A foot of water flooded the city’s main courthouse, where many people rode out the storm, she said.

A fire broke out at a Galveston yacht basin, where boats are stored and fixed, said Galveston Fire Chief Michael Varela Sr., and firefighters were unable to reach it because the area was flooded with about 8 feet of water.

Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc said about 40 percent of the city’s 57,523 residents chose to stay despite evacuation orders. “It’s unfortunate that the warnings that we sent out were not heeded,” he said.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/13/2008 at 11:28 AM   
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   Tuesday - September 09, 2008

A hoot From Newt

No political movement is truly mainstream in this country until it has at least one country song sung about it.

Newt Gingrich sends out an email today, pointing to Aaron Tippin, who has a song (for sale of course) called Drill Here Drill Now

You can hear a little sample over here. You can also buy the tune for 99¢. Of get the T-shirt!

I give it 2 1/2 stars. It’s a bit singable, but it doesn’t much sound like dance music to me.

Newt then goes on to point out that

In light of President Bush’s July announcement to eliminate the executive ban on offshore drilling, the U.S. Minerals Management Service has decided to initiate a new plan to increase energy production on the outer continental shelf (OCS). As part of the regulatory process, the agency is calling for public comments on offshore oil and gas development through September 15, 2008.

In the meantime, unfortunately, the Democratic Congress is planning votes on bills that would actually make all or part of the offshore drilling ban permanent. Now is the time to let the federal government know we need full and unfettered access to America’s offshore energy resources.

Seems like a good idea. Another few thousand emails couldn’t hurt.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/09/2008 at 06:06 PM   
Filed Under: • Music • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices • Republicans •  
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   Friday - August 08, 2008

Gas Prices Falling

I saw gas for sale today at $3.63.9 per gallon. Cash only, and that was for 87 octane Regular, but what the hey. Around here, gas has come down in price 12¢ just in the last week. Keep on going. Even this “low” price I saw today is a bit more than double what it ought to cost. $1.74.9. That’s a price I’d be happy with.

We still need another 150 more nuclear reactors and at least another dozen refineries. Maybe damn a few more rivers and put in some hydro. And we need to agree on just 2 seasonal blends of gasoline, unless today’s cars can adjust for high altitude in which case 1 blend for spring and summer and another blend for fall and winter. Every thing we can do to save fuel, find more fuel, create other kinds of electricity generation, etc., is going to help. Even if they take 2, 3, 5, or even 10 years to make a difference.

Don’t be complacent just because the price is down 10% or more from the $4+ highs of a month or two ago. We still have a long way to go.

Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/08/2008 at 11:14 PM   
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   Thursday - August 07, 2008

Arctic Heats Up - politically at least

Running down a bunch of links from Peiper’s Global Warming post the other day lead me to a great news site. Called The Barents Observor, it’s all about business and politics up in the Barents Sea area. For those who don’t have a globe handy, that’s the northeast end of the Atlantic Ocean, up east of Greenland, off the coast of Norway and Finland, and over to the northwest corner of Russia. You might tend to think of this area as one of the ends of the Earth, but if it is it’s also one of the busiest ones. You see, why Nancy Pelosi is braying on about saving the planet, what she really means is SCREW AMERICA. Because the people who live up there are working just as fast and as hard as they can to fish and farm and mine and drill the hell out of it, environmental impact be damned. Hey, just like China, Brazil, Africa, India ... and the whole rest of the world.

Just a few examples of what’s going on up in the great white Euro North:

• Overfishing is common. Although Norway has a Directory of Fisheries, the chances of being caught are just about zero. And the Russians are doing it every day.


• In a complete reversal of the way things work in American, Russian oil company Lukoil-Komi has sealed off vast areas of land around it’s drilling operations, preventing hunters and hikers from using the areas. And the courts let them get away with it.


• Norway has just located an enormous copper vein. Believe me, they will mine it.


• Russia is opening up the Kamal Penninsula to drilling, and is laying thousands of kilometers of pipeline. There are 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas there. And where there is gas there is often oil. And jobs; there is employment for 50,000 skilled workers.Meanwhile, Norwegian hippies tried to protest the pipeline, and got themselves fined.


• Oil production a bit to the east in Kharyaga is increasing, drilling and pumping more, even at wells co-owned by the French.


• Illegal aliens are trying to rush the area. I guess they’re willing to do the jobs Russians and Norwegians won’t. But the Russian border guards have been catching Afghans, Chinese, Lebanese, and Uzbekistanis left and right. All trying to sneak into Norway! Funny, I thought the jobs were over in Russia.


• The highly profitable Norilsk Nickel foundry continues to pollute like mad. Sulphur dioxide levels 500 times the limits. Enough to corrode umbrellas if you were out walking around.But they’re making a ton of money (enough to build 5 new ice breaker frieghters), and they employ lots of people. So they get away with it. And when Norilsk needs more power to run their foundries, they just go right ahead and build a new one. What the hell, coal is cheap.


• Russia is chopping down it’s forests as fast as they can, and Finland is only too happy to buy the wood. Which they turn into pulp for paper and plywood. Who cares if it’s all illegal? Finland brought in over 5 million cubic meters of illegal wood last year.

But the big news concerns the Arctic basin itself. With the kindly assistance of a bit of Global Warming (and if you lived or worked up there you’d want to believe in GW harder than children need to believe in Tinkerbell, cuz it’s so freakin cold all the time.) getting some of that damned endless ice out of the way for a while last year, geologists were able to get some decent surveys done of the seabeds up there. And they found oil. And gas. And lots of other resources. So now the race is on. Why is Russia building a new aircraft carrier? Well, one reason is that they’re trying to sell the old one to India. That’s assuming they can put out the fires onboard first. Another reason might be strong arm politics. Russia is looking for oil and gas around Svaalbard (Spitzbergen) Island. And when Russia drills a hole, they usually plant a flag. This could be a problem brewing.

It wasn’t just propaganda that made the Russians plant a flag on the seabed under the North Pole almost exactly one year ago, even if their photos were faked. The race is on, and the prizes are huge. Various groups are trying to settle seabed land claims before the shooting starts, but it’s going to be a rough ride. The US will not be getting a big slice of the pie no matter what, but Denmark looks to be in line to become a new world power due to the size of it’s allocation. And tomorrow Canada will attest that the Lomonosov Ridge, a hump of seabed right under the North Pole, is actually part of the North American land mass ... the implication being that Canada should get control of it. And that ridge is where a huge part of the Arctic resources have been located.

There will be no flag-waving or patriotic chest-thumping, but Canadian scientists are quietly set to make one of this country’s most important assertions of Arctic sovereignty in decades on Friday at a geology conference in Norway.

A year after Russian scientists planted their nation’s flag on the North Pole seabed - a controversial demonstration of their country’s interest in securing control over a vast undersea mountain chain stretching across the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Ellesmere Island and Greenland - the Canadian researchers have teamed with Danish scientists to offer proof that the Lomonosov Ridge is, in fact, a natural extension of the North American continent.

Their landmark findings, the initial result of years of sea floor mapping and millions of dollars in research investments by the Canadian and Danish governments, are to be presented at the 2008 International Geological Congress in Oslo under the innocuous title “Crustal Structure from the Lincoln Sea to the Lomonosov Ridge, Arctic Ocean.”

But the completion of the study represents a key step in Canada’s effort to eventually win rights over thousands of square kilometres of the polar seabed, a potential treasure trove of oil and gas being made more and more accessible as melting ice unlocks our High Arctic frontier.

Yeah right, no chest-thumping indeed:

And on Wednesday, the Department of National Defence detailed plans to conduct a “sovereignty operation” in Nunavut later this month.

The Aug. 19-26 exercise, similar to one conducted last summer, is intended “to project sovereignty in the eastern Arctic” and to test the military’s ability to respond to oil spills and ship emergencies, the department said.

The really frightening part of this whole land-grab situation is that the UN will have to solve it. Worse, it will be under the Jurisdiction of their Law of the Sea Conventions (UNCLOS). That’s not the Law of the Sea Treaty, but it probably isn’t much better or different.

This is a big story, and it’s going to take years to play out. And about the only place I’ve found enough information to be able to put even a few pieces of the puzzle together has been at the Barents Observer news page. It’s like some huge untapped natural resource, just waiting for exploitation. 

Posted by Drew458     on 08/07/2008 at 04:51 PM   
Filed Under: • Big Business • Nature • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices • Politics •  
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   Wednesday - August 06, 2008

No News Day

There doesn’t seem to be much blog-worthy out there today. Ok, here’s something a little bit interesting ...

High atop a steep grass-covered mountain overlooking the Little Sespe Canyon near Fillmore, the earth is on fire.

Wisps of smoke rise from a brown patch of grass that looks like it was toasted under an oven’s broiler. Deep down, under the dirt, rocks and grass, something is smoldering and burning, sending smoke through cracks in the parched soil.

It’s being called a natural anomaly, a geological whodunit, a scientific puzzler. And it’s the second time that scientists have been scratching their heads over the fact the earth under Ventura County is burning.

In 2004, a patch of land northwest of Ojai burned so hot, it started a brush fire that scorched three acres in Los Padres National Forest. Firefighters cleared the grass from the newest area of hot earth near Fillmore on Friday so the same thing won’t happen.
...
The leading theory behind the latest hot spot is that gas or oil or some other hydrocarbon deep in the soil caught fire and is burning, pushing ground temperatures to 812 degrees. What ignited it or when it started burning is a whole other question.
...
Such fires aren’t uncommon in areas where there is a high concentration of gas or oil underground, he said.

But while the origins of this fire may be a relatively common phenomenon, the one near Ojai is still a puzzle.

“We’ve been researching it for a while and don’t have all the answers,” said Scott Minor, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher based in Denver who has made multiple trips to the site. “It’s like detective work.”
...
The research group ... would like to drill down into the earth to see if the materials support the theory but is faced with a few hurdles. The first is funding and the second is the fact that the area is in the Dick Smith Wilderness, where no machinery is permitted.

So we’ve got ground so hot it starts fires, but nobody really knows why. And instead of trying to actually find out why, there’s a lot of dick spanking going on because it’s some protected wilderness. Sounds like it might be protected ashes pretty soon.

Here’s a bright idea: drill a hole and find out what’s going on. I’d say this qualifies as an emergency situation that should overrule any land protections. Since it’s a protected area, don’t do anything about it, but instead hook up a geothermal generator and make some electricity from it. I bet you could boil a whole helluva lot of water if the ground is that hot, and that should run steam turbines just fine. Plus, it’s a carbon neutral, environmentally friendly way to help cool off the land. Alternative Energy! Unless it turns out that this is a nascent volcano just waiting to melt it’s way to the surface. In which case Ventura County is doomed. Oh well; such things are all part of the day to day world out there in la-la land California.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/06/2008 at 06:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Amazing Science and Discoveries • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

   Thursday - July 31, 2008

I’m willing to give it a try and see if it works

The price of retail gasoline would fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday.

Testifying to a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said the price of crude oil would drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135.

Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co., Edward Krapels of Energy Security Analysis and Roger Diwan of PFC Energy agreed with Masters’ assessment at the hearing.

Other witnesses say speculators aren’t a major factor in oil prices, however.

Ok, what law, and what kind of limits are we talking about? But I’ll tell ya what: Pass the law, effective TODAY, and put a 100 day timer on it. If the cost of crude doesn’t drop at least 35%, which means your idea is mostly correct, then the law evaporates. Poof. Congress can’t get anything else done, so why not a Hail Mary play like this that would expire just after Election Day? Hey, some of their jobs are up for grabs too, right?

Oh, and around here, gas is currently $3.70. So I want to see $2.40 or lower by November 3, and I’ll believe you. Hey, I’ll VOTE FOR THE FOLKS WHO SPONSOR THE BILL AND VOTE FOR IT. But if you plan fails, then you don’t get my vote because it proves you are a desperate knucklehead.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/31/2008 at 04:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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