Australia’s carbon tax of $23 a ton, due to be implemented beginning on 1 July, has been deeply unpopular with Australian industrialists since it was first proposed, who argue that it will make industry uncompetitive. Now the opponents have a new ally in the form of a forecast produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, one of the world’s leading emissions pricing forecasters, which is predicting that carbon prices could fall as low as $5 by 2020. Bloomberg New Energy Finance last week briefed the nation’s largest emitters of its…

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Gulf of Guinea piracy is set to become the next major concern for oil shipments as attacks, particularly on oil tankers, are on the rise, along with insurance premiums for shippers; but a recalculation of security needs beyond the short-term requires understanding the complex dynamics of a number of conflicts and a variety of groups.  In February 2012 alone, eight oil tankers were hijacked in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coasts of Nigeria, Benin and Cameroon – double the number from the previous month. A total of 13 attacks have been…

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Tehran this week said that if its “positive diplomacy” wasn’t reciprocated by the Kuwaiti government, it would work to develop its section of a shared oil field alone. Tehran, OPEC’s No. 3, said oil production from shared oil fields was on the rise. The Islamic republic, facing isolation in the international community, is unlikely to broker any grand oil deal with Kuwait given arch-foe Riyadh’s interest in the region, however. Iranian authorities announced they were eager to cooperate with the “the brother, Muslim and neighboring country of…

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“With only 2% of the world’s oil reserves, we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices,” President Barack Obama said in his weekly address March 10. “Not when we consume 20% of the world’s oil.” The claim is, if not blatantly false, at best grossly misleading. If the President didn’t know this, some advisors should be dismissed. If he did, he needs to accept the blame and formally correct it.As Investors Business Daily explained, … the figure Obama uses—proved oil reserves—vastly…

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According to Kazakh Industry and New Technologies Minister Aset Isekeshev, Kazakhstan will make a decision on whether to build an atomic power plant this year. Speaking to a group of reporters in the capital Astana, Isekeshev said, “As a matter of fact, we are not rejecting atomic energy, as we have big uranium reserves with long-term prospects. A decision regarding the possible construction of a nuclear power plant will be adopted this year. For the time being, we are working on the supposition that we could have atomic energy produce 4 percent…

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If current population trends continue . . .   • The population of the United States will increase to over 600 million by 2080, and in 2150 it will equal China’s present size.• World population will achieve 14 billion by the year 2075 and 30 billion by 2150. If current energy trends continue . . .• By 2015 China will be importing more oil than the United States does that year.• By 2030 China will be absorbing all available global oil exports, leaving none for the US or Europe.• In…

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The more and more explicit nuclear rhetoric and the threats of a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz may soon cause the conflict to escalate. We described two years ago what the temporary shutdown of this neuralgic location of global energy trade would entail. The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf in the West with the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean in the East. The strait is about 180km long and, at its narrowest point, only 55km wide. Almost 35% of the oil shipped by sea and 20% of global oil production is transported through this maritime…

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