Tag Archives: oil

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Mazda claims new Mazda 2 blows away hybrids in fuel economy

Mazda announced that their latest generation Demio (aka Mazda 2) gets much better fuel economy than hybrids.  That mean no more expensive batteries to replace.

The Demio’s engine has uniquely shaped pistons to increase combustion efficiency, and, it has a computer that will shut off the engine when it’s idling beyond a certain time limit.

The Idling Stop System will automatically start the engine when you’re ready to go.

Mazda’s Chief Executive, Takashi Yamanouchi, says how well the car sells will determine the future of car design for Mazda.  He hopes that all Mazda cars will be produced with similar technology within five years.  No word on if the new gas saving Demio (Mazda 2) will be sold in the United States.

International

France admits to violating UN resolutions, arming rebels in Libya

French military spokesman, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, admits France is violating the UN resolutions by arming Libyan rebels.  He says they’ve been airdropping weapons to the rebels.

In 2009 Nicolas Sarkozy made France a member of the U.S. led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  Four decades ago Charles de Gaulle pulled France out of NATO, citing sovereignty issues.

UN resolution 1973 allows NATO “to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.” Paragraph 9 of UN resolution 1970 imposed an arms embargo on the Libya.  Therefore France has violated both UN resolutions.

There are also reports that France supplied rebels with tanks.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Obama’s order to release U.S. oil reserves is BS, 27 other countries to release oil reserves is also BS, blame war on Libya

All indicators are that global demand for oil is going down, despite the oil “experts” continuing to say it’s going up.  The fact that oil and gas prices are going down is proof of the decrease in demand.  One study says oil should be at $70.00, based on actual consumer demand.

Yet President Barack Obama, and 27 other members of the International Energy Agency, are ordering the release of their respective strategic oil reserves.

The official reason the Obama administration gives, is to ease the supply problems with oil from Libya.  First off, the U.S. is a minor user of oil from Libya, secondly the U.S. is partly to blame for the oil supply problems in Libya!

The U.S. uses about 1% of oil produced in Libya, according to a USA Today report.  The U.S. has been supporting rebels who destroyed Chinese run oil fields in Libya, according to the Chinese government.

As I’m writing this U.S. crude oil prices are at $91.00 per barrel.  Why release U.S. oil reserves now, and not back when it was more than $100.00 per barrel?

Here something interesting; the U.S. Department of Energy reports that the strategic oil reserves are at record highs, 727 million barrels to be exact.  Why would that be? Because demand is down?

The IEA (not to be confused with the United Nations IAEA) is made up of 28 oil consuming countries, including the United States.  The decision of the IEA to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves, is to benefit the countries that get most of their oil from Libya, ie Europe.  One report showed that almost all of Italy’s oil comes from Libya.

In other words, Obama’s decision to release U.S. strategic oil reserves is for the benefit of the Europeans, not the United States!

It is also totally because of the U.S. supported European war on Libya, the aggressors (U.S. and Europe) brought it upon themselves.

 

 

 

International, U.S.

Pentagon commits biggest theft in history, Iraq says the U.S. stole $17 billion, U.S. investigators back up Iraq

“All indications are that the institutions of the United States of America committed financial corruption by stealing the money of the Iraqi people, which was allocated to develop Iraq, (and) that it was about $17 billion.”-Iraq letter to United Nations

Remember when the Bush Jr administration said they were taking Iraqi oil funds so they could be used to rebuild Iraq?  Never happened, now Iraq wants their money.

Even U.S. investigators say the Iraqis are owed billions. Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, says the Pentagon is to blame, and calls it “…the largest theft of funds in national history.”

This comes after Kalifornia’s (sic) idiot Congressman Dana Rohrabacher demanded that Iraq pay for being invaded and occupied by the United States.   The Kalifornian described the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a sign that we care about Iraqis: “We were hoping that there would be a consideration of a payback because the United States right now is in close to a very serious economic crisis and we could certainly use some people to care about our situation as we have cared about theirs.”-Dana Rohrabacher

Unfortunately for the Iraqis, the clever Bush Jr administration got the UN Security Council to make it almost impossible for Iraq to sue the U.S.  The money went to the Coalition Provisional Authority to fund reconstruction and pay Iraqi government employees. The CPA was headed by Paul Bremer.  So far no one has been able to show what really happened to the Iraqi oil money.

Business/Economics, Opinion

Global Great Depression: Manufacturing down Demand for oil down Looks like the Main Stream Media Experts Got it Wrong

I remember many main stream oil “experts” saying that oil prices would go up, because while demand in the United States might be down, global demand would be up, because of increased global manufacturing.

Well, it ain’t happening.  The latest economic data show that manufacturing is not only down in the U.S., but is way down in Europe (in fact it’s been falling sharply ever since January 2011).  Even China has cut back on manufacturing.

Why?  Consumer demand is way down, all over the world.  Why?  Consumers (people) don’t have money!  Why?  Because corporations have been cutting back on wages, benefits and even jobs!  Why?  Because the big money lenders have cut way back on the amount of credit they’re willing to give those corporations!

Why would lack of credit hurt those corporations?  Because the reality is that big business runs on credit, not cash.  In fact, in the United States even little businesses need credit just to survive.  Basically the Western Capitalist economy has become a false economy that is run by credit limits rather than actual revenues.

Now, oil speculators guessed wrong and overbid oil and fuel commodities.  Some studies show that there is a great disparity between what the petroleum speculators thought about consumer demand, and the reality of consumer demand.  One graph I saw indicated that oil should be at $70.00 per barrel, based solely on consumer demand.

The speculators thought consumer demand, on a global level, would continue to go up.  The reality is that it’s going down.  It’s going down because of reduced manufacturing, and because enough drivers have indeed cut way back on fuel usage.

The more optimistic analysts will say we’re heading for a “double dip recession”.  This is going to be a depression.  The recession is caused by credit companies cutting businesses off, and individuals off, in many cases for no good reason.  This depression will be because speculators and investors will realize that the capitalist economy is a house of credit cards, and too many credit cards have  been pulled.  Why invest your money into products that people can’t buy?

The amazing thing is that many speculators are operating on credit.  As more and more fail to pay back their short term loans, because they lost money on the stock and commodity markets, they’ll be another credit crisis, this time affecting the big market ‘players’.

The investment markets will dry up, because they’ll be a big drop in the number of ‘players’.  The result will be that not only will corporations be short on credit, they’ll be short on investment money.  Which will lead to more cuts in benefits, wages and jobs, which will lead to even less consumer demand.  In ‘nother words; this is a downward spiral that’s just starting to pick up steam.

Many “experts” have been calling for increased government spending.  They say it’s because corporations obviously don’t have enough money to pull us out of the recession.  These “experts” don’t seem to realize that most governments are broke.  Don’t let those quarterly profit statements fool you, many economists say the books are still being cooked, the reality is that lenders are broke, corporations are broke, and governments are broke.   It’s going to be a long drop to the bottom.

International, U.S.

African Union pushes NATO to accept their peace deal with Gaddafi

“I can say that the Libyan leader is ready to implement what is in the roadmap by the AU.”-South African President Jacob Zuma

For the second time, Gaddafi has accepted an AU cease fire and peace plan.  The first time U.S. led NATO, and the rebels, rejected the offer.  The South African president said: “…the importance of the ceasefire proposed by the AU on condition that NATO and (others) stop bombing and give the Libyan people a chance to solve their problems by themselves.”

The African Union is upset because Libya is a member of the AU, and the AU sees NATO’s actions against Libya as an attack against the African continent.

 

International, U.S.

Venezuela to break U.S. oil sanctions with Iran, will cancel oil shipments to U.S. instead

On May 24, the United States imposed new oil sanctions against Iran, and that includes Venezuela’s state controlled PDVSA oil company.

Syria, Iran and Venezuela co-own an oil refinery in the Syrian state of Homs.

Venezuela’s Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, says they have a right to do business with whomever they wish: “This is a right we are not going to renounce.”

On May 25, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, announced that plans were underway to stop exporting oil to the United States: “There are several proposals that are being evaluated by President Chavez to respond to the United States’ imperialist pretensions.”

International, U.S.

Japanese to pay for part of BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil disaster

While British Petroleum fights to pin blame on others for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, they somehow have convinced one of its Japanese business partners to pay for part of it.

MOEX, a unit of Japanese trading firm Mitsui and Company, will pay just over $1 billion to cover damages and clean up.  MOEX is a 10% shareholder of BP.

British Petroleum is struggling to come up with an estimated $40 billion to pay for damages and clean up.

Business/Economics, International

Control of Oil rights behind Scotland’s latest push for Independence

Scotland has oil, lots of it.  And the Scottish people say they’re tired of the English controlling it.  After all they were told they would benefit, but they haven’t.  Scottish rebels point to Norway as an example:  “Scotland and Norway discovered oil at the same time. Some years ago, Scotland was turned into an industrial desert and Norway has transformed its society and its economy, they have billions in the bank, whereas we have seen ours wasted on missiles and weapons of mass destruction and illegal wars.”-Kenny MacAskill, Scottish Justice Minister

The recent Scottish elections saw the Scottish National Party dominate.  The SNP ran on a promise to make Scotland independent: “We have been elected with two mandates: one is to pursue our claim for an independent Scotland in the right for a referendum. Equally, we have been elected as a government to make Scotland a better place and we seek to do that by driving our economy forward and making our country a fairer, greener, safer, wealthier and healthier.”-Kenny MacAskill

Business/Economics, Idaho, International

Canadian oil company equipment stuck in Idaho, Montana suing

Canadian Imperial Oil (a subsidiary Exxon Mobil Corp) has massive equipment, called modules, stuck in Lewiston, Idaho.  They need to get it to their Kearl oil sands project in northern Alberta, Canada.

The problem is their size.  Idaho Transportation Department has yet to approve transportation of the equipment through Idaho, one of the problems is that the modules won’t fit under any overpasses in Idaho.  Oil company officials say they will have to cut them in half.

In Montana, there are lawsuits to stop the transportation through its territory. Montana officials say the size of the Imperial Oil equipment will require burial of overhead power lines, upgrading existing roads and building new turnouts (who’s gonna pay for that?).  Montana environmentalists say the company needs to do an environmental impact assessment.

Imperial Oil is complaining that their construction schedule is being compromised.  Maybe they should have worked this out before hand?

Imperial Oil does not have a good business track record, or a good safety track record.  Recently they’ve apologized for the release of a mile-long plume of sulfur dioxide, in Ontario, Canada.