Thailand Building More Gas-Fired Power Plants
By Neil Hickey
Thailand, the world’s 20th most populous country, has announced plans to build two gas-fired power stations at an expected cost of $1.1 billion.

Would You Buy PetroChina’s Shares?
By Lee Geng
Would you buy a company’s shares when it can’t even control the price of its product? That’s the question for potential PetroChina investors.

Rosneft Passes Lukoil On Output, Not Profitability
By Pavel Romanov
In 2007, Rosneft’s oil output finally surpassed Lukoil’s. The state-controlled giant produced 711 million barrels of crude, while Lukoil pumped 676 million.

Europe’s Diesel Hunger
By Andres Cala
Soaring construction costs, recession fears, falling refining margins, environmental concerns, biofuels and hybrid car use, and increased global refining capacity are expected to deter much-needed investments in Europe’s downstream sector.

British Energy Takeover and the Case for Europe’s Nuclear Future
By Andres Cala
The eventual takeover of British Energy, the U.K.’s biggest utility, could be a test case for the future of Europe’s nuclear industry.

Indigenous Rights Take Center Stage in Latin America
By Randy Woods
Latin America’s political landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade. Democracy took a stronger hold throughout the region, especially in countries like Mexico and Peru, and more recently, governments have turned farther left in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile – and of course, Venezuela.

Wanted: Evil Minions for Long Hours, Rough Conditions, Constant Criticism
By Mac Johnson
The energy industry is almost universally criticized and hated. And for some reason the number of people wanting to work in it are in short supply.

Looking Back at Offshore for 2007
By Matt Pickard
High oil demand is here to stay, and the offshore industry continues to boom.

Seward’s Folly…Not!
By John W. Reeder
He bought vast mineral riches for pennies on the dollar. If only every U.S. politician were so foolish.

Chevron Facing Environmental concerns in Bangladesh
By Muhammad Abdul Hameed
Bangladesh may be one of the poorest countries on earth, but its citizens are still concerned about environmental issues.

A Breath of Fresh Air at a Climate Change Conference
By Joseph D’Aleo
The Heartland Institute along with 20 other supporting organizations sponsored the First International Conference on Climate Change in New York City on March 2-4. Over 500 people attended, with a cross section of specialties from Australia, Canada, England, France, Hungary, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and of course, the U.S.

Thailand Says Burma Open for Business
By Neil Hickey
While much of the world shuns Burma as a trade partner, Thailand, like China, is expanding its economic and energy links with the outlaw nation.

Sakhalin-1 Output Drops
By Pavel Romanov
Sakhalin, one of the highest-profile energy projects in the world, is following the trend of Russia’s entire oil sector: falling production.

Energy Tribune Speaks with Robert Hart
By Robert Bryce
Robert Hart, president of Hart Energy Partners, corresponded with Robert Bryce via e-mail.

Subsidizing Power in Guangdong
By Lee Geng
Authorities in southern China’s Guangdong Province are subsidizing power plants to offset losses caused by rising fuel costs, part of the government’s efforts to keep up power production to meet the summer’s surging demand.

Gazprom Investing in the Ethanol Scam
By Pavel Romanov
The ethanol scam may soon be speaking Russian. Gazprom has announced that it will invest some $220 million in Russia’s first ethanol plant.

Brazil’s Booming Private Power Producers
By Randy Woods
Business is booming for private-sector generators in Brazil, despite the fact that the government is playing a major role in developing a new wave of nuclear reactors and large-scale hydroelectric plants.

Argentina’s Natural Gas Shortage
By Gerardo Jimenez
With over 50 percent of Argentina’s internal energy consumption derived from natural gas, it’s clear that it depends heavily on the fuel for residential, industrial, and transportation purposes.

The Electricity Gap
By Robert Bryce
When it comes to economic growth, the vital commodity is always electricity.

Beijing Clearing Air Ahead of Olympics
By Lee Geng
In an effort to improve Beijing’s dismal air quality before the Olympic Games, authorities are closing factories and implementing stricter sulfur standards for motor fuel.

U.E.S. Sells Assets to Finns for $3 Billion
By Pavel Romanov
Unified Energy Systems (U.E.S.) of Russia is selling its power generating companies to private investors as part of the company’s restructuring effort.

EdF Lurks Around Iberdrola, M&A Action Continues
By Andres Cala
Recent overtures from French EdF (the world’s biggest utility by market capitalization) to buy Spain’s power giant Iberdrola are unlikely to materialize into a takeover bid anytime soon.

Cuba’s Oil: So Close and Yet So Far
By Randy Woods
Last month’s conference call held by Sherritt, the Canadian natural resources company, was remarkable for what wasn’t said.

Reliable Gas? Not for Iran, Turkey, Europe
By David Wood
An unprecedented cold winter for much of the Middle East and the Caspian region highlighted the unreliability of regional gas supplies. The cold weather resulted in heated rhetoric, as Turkmenistan temporarily stopped shipping gas to Iran.

E.U. Facing Business Backlash
By Peter Glover
Europe finds that cutting carbon emissions is far easier said than done.

Pakistan’s Ongoing Electricity Shortage
By Muhammad Abd al-Hameed
Pakistan, the world’s sixth most populous country, has a power crisis. And it’s not political power – it’s electric power.

Latin America on Verge of New Nuclear Age
By Randy Woods
Latin America’s three leading economies – Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico – have dusted off old blueprints for nuclear generators and are developing projects that could more than double the region’s capacity from the power source.

U.S. Monitoring CNOOC-Iran Deal
By Lee Geng
Washington is concerned over CNOOC’s plans to import 10 million tons of Iranian LNG per year.

Unprofitable East-Siberian Pipeline
By Pavel Romanov
One of Russia’s most ambitious energy projects is undergoing serious revisions due to questions about its financial viability.

Solar Power Boom Continues in Europe
By Andres Cala
The recent growth of photovoltaic energy in countries like Spain and Germany is triggering a reassessment of incentives in Europe to foster a cost-effective, consumer-friendly approach to solar power.

Peru Mulls New Natural Gas Markets
By Randy Woods
Peru faces a peculiar predicament for a South American country. As many of its neighbors face moderate to severe natural gas restrictions, Peru is wondering what to do with all its recently discovered gas.

The Next U.S. President Will Be the Chauncey Gardiner of Energy
By Michael J. Economides
U.S. politicians focus primarily on renewables, ignoring the continuing importance fossil fuels have to the global economy.

Carbon Capper Capers: Taxation Without Misrepresentation
By Christopher C. Horner
In the past few months, France, Italy, and the 27-nation European Union have separately threatened a trade war against the U.S. to stem ongoing damage to Europe’s competitiveness.

Malaysia: Correlating Electricity and Economic Growth
By Neil A. Hickey
Malaysia, historically regarded as one of the most Westernized countries in southeast Asia, now more than ever has the economy to back up that claim.

LNG Deals Speed Terminal Projects
By Lee Geng
Recent deals for China to import significantly more liquefied natural gas (LNG) have sped up the government approval procedure for construction startups at as many as five receiving terminals this year.

China's Nuclear Sector Beats Forecast
By Lee Geng
China’s nuclear power projects are developing faster than anticipated, forcing the government to revise its planned nuclear power capacity upward by 50 percent.

Profiles in Energy Independence
By Mac Johnson
Energy independence must be really, really good. That much I can gather from the fawning media coverage of the idea and its support from both political parties.

Promising More Renewables in China
By Lee Geng
China will aggressively promote the development of renewable energy so it accounts for 10 percent of the country’s energy mix by 2010, up from the current 7.5 percent. Or at least, that’s the plan.

Europe Needs Iranian Gas
By Andres Cala
Europe’s hunger for natural gas and its lack of reliable suppliers is leading several countries to court Iran. This is a delicate situation for the European Union, which also wants to keep the pressure on Tehran to give up its nuclear power program.

Russia’s Electric Sector Going Private?
By Pavel Romanov
Despite record high oil prices, Russia’s economy has not improved. In fact, it is deteriorating. And a key reason for that deterioration is the perilous condition of the country’s infrastructure, with its electricity infrastructure a prime example.

E.U. Chasing Energy Efficiency
By Andres Cala
The European Union’s ability to meet its binding target – to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 – hinges on increasing renewable energy capacity output and improving its energy efficiency.

Trinidad & Tobago Looks to Stem Reserves Decline
By Randy Woods
Just about everyone in the government of Trinidad & Tobago knows Ryder Scott. After all, it was the Houston-based reservoir appraisal firm’s 2007 report that gave the government a major fright by showing that the Caribbean country could run out of domestic natural gas supplies by 2019.

Nigeria: A Case Study in Power Shortages
By Leonard Lawal
MTN is one of Nigeria’s biggest suppliers of mobile phone services. It is also one of Nigeria’s biggest independent power producers.

The Super Battery Prize
By Robert Bryce
For electricity, batteries are the silver bullet. A large monetary award could encourage inventors to discover the next big breakthrough.

Sinopec Buys Into Tianfa
By Lee Geng
Sinopec, Asia’s top refiner, has decided to buy into downstream assets owned by the Tianfa Group, formerly headed by incarcerated businessman Gong Jialong.

China Cuts Emission, Energy Intensity
By Lee Geng
In 2007, China reportedly broke its long trend of ever increasing pollution loads. According to federal authorities, chemical oxygen demand decreased by 3.1 percent, and sulfur dioxide emissions, a key air pollutant, fell by 4.6 percent, compared to 2006 levels.

China's New Energy Overseers
By Lee Geng
The Chinese government has reorganized the management of the energy industry by creating two dedicated agencies, but has stopped short of establishing an energy ministry.

Overblown: The Real Cost of Wind Power
By Peter Glover and Michael Economides
If you have a hankering to see Britain's green and pleasant countryside or its rugged coastline, you shouldn't wait too long. They are both likely to disappear soon under thousands of massive, swirling, 400-foot wind turbines.

It’s About Time, Time
By Michael J. Economides
We were hopeful when we saw this week’s Time magazine cover on ethanol – until we read the entire story. To call ethanol a scam just because it does not bode well for the even bigger scam, anthropogenic global warming, is not that interesting.

G.U.P.C. Falls Alongside Gong
By Lee Geng
Gong Jialong had hoped to change China’s oil business. But as he faces fraud charges, business at his Great United Petroleum Corp. has stagnated.

China Embarks on Carbon Capture
By Lee Geng
In a world of big carbon footprints, China reportedly has the biggest one. And it will be a while before the country can do much to change that fact.

An Ecuadorean Environmental Ultimatum
By Randy Woods
Environmentalists in Ecuador have a difficult decision to make: pay the government roughly $350 million a year for the next two decades, or see oil companies drill in the pristine heart of Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest.

Chavez v. Exxon: Who Will Prevail?
By Francisco Rodriguez
Last month, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States. This was in response to news that Exxon Mobil had obtained court orders in the U.K., the U.S., and the Netherlands to freeze $12.3 billion of assets owned by PDVSA, Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.

CNOOC Building Downstream Muscle
By Lee Geng
CNOOC, China’s top offshore oil and gas operator, is expanding its downstream operations in eastern Shandong Province.

COSL Gets Denied by Russian Government
By Pavel Romanov
It was supposed to be a done deal: after months of negotiation between the two sides, Chinese Oilfield Services, Ltd. (COSL) agreed to buy Saratovskoe Tamponazhnoe Upravlenie (STU), a Russian oilfield services company.

Mexico’s Surging LNG Trade
By Randy Woods
The lackluster increase in Mexico’s domestic natural gas production has forced the country to rethink its energy policy.

China's Energy Ministry Likely to Reopen
By Lee Geng
This month, China’s National People’s Congress is likely to adopt the country’s first energy law and perhaps more important, reinstate its energy ministry.

Baltic LNG and the Kremlin Cronies
By Pavel Romanov
Among the most promising and most expensive Gazprom projects on the drawing board is Baltic LNG, planned for the coastal town of Primorsk just north of St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland.

Europe Looks to LNG
By Andres Cala
By 2015, Europe plans to double its infrastructure capacity to receive liquefied natural gas, to hedge concerns over its future supplies.

Diesel, Natural Gas Demand Soaring in South America
By Randy Woods
Energy planners in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil are scrambling to deal with something they hoped to avoid this decade: drier-than-normal weather.

The Sloppy Science of Global Warming
By Roy W. Spencer
While a politician might be faulted for pushing a particular agenda that serves his own purposes, who can fault the impartial scientist who warns us of an imminent global-warming Armageddon?

Coalbed Methane Wells are Cheap, but Permeability Can Be Expensive!
By Ian Palmer
The good news: the world has huge coalbed methane reserves. The bad news: it’s not that easy to get them.

Carbon Sequestration: Injecting Realities
By Xina Xie
The amount of carbon dioxide used in enhanced oil recovery projects indicates the number of wells needed for large-scale sequestration projects. And that number is huge.

China Creates S.P.R. Agency
By Lee Geng
China has established the National Petroleum Reserve Center to manage its strategic petroleum reserves.

GdF, Gazprom, May Link on South Stream
By Pavel Romanov
The question: will the French join in the Nabucco pipeline project; or will they join with Gazprom on the far more expensive South Stream line?

Repsol Shedding YPF
By Andres Cala
The decision of Madrid-based Repsol YPF to sell up to 45 percent of YPF, its Argentine subsidiary, is the crux of a strategic shift to diversify business out of its core South American operations.

Brazil’s Offshore Gas: Will CNG Bring it Ashore?
By Randy Woods
Brazil has a problem that many of its neighbors wish they had: a surfeit of natural gas.

Global Warming: the Climate of Fear
By Alexander Cockburn
Although the world’s climate is on a warming trend, there is zero evidence that the rise in carbon dioxide levels has anthropogenic origins. For daring to say this I have been treated as if I have committed intellectual blasphemy.

Not By Energy Efficiency Alone
By Robert Bryce
Few concepts are as important (or as poorly understood) as the paradoxical one that energy efficiency increases energy consumption.

Europe’s Ambitious Carbon Sequestration Plans
By Andres Cala
Since it relies on coal for most of its power, Europe can’t meet its Kyoto obligations. Huge investments in carbon capture technologies might be the answer.

Darfur and Beijing Olympics
By Lee Geng
In early February, Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg quit his advisory position for the opening-night Beijing Olympics ceremony in protest against China’s support for Sudan.

China's Oil Demand Expected to Jump
By Lee Geng
China’s demand for oil products will grow by 6 percent this year to 398 million metric tons (about 8.5 million barrels per day), amid rapid economic expansion and soaring automobile sales.

Guangdong’s Middle East Link
By Lee Geng
China’s booming Guangdong Province is trying to establish direct links with Middle East energy suppliers, in an effort to diversify its crude suppliers.

Russia Competing in Pipelines
By Pavel Romanov
lmost a year after Vladimir Putin signed an agreement with Greece and Bulgaria for the construction of an oil pipeline, he has expanded the plans to favor Gazprom’s geopolitical strategy.

Norway Lowering Output to Gas-thirsty Europe
By Andres Cala
Norway recently moved to decrease short-term natural gas shipments to Europe, an indication it will use its extensive hydrocarbon reserves to maximize revenue.

Venezuela’s Refining Woes
By Randy Woods
Fires, accidents, and unplanned maintenance shutdowns have become commonplace at Venezuela’s refineries. The problems are symptomatic of the ailments afflicting state-owned oil giant PDVSA.

Man-Blubber: A Biofuels Bonanza!
By Mac Johnson
For those of us who are fond of parodying idiocy, one of the great hazards of life is the high rate of self-parody by idiots. An excellent example is a recent report out of the United Kingdom of an important first in human history.

Russia’s Other Election
By Michael J. Economides
Russia’s presidential election has barely received any coverage here, but the results will affect U.S. citizens for years to come.

Carbon Capture in the U.S. Faces Hard Realities
By Richard Martin
Although carbon capture seems like a good idea on paper, few projects get beyond the drawing board.

Energy Tribune Speaks with Tim Searchinger
By Robert Bryce
Princeton University's Tim Searchinger exchanged e-mails with Robert Bryce in mid-February.

Russian Elections Update: Why Medveded's a Shoe-In
By Pavel Romanov
Russia’s state-controlled media is doing its part to assure the election of Dmitry Medvedev. According to some estimates, roughly 90 percent of the presidential election coverage on public Channel 1 (ORT) and Channel 2 (Rossia) has been devoted to Medvedev.

Latin America Sees the Forest for Carbon Capture
By Randy Woods
Only a handful of Latin American countries are pursuing high-technology carbon capture and sequestration projects. Instead the region is considering a raft of forestry initiatives, seen by some experts as an effective way to capture and store carbon dioxide. But these initiatives will go nowhere without substantial help from the global community.

LatAm NOCs Unveil 2008 Investment Plans
By Randy Woods
Latin America’s biggest energy companies will spend just over $64 billion in 2008, according to recently released capital investment plans.

Mexican Energy Reforms on Horizon
By Randy Woods
Mexico’s political leadership is building on the momentum created by last year’s passage of several reforms to the state-controlled energy sector.

PetroChina to Double Refining by 2015
By Lee Geng
PetroChina plans to more than double its refining capacity by 2015 as part of its strategy to become a fully integrated major multinational company.

PDVSA Pushing Orinoco Crude
By Randy Woods
Much is said about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s petro-diplomacy: spending his country’s oil wealth throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to spread socialist ideals and reward allies.

Russia's Duma Elections: Just a Formality
By Pavel Romanov
To most outside observers, Russia’s Duma elections in December appeared rigged; We expect more of the same in March.

Energy Consumption in Pakistan
By Robert Bryce
Pakistan is a mess. The country is largely controlled by a cadre of active and retired military personnel who control the country’s biggest and most important businesses and hold most of the political power as well.

CNOOC Builds Up Refining Muscles
By Lee Geng
CNOOC, China’s top offshore oil and gas producer, is hunting for refining assets in the country as part of its plan to diversify into an integrated energy company.

Gazprom Tightens German Ties
By Pavel Romanov
In mid-December Gazprom began producing gas from one of the largest natural gas fields in Russia, and in doing so consolidated its ties to German giant BASF AG.

No Tears for Argentina's Energy
By Randy Woods
Spanish oil major Repsol YPF is selling minority stakes in its Argentine subsidiary YPF, in a move to allow it to redirect attention to more promising markets.

Gazprom Goes to Libya, Putin Goes to Gazprom?
By David Wood
In mid-December, the Libyan National Oil Company announced results of the country’s fourth exploration and production bidding round, the first that has focused on natural gas.

Energy Tribune Speaks with Arthur L. Smith
By Robert Bryce
Triple Double Advisors' Arthur L. Smith exchanged e-mails with Robert Bryce in January.

An Alternative View of the Russian Elections
By Donna Marie D’Aleo
In today’s Russia, there is no off-switch for corruption, nor any formula for instant economic diversification.

Dam Pakistan
By M. A. Hameed
The Kalabagh Dam will generate Pakistan’s largest amount of electricity. Once it is built, that is. Originally slated to start construction in 1985, the project has seen many delays.

553 Thermal Coal Power Plants Closed in China
By Lee Geng
According to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in 2007, Chinese authorities shut down 553 small thermal power generators with a total capacity of nearly 14.4 gigawatts, 44 percent above the target.

Russia's Oil Production: Flat Like Siberian Plain
By Pavel Romanov
In 2007, oil production grew by just 2 percent, a fraction of the growth seen between 2001 and 2004. Since then, the structure and ownership of the industry have devolved back to the state, and as state control has grown, output has fallen.

Tupi: Just the Start of Brazil’s Sub-salt Story
By Randy Woods
Brazil’s Tupi discovery, which holds an estimated 5 to 8 billion barrels of recoverable oil and gas, could be just the beginning of the country’s sub-salt finds.

Biofuels - Biofueling Inflation?
By Mac Johnson
Energy has long been one of inflation’s bogeymen. The oil price shocks of the 1970s and the failed economic policies instituted by Congress afterward have left a lasting impression on almost everyone old enough to remember those events.

The Good News: Decarbonization
By Robert Bryce
Now that the big climate conference in Bali is over, questions are arising about how (or whether) the U.S. and other countries can reduce their CO2 emissions.

Medvedev Should Move Beyond Autocracy
By Michael McFaul and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss
Although Russia’s economy saw strong growth over the past eight years, it would have done even better with a more democratic government.

U.S. Energy Bill: Subsidizing China
By Michael J. Economides
A push in the U.S. for more biofuels won’t significantly impact oil demand. In fact, any consumption decrease may simply act as a subsidy for Chinese drivers.

U.S. Energy Price Shock – Why aren’t we already in a recession?
By Larry Kealey
Historically, every U.S. recession since World War II has been preceded by an energy price shock – namely, a rapid increase in the price of oil.

Spain and Italy to Spend $10B on Carbon Credits
By Andres Cala
Spain and Italy will not meet their Kyoto commitments by 2012 unless taxpayers dish out up to $10 billion to buy carbon credits, mostly in the developing world.

Spain Poised to Embrace Nuclear
By Andres Cala
Spain is already a trend-setter as the world’s second largest generator of green energy. And now it’s poised to embody the E.U.’s ideal policy of simultaneously embracing renewable and nuclear energies.

Why Europe Loves Qaddafi
Andres Cala
On his European tour, Qaddafi met with numerous business leaders and went home with as much as $32.5 billion in oil, aviation, arms, and infrastructure deals, and even one for nuclear generators to power desalination plants.

The Pakistan Fuel Connection
By Robert Bryce
Many presidential candidates are insisting that the U.S. get tough with Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf. But the reality is that we have almost no leverage.

Spratly Islands Will be Quiet in 2008
By Lee Geng
Chinese oil companies are unlikely to pursue any significant hydrocarbon exploration in the disputed region around the Spratly Islands in 2008, as Chinese national oil companies have slowed activities there to ensure the success of the Beijing Olympics.

Lukoil Pays $1B for Russneft Stations
By Pavel Romanov
Lukoil, Russia’s top oil producer, has paid $1 billion for a network of Russneft-owned filling stations, including 95 in and around Moscow that belonged to Grand, a Russneft affiliate.

Bolivia Natural Gas Rebounding?
By Randy Woods
Following the industry’s nationalization by President Evo Morales, concern about the business environment kept many companies away from La Paz. But over the past few months several companies have announced significant discoveries in Bolivian gas fields.

Vladimir Putin’s "Oiligarchy"
By Jed Babbin
Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has reverted to aggressive authoritarianism.

Rosneft Loses Top Brass
By Pavel Romanov
Rosneft boss Sergey Bogdanchikov has lost some key figures in his top management team. In December, several members of the old Rosneft organization were released from their jobs.

Gazprom Heads to Nigeria
By Pavel Romanov
Gazprom – no longer content with dominating Russia, central Asia, and Europe – has set its sights on Africa. In January, the company announced that it plans to invest as much as $2.5 billion on gas projects in Nigeria.

Germany’s Green Image Gets Coal-Dusted
By Peter Glover
If the E.U.’s target of a 20 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 looks shaky, Germany’s 40 percent target looks like pie in the sky.

OGX Makes Splash in Brazil Bidding
By Randy Woods
Brazil’s long-anticipated ninth oil and gas licensing round came with some surprises, as the supermajors declined to compete for the 271 blocks on offer and the home-country favorite, Petrobras, did not come out the big winner.

Iran Offered A Nuclear Compromise
By Peter Glover
Gulf Arab leaders have put a compromise to Iran’s nuclear standoff on the table. “We have reached a solution, which is to create a consortium for all users of enriched uranium in the Middle East,” Prince Saud al-Faisal recently told the Middle East Economic Forum.

Sinopec Pens $2 Billion Deal with Iran
By Lee Geng
Any hopes that China will support further U.N. sanctions against Iran were likely dashed in early December, when Sinopec officials in Tehran signed a $2 billion deal to develop the country’s southwestern Yadavaran oilfield.

Tighter Rules for Foreign Service Companies in Russia?
By Pavel Romanov
In November, a special committee of the Federal Security Council presented a plan that will restrict the amount of foreign investment in Russia's oil and gas sector.

Coal’s Still King in Europe
By Peter Glover
Coal is once again becoming Europe’s fuel of choice, thanks in part to new clean technologies. And it’s not just Europe. According to the I.E.A.’s World Energy Outlook 2007, a global switch to coal is underway.

Cap and Trade: Solution or Stealth Tax?
By Larry Kealey
Congress is considering several pieces of legislation that would implement a “cap and trade” emissions trading scheme. In early December, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a bill introduced by Senators Joseph Lieberman and John Warner.

Petrobras, PDVSA Split on Gas Project
By Randy Woods
The last few months have been rough for Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who lost the December vote on his constitutional referendum.

Energy Tribune Speaks With Dave Pursell
By Robert Bryce
Tudor Pickering Holt and Company's managing director and head of macro research, Dave Pursell, exchanged e-mails with Robert Bryce in early December.

Southeast Asia’s Exploration and Production Surges
By Sarah Belfield
Hydrocarbon exploration activity in Southeast Asia has burgeoned in recent years. And given the region’s hunger for energy of all types, that boom should continue.

Thailand’s Booming Energy Demand
By Sarah Belfield
Over the next 15 years, Thailand expects its electric power demand to increase by almost two and a half times. And as its power consumption grows, planners hope to use increasing amounts of nuclear and hydropower to lessen Thailand’s dependence on natural-gas fired generation.

Draft of Chinese Energy Law Released
By Lee Geng
China has released a draft of its first-ever Energy Law, which calls for the establishment of a market-oriented energy pricing system. But the government will still retain control over prices.

Putin Picks Medvedev
By Pavel Romanov
In mid-December, Russia’s four biggest political parties – United Russia, the Agricultural Party, Civil Force, and Just Russia – proposed Dmitry Medvedev as their presidential candidate, a move that Putin readily supported.

Huge Hydro Plant Planned for Amazon
By Randy Woods
A consortium led by Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht and federal power company Furnas won the December 10 auction to build and operate the 3.15 gigawatt Santo AntÙnio plant on the Amazon’s Madeira River. The project could usher in a new era of major hydroelectric plants.

Europe's CO2 Capture Conundrum
By Peter Glover
A rash of clean coal technologies has been announced in recent months, and European companies are at the forefront.

Putin and Chavez: Two Votes, Two Different Results
By Michael J. Economides
In early December, some 60 percent of Russian voters sided with Putin’s United Russia party in the elections for Russia’s 450-seat parliament, the Duma. While this was happening, Venezuelan voters were rejecting a package of 69 proposed amendments to Venezuela’s constitution that would have given Hugo Chavez extraordinary powers.

Aramco Chief Debunks Peak Oil
By Peter Glover
Remarking on the abysmal prediction record of peak oil alarmists through the years, Jum’ah countered it would be possible for the oil industry to produce at least 3 trillion barrels (over 1.3 trillion barrels more than usual estimates) from conventional recoverable and proven reserves in known fields over several decades.

Primary Energy: The Presidential Candidates' Energy Platforms
By Robert Bryce
We thought Energy Tribune readers should have a chance to look closely at the ideas being put forward by the U.S. presidential candidates. So peruse the following article at your leisure, and regardless of your political stance, remember to vote in your state’s primary.

CNOOC Eyes Caspian, Africa, Not Russia
By Lee Geng
China’s dominant offshore oil operator, CNOOC, has begun focusing its upstream acquisition activities in the Caspian Sea, Asia-Pacific, and Africa.

Indonesia: No Longer an Oil Exporter
By Sarah Belfield
Indonesia’s oil production continues its inexorable decline, and, despite government promises, little apparent progress is being made. Worse yet, the long-time oil exporter has become an oil importer, currently importing about 100,000 barrels per day.

Coalmine Fire Put Out in China After 50 Years
By Lee Geng
In late November, firefighters finally extinguished a coalmine fire that had been burning for more than 50 years – an effort that took 3 years and cost nearly $12 million.

Energy Companies Defy Iran Sanctions
By Peter Glover
It appears to be business as usual for a raft of energy companies defying U.S. sanctions against Iran. In particular, companies in Europe, Iran’s main trading partner, are leading the way, with deals on the table involving national giants Total, Eni, and others.

Italians Shutting Down Yamal Natural Gas Assets
By Pavel Romanov
Last summer, Enineftegaz shut down production in the Yaro-Yakhinskoe field (previously part of Urengoil), and this month will shut down two blocks formerly owned by Arctic Gas – thereby shutting down all of its gas production.

Coals From Newcastle
By Peter Glover
An audacious bid by a new consortium is set to usher in a second coal revolution in England by tapping into the vast reserves still buried beneath the country’s northeast region.

Major Gas Find in Bolivia
By Randy Woods
Spanish oil major Repsol YPF has discovered a new natural gas field in Bolivia that is sure to help the country’s energy program.

Fossil Fuel – Cheap to a Good Home?
By Mac Johnson
The fossil fuel industry must react now to the changes that will result from the current global warming furor. My advice is that it should carefully consider the objections of those nations that are most dedicated to addressing global warming through legislation…and then build new pipelines to developing countries.

E.U. and Iran: No Chance for Sanctions to Work
By Michael J. Economides and Peter Glover
At the very moment that key European Union leaders such as France’s Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany’s Angela Merkel have become more hawkish on Iran, the U.S. mood appears to have softened, due in part to the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (N.I.E.) published in early December.

Power Consumption to Rise 13.5% in China
By Lee Geng
China's power demand will likely grow by 13.5 percent this year, compared to a 15 percent in 2007. The slight drop will likely be due to a cooling of the Chinese economy. For 2008, the government expects GDP to rise by about 10.5 percent, as opposed to 11.4 percent last year. It’s no surprise that much of the power demand comes from the industrial sector.

Ecuador Gives Chavez an OPEC Ally
By Randy Woods
In November, Ecuador officially rejoined OPEC at its summit in Saudi Arabia. Despite being OPEC’s smallest producer, with a quota of just 520,000 barrels per day, Ecuador’s membership will give a small boost to one of the cartel’s most vocal price hawks, Venezuela.

Bhutto’s Assassination Must Lead to War on Islamism
By Michael J. Economides
Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27. Few people, including Bhutto herself, thought she was safe in Pakistan. Last October, on the very day she returned from exile to Karachi, scores of her welcoming supporters had been killed near her motorcade, victims of at least two suicide-bomb attacks.

China’s Upstream Oil Taxes Hit $8 Billion
By Lee Geng
In 2007, Chinese oil companies paid $8 billion to the central government in the form of windfall taxes, a 33 percent increase over the previous year. The government began the levy in 2006, charging producers an additional tax on every barrel of oil sold above $40.

Lukoil Out at of Iraq’s West Qurna, For Now
By Pavel Romanov
The Americans aren’t the only ones having a hard time in Iraq. In early November, the Iraqi government said it was abrogating the agreement to allow Lukoil to develop the giant West Qurna oil field, west of Basra in southern Iraq.

Europe to Import U.S. Coal
By Peter Glover
European buyers are set to sign the first long-term supply deal with U.S. coal producers. The E.U. currently imports most of its coal, mainly from South Africa, Russia, and Australia, despite its own large reserves. But the booming global economy and resultant demand for coal has changed the global market.

Ecopetrol Raises $2.8 Billion in IPO
By Randy Woods
Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol raised roughly $2.8 billion in its first-ever sale of company shares, designed to help finance its investment program and improve its corporate structure.

Another Upward Oil Consumption Revision for China
By Lee Geng
When the Communist Party of China (CPC) finished its 17th National Congress in October, there were few surprises.

U.K. Lays Claims to Antarctic Deepwater
By Peter Glover
Following the Russians’ flag-planting stunt two miles beneath the Arctic ice cap back in early August, the reaction from the other four Arctic nations (Canada, the U.S., Denmark, and Norway) was predictable.

Gasoline Supply Shortage in China
By Lee Geng
A shortage of gasoline and diesel fuel has led to long queues and rationing in some Chinese cities, and even civil unrest, causing some service stations to request police protection.

BP Misses Oil Price Surge
By Peter Glover
It has not been BP’s year: record criminal fines, massive compensation payouts, production problems, and a CEO forced to resign over a personal scandal. Worse still, even as global oil prices near record highs, BP’s profits are tanking.

The Meek Need Mineral Rights
By Robert Bryce
Many economists have written about the critical role that private-property rights play in building wealth in developing countries. But few have bothered to underscore the importance of private ownership of mineral rights.

Australia's Gorgon Forging Ahead – Without Platforms
By Sarah Belfield
Technology has helped rescue the giant Gorgon gas development project from the too-hard basket. The project had been languishing since the late 1990s when a development plan was shelved.

Natural Gas Price Hike for China
By Lee Geng
Effective November 10, the Chinese government raised natural gas prices by $1.50 per million Btus. The 35 percent hike in the approved price brings China’s gas prices closer to international standards, but it may have some deleterious effects.

Eurasia Drilling IPO
By Pavel Romanov
The IPO for the company, now known as Eurasia Drilling, is indicative of the healthy appetite for Russian equities.

Biofuels: Still a Rip-Off
By Peter Glover
A recent study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) challenges the cost-effectiveness of public subsidies in biofuel production.

Decoupling of Oil and Gas Prices?
By Jit Yang Lim
This article examines the long-term price relationship between oil and gas, and suggests that they are still linked, despite being decoupled temporarily.

Argentina’s President Gives Wife Electric Shock
By Randy Woods
Inaugural celebrations this month for Argentina’s new president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will be short-lived, thanks to the country’s dire need for electricity.

Japan’s LNG Prices: Trending Upwards
By David Wood
As the world’s largest LNG consumer, Japan imported 81.86 billion cubic meters of natural gas as LNG in 2006. This is 2.4 times that of South Korea, the second-largest LNG importer, and 4.9 times that of the U.S., the fourth-largest.

Profits Decline at $100 Oil!
By Michael J. Economides
With record oil prices inching towards the real and psychologically important price of $100 per barrel, how is it possible for Exxon Mobil and other huge oil companies to report decreasing profits?

Bottlenecks Slow Australian Coal
By Sarah Belfield
Australia’s coal exporters are enjoying strong demand, but infrastructure bottlenecks are – at least for the moment – constraining their ability to grow their overseas shipments.

China's Ongoing Power Surge
By Lee Geng
At the end of 2006, China had about 622 gigawatts of electric generating capacity. By the end of this year, that will likely exceed 700 GW.

Russian Oil Export Duties Hiked Again
By Pavel Romanov
As of this month, Russian oil companies will pay an export duty of about $40 per barrel, the second increase since August.

Is the Nabucco Natural Gas Pipeline A Pipe Dream?
By Peter Glover
Recently, a key E.U. official dubbed the project unrealistic, difficult to fund, and dependent upon insufficient gas reserves in the Caspian region. So is Nabucco really a pipe dream?

Brazilian Wind Development Lags
By Randy Woods
Brazilian wind power has failed to meet expectations and is unlikely to be a prominent renewable source anytime soon. The reasons are simple: investors are reluctant to commit to wind because costs are prohibitive and government incentives are too small.

Energy Tribune Speaks with Clarence Cottman
By Robert Bryce
PetroFalcon's Clarence (Clancy) Cottman exchanged e-mails with Robert Bryce in mid-October.

Petrobras Soars on Tupi News
By Randy Woods
Last month, Petrobras announced the Tupi discovery, with 5 billion to 8 billion barrels of recoverable light oil. If confirmed, it could boost the company's reserves by more than 60 percent.

$60 or $120 Oil: Both Are Possible
By James L. Williams
When it comes to forecasting prices for 2008, uncertainty abounds. We could see $60 per barrel as easily as $120. In fact, both could happen.

A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall on Oil Prices (Probably)
By Michael C. Lynch
Since I am renowned (perhaps infamous) as an oil market bear, it is somewhat daunting to write about next year’s price declining when everyone is now waiting for $100 oil.

Metallurgical Coal Stays Hot in Australia
By Sarah Belfield
Although Australia plays second fiddle to Indonesia in the thermal coal market, it continues to dominate the metallurgical coal export business.

CNOOC Banks on Bohai Bay
By Lee Geng
Recently, CNOOC, China’s top offshore oil and gas operator, said that by 2010 or so it will double its oil and gas output from Bohai Bay, an increase that should make it second only to the giant Daqing oil field for energy production in China.

The Middle East's Struggle for Electrical Power
By Peter Glover
The energy-rich countries of the Gulf share a worrying paradox: providing sufficient electricity for their booming economies.

Enel Bets on Gazprom, Again
By Pavel Romanov
Back in April, Italian electricity giant Enel played nice with Gazprom, agreeing (along with Italian oil company Eni) to give the Russian gas monopoly a 51 percent stake in eight huge Siberian oil and gas fields formerly owned by Yukos.

Argentina’s Offshore Oil Hopes
By Randy Woods
Although the industry has served Argentina well since oil was first discovered in December 1907, reserves and production have been falling since output peaked at 890,000 barrels per day back in 1998.

Pipeline Deal Cuts Out Russian Gas
By Peter Glover
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania will join to build a $700 million, 300-mile extension to an existing pipeline in Ukraine that will allow Azerbaijani crude to be pumped west, eventually to west European nations.

Wealth, Energy, and Idiocy
By Mac Johnson
Energy is a lot like sex and money – it’s not the most important thing in the world, as long as you have enough of it.

$100 Oil: It’s a New Beginning
By Michael J. Economides
In August 2004 when oil was about $40 per barrel, I predicted outrageously in an op-ed piece that oil would hit “$60 by next winter.” The newspaper editor changed that to $50, saying it was to “protect my reputation.” Well, oil didn’t stop at $60 – just two months ago it hit $80.

PetroChina Adds LNG
By Lee Geng
In September PetroChina signed agreements with Australia's Woodside Petroleum and Shell for them to supply LNG to mainland China.

Small Chinese Refineries Targeted
By Lee Geng
Over the past few years, China’s central government has been trying to shut down many of its provinces’ small coal-fired power plants, claiming that they are inefficient and too polluting.

Gazprom Suddenly Has Too Much Natural Gas
By Pavel Romanov
In October, it was reported that the gas giant had some 7.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas in underground storage.

Petrobras’ New Biofuel Ambitions
By Randy Woods
Brazil’s state-owned energy company Petrobras is jumping into the biofuels game, aiming to become a major biofuel producer and transporter.

Shell Loses to BP on Chinese Refinery
By Lee Geng
Shell had been in negotiations with Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. to build a 300,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, but China has selected BP.

TNK-BP to Invest $800 Million in Western Siberia
By Pavel Romanov
TNK-BP lost big at Kovykta, but the Anglo-Russian joint venture isn’t giving up. It recently disclosed plans to spend over $800 million to increase production from its fields in Western Siberia’s Kamennoe area.

PDVSA’s Falling Profits
By Randy Woods
The 2006 net profits of PDVSA, Venezuela’s state oil firm, fell 16 percent last year to $5.45 billion, down from $6.48 billion in 2005, due to a big increase in social spending.

Chinese Communists Fighting the Gasoline Export Market
By Lee Geng
The Chinese government is forcing the country’s trading houses and refiners to reduce their gasoline exports and increase imports to keep prices artificially low and consumers happy.

ADNOC Slashes Oil Output
By Peter Glover
This month, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) cut output from its three major offshore fields by about 600,000 barrels per day in order to perform essential maintenance work.

$10 Billion for Shtokman
By Pavel Romanov
As reported in the August issue of ET, Gazprom has finally selected an exploration and development partner for the Arctic’s giant Shtokman gas condensate field: the French super-major, Total.

Statoil, Hydro Merge: Hammerfest Online
By Peter Glover
On October 1, two of Norway’s biggest companies, Statoil and the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro, merged to become StatoilHydro ASA.

South America’s LNG Dash
By Randy Woods
An unfortunate combination of bad policies and bilateral rivalries has pushed South America’s regional energy integration dream out of reach, at least for now.

COSL’s Shanghai Stock Exchange Debut
By Lee Geng
China’s top offshore oilfield service provider, China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL), completed a very successful sale of 500 million shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in late September, raising $895 million.

A Persian Gulf Free-Trade Zone?
By Peter Glover
An extended period of sustained high oil prices has provided the economic stimulus that could help, via a new free-trade initiative, to bridge the Shia-Sunni divide in the Persian Gulf region

Gazpromneft’s Big Oil Strike at Yamal
By Pavel Romanov
In September Gazprom announced that its subsidiary Gazpromneft (formerly Sibneft) had discovered a billion-barrel oilfield on the Yamal Peninsula.

More European Unbundling Woes
By Peter Glover
While the E.U. continues to push its energy-giant “unbundling” policy, its bureaucrats are getting kicked in the teeth by market realities.

Brazil’s Latest Oil Exploration and Production Licensing Round
By Randy Woods
All eyes are now on Brazil as it gears up to host this year’s biggest exploration and production licensing round in Latin America.

Iran and Russia: Nuclear Pals
By Pavel Romanov
Iran’s nuclear plans may be causing heartburn in Tel Aviv, Washington, and some western European capitals, but it’s clear that Moscow continues to back Iran’s nuclear aspirations.

PetroChina Market Capitalization on XOM’s Heels
By Lee Geng
In March, Forbes magazine put PetroChina’s market capitalization at $208.7 billion, making it the ninth biggest company in the world as well as the third-largest energy company, behind only Exxon Mobil and Gazprom.

IEA Sees No Twilight for Saudi Oil
By Peter Glover
If this year’s oil production results and the 2008 predictions are to be believed, then the Saudis are going to continue to dominate the global oil business.

The Candidate 2008
By Pavel Romanov
Vladimir Putin continues his jockeying to retain power, as can be seen by the recent nomination of his crony Viktor Zubkov for prime minister, and Putin’s decision to include Zubkov on the list of presidential candidates from Putin’s United Russia Party.

OMV’s Hostile Bid for Hungary's MOL Nyrt.
By Peter Glover
The E.U. is facing yet another serious blow to its unbundling policy aimed at breaking up Europe’s energy giants.

Ecuador Goes Bolivarian: Use Oil Profits for Populist Agenda
By Randy Woods
In October, President Rafael Correa enacted a decree giving the government nearly absolute control over the oil industry’s profits, and forcing companies to restructure production contracts.