Pakistan may be seem to be getting political about the Iran-Pakistan (IP) Pipeline, which the US is working hard, if not deviously, to thwart, but the truth of the matter is that Pakistan’s future energy security may rely on the project. Pakistani political leaders across the board, from ruling to opposition, are urging the government not to bow to US pressure to forego the pipeline plans in favor helping to contain Iran, Pakistan’s neighbor. On 21 March, Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, governor of the Balochistan Province, the country’s…

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The Russian Federation’s development of a free market, capitalist economy since the unexpected collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 can most charitably be described as ‘fitful.” While large portions of the formerly socialist economy have been privatized, large elements of what Soviet economists called “the commanding heights of the economy” have remained in state hands. Even the kleoptoractic administration of Russia’s first President, Boris Yelstin, hesitated to privatize, a process which has proceeded…

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President Barack Obama campaigned on energy issues on Wednesday, visiting a handful of oil wellheads on Federal land in New Mexico and a solar installation in Boulder City, Nevada. The subtext of this Obama campaign is public unhappiness with the price of gasoline and the hypocritical attacks on him over this issue by his Republican opponents. The fact is that there is only one thing Obama could have done to bring down oil prices, and that would have been to veto the National Defense Authorization Act until Congress took back out the provisions…

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U.S. President Barack Obama visited a plant in Cushing, Okla., that is slated to build the southern domestic leg of the longer Keystone XL oil pipeline. The project has become less about the energy debate in the United States and more about partisan tag lines during this year’s presidential campaign season. Using political rhetoric as a debating tool during broader discussions on energy issues is doing little to address broader market concerns, however. Republican leaders in the House of Representative have tried to move Keystone XL around…

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There is a lot of talk recently that “tight oil” as found in North Dakota’s Bakken and other shales in the Southwest will save America from stagnant global oil production and increasing gasoline prices. The current glut of natural gas which has brought prices to a 10-year low has forced companies drilling for gas to curtail their activity and move the crews and rigs to North Dakota and Texas where money can still be made in drilling for shale oil. New well completions in North Dakota are expected to surge again this year. A recent pronouncement…

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Brazil, Nicaragua and Panama have been ranked the most attractive countries for clean energy investments in Latin America and the Caribbean by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the Multilateral Investment Fund. The partnership has developed Climatescope – a review of the environment for low-carbon in the region, ranking 26 countries on their climate policies, the availability of climate finance, low-carbon businesses and clean-energy value chains, as well as their greenhouse gas management activities.Brazil, the world’s fifth…

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When oil fields start to age and their production reduces, there is little that can be done. Generally oil remains within the well, however it is unreachable, due to it being trapped within difficult rock formations. Oil companies tasked with extracting additional oil from aging wells used to inject fluids into the rock to mix with the oil and drive it out for easier extraction in a process known as secondary recovery. However there is a major drawback to this approach which prevents it from being very effective. The fluids tend to follow the path…

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Fracking has revolutionised the US natural gas industry by enabling the extraction of previously unreachable shale gas. The shale gas industry is now huge in the US and volume of extraction is at phenomenal levels. Whilst other countries delve into fracking a little, it is fair to say that the US completely dominates the shale gas industry, both in terms of total reserves and production levels. That is all about to change. According to the Energy Information Association (EIA) China holds 1,275 trillion cubic feet of recoverable shale-gas reserves;…

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Nuclear fusion might be achieved in a preheated cylindrical container immersed in strong magnetic fields.  A series of computer simulations performed at Sandia National Laboratories show the release of output energy that was, remarkably, many times greater than the energy fed into the simulation. Sandia Prototype Magnetic Electrostatic Confinement Sandia researcher Steve Slutz, lead author of the paper published at Physical Review Letters said, “People didn’t think there was a high-gain option for magnetized inertial fusion (MIF)…

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Rising geopolitical tensions and high oil prices are continuing to help renewable energy find favour amongst investors and politicians. Yet how much faith should we place in renewables to make up the shortfall in fossil fuels? Can science really solve our energy problems, and which sectors offers the best hope for our energy future?To help us get to the bottom of this we spoke with energy specialist Dr. Tom Murphy, an associate professor of physics at the University of California. Tom runs the popular energy blog Do the Math which takes an astrophysicist’s-eye…

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A layer of partially molten rock about 22 to 75 miles underground can’t be the only mechanism that allows continents to gradually shift their position over millions of years, according to a new research. The result gives insight into what allows plate tectonics — the movement of the Earth’s crustal plates — to occur.

Seismologists have just returned from a cruise in the Western Pacific to lay the instruments for a seismic survey that will follow the water chemically bound to or trapped in the down-diving Pacific Plate at the Mariana trench, the deep trench to which Avatar director James Cameron is poised to plunge.

Scientists have long speculated about why there is a large change in the strength of rocks that lie at the boundary between two layers immediately under Earth’s crust: the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere. Understanding this boundary is central to our knowledge of plate tectonics and thus the formation and evolution of our planet as we know it today. A new technique for observing this transition has led to new insight on the origins of the lithosphere and asthenosphere.

A simple way to remove carbon from the atmosphere is by adding charcoal, or biochar, to topsoil — a centuries-old practice that also boosts crop production. A new study finds that when it comes to helping get water to plants, not all biochar is equal.

New research sheds light on the critical part played by a little-studied element, molybdenum, in the nutrient cycles of tropical forests. Understanding the role of molybdenum may help scientists more accurately predict how tropical forests will respond to climate change.

Seismologists have just returned from a cruise in the Western Pacific to lay the instruments for a seismic survey that will follow the water chemically bound to or trapped in the down-diving Pacific Plate at the Mariana trench, the deep trench to which Avatar director James Cameron is poised to plunge.

Scientists have attempted to measure the ocean’s monetary value and to tally the costs and savings associated with human decisions affecting ocean health. The study estimates that if human impacts on the ocean continue unabated, declines in ocean health and services will cost the global economy $428 billion per year by 2050, and $1.979 trillion per year by 2100.