According to the report by the environmental watchdog, up to 55 billion roubles (1.9 billion dollars) a year is spent on repairs to infrastructure and pipelines damaged by changes in the permafrost in western Siberia. "

Put simply, future oil shortages are being downplayed. In 2005, the IEA predicted daily oil production would rise to 120 million barrels by 2030. But harsh criticism forced the agency to cut this estimate a number of times until finally, in 2008, the IEA claimed the world oil production would be 105 million barrels a day by 2030.

So, what to make then of Aramco’s recent interest in supercomputers?

The sour grades of crude may eventually displace tried-and-true light, sweet crude to become a benchmark.

Simmons, a part-time Rockport resident, is a local benefactor (he is, coincidentally, responsible for the beautiful restoration of the Strand Theatre, among other things) whose Houston-based company deals in energy investing. He is a leading proponent of the "peak oil" concept and the author of several books on the subject. He recently founded the Ocean Energy Institute, which describes itself as a "think-tank and venture capital fund addressing the challenges of U.S. offshore renewable energy."

That quirk, which was discussed in detail at a Moscow conference last week, involves the following counter-intuitive development: As global warming has reduced the Arctic ice cap, that has contributed to an increase in the number of icebergs, thus creating a new challenge for drilling platforms and shipping there. "

Shell Oil Co. brought scientists from the Norwegian nonprofit research institute SINTEF to Anchorage this week to present findings from May experiments run in the Barents Sea above northern Europe, the Anchorage Daily News reported. "

The Oilwatch Monthly is a newsletter that is available free of charge with the latest data on oil supply, demand, oil stocks, spare capacity and exports."

There was no word of any immediate retaliation by the rebels of the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. It declared an indefinite cease-fire Oct. 25 after a government amnesty in which thousands of fighters surrendered their weapons.

Legislation from Congress or tough new regulatory demands could make it costly to spew greenhouse gases, posing a serious threat to the nation's coal-fired power plants.

One of the features of many models that are used to predict future events is that they focus on target years. Decadal years are the most common target years, so that whether talking of climate or the amount of oil or natural gas available, models focus on, for example, the amount that will be available in 2030. The problem with this approach is that it leaves the public to think that a problem is not yet serious. For example if the prediction is that the production of oil will only be 75 mbd, in 2030 then there is an implication that until 2030 that the situation will remain fine. "

Global oil production will grow from about 92 million barrels a day to around 115 million barrels per day through 2030 with no evidence of a peak in supply before that time, according to the CERA report by senior director Peter M. Jackson.

This analysis also concluded that, if more efficient methods of production can be implemented on a large scale, Canada’s carbon-intensive oil sands will prove critical to satisfying global energy demand in coming decades.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said the military joint taskforce (JTF) had raided the Kula community in Rivers state in search of weapons and targeted the home of one of its former commanders, Christian don Pedro.

In recent years, ominous warnings about peaking production have gained some prominence among traders and some analysts. They helped explain why oil prices soared last year on fears that oil supplies would fail to catch up with the projected growth in consumption.