Opinion

One of the frequently repeated canons in the anti-nuclear catechism is that nuclear fission is irrelevant to any discussion about oil supplies or oil prices. The offered reasons for that dismissal is that nuclear fission is generally thought to be limited to large scale electrical power production, and oil is generally used as vehicle fuel. The problem with that notion is that it misses a huge, historical trend, and it also ignores the market reality in several remaining locations.

The US Energy Information Agency does a fine job of keeping statistical records of energy sources - though its predictive arm has had some real miscues over the years. The graph associated with this article provides a picture illustrates that the use of oil for electricity in the US may be small now, but that is because it was replaced by nuclear fission during the growth years in the 1970s and 1980s....

One of the more important things to understand about Georgia - the small country that recently engaged in a deadly struggle with Russia - is that it is one of the hosts of a relatively new, 1 million barrel per day capacity oil pipeline called Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan (BTC). That pipeline was constructed with the active encouragement of the EU and the US starting in the late 1990s despite strenuous objections from Russia.

If you take a look at a map of the pipeline, you will begin to understand the geopolitical importance of the effort to provide a path out of the Caspian Sea region - home to a large oil and gas reservoir - that does not pass through Iran or Russia. Until the BTC was completed, there was no way to move Azeri oil out to the rest of the market without going through Russia. ...

As the collapse of the trade talks in Geneva in July made clear, there is no longer any   meaningful  trade negotiation without the main nations from the emerging world. The year 2008 may go down in history as the one in which rich countries discovered that this applies to macroeconomic policies, too.

In January it looked as if the opposite lessons could be drawn from events. For a while, Ben Bernanke at the US Federal Reserve and Jean-Claude Trichet at the European Central Bank seemed to be the only relevant policymakers in the world – and they were, as far as liquidity strains were concerned, if only because the US and Europe account for about two-thirds of the global supply of financial assets....

Government says it now expects crude to average $124 a barrel next year, down $9 from previous forecast. Home heating bills expected to weigh on consumers.

NEW YORK -- Oil prices could be lower than previously expected next year, but the outlook for home heating oil and natural gas signals more pain this winter, according to a government report released Tuesday.

In its August short-term energy outlook, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said it expects crude prices to average $124 a barrel in 2009. That's down from July when the EIA projected an average price of $133 per barrel....

Lounging by a pool in the Hamptons in a leopard-skin swimsuit, with her flaxen hair gathered in bunches, Paris Hilton this week gave her tart response to being dragged into the US presidential campaign by John McCain. In a recent advertisement entitled “Celebrity”, his campaign used images of her in an attempt to associate Barack Obama, his rival, with vacuous celebrities.

“I’m not from the olden days and I’m not promising change like that other guy. I’m just hot,” she said to the camera, with her combination of baby-doll sweetness and sassy knowingness. “I want America to know that I’m, like, totally ready to lead.”...

The United States financial system had a serious scare, the Europeans meandered through a dismal series of economic reports and oil closed almost $20 lower. For all the cross currents this week it was the collapse in oil prices that holds the most promise for the American economy and the dollar. The epicenter of this oil shock was not the Persian Gulf but Washington D.C. and in response the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.6%, its strongest weekly rise in five years.

Political events gave oil traders and stock short sellers every reason to take profits. President Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling on Monday and by Friday crude prices had completed their sharpest fall in percentage terms since late 2004....

President Bush made a big deal of lifting the executive ban on offshore drilling — a ban his father put in place, by the way — saying it must be done to help reduce oil prices and America's dependence on foreign oil.

But offshore drilling wouldn't do any such thing. No law says that oil found there must stay in America. The oil companies can put it on the world market at prevailing prices, and it could just as easily end up in Chinese cars as our own.

Bush's lifting of the executive order is no favor to Americans; it's a favor to the oil companies. Our beaches risk getting mucked up in order to squeeze out very little oil that Americans might not even get to keep....

The world has too many crises it seems: the oil crisis, the food crisis, the water crisis, the HIV/Aids crisis- all of which are yet to be provided with solutions.

But people are trying, trying very hard to come up with a solution for every crisis with little success in some and none in others.

And since the latest crises- oil, food and climate- the buzz word has been biofuels. Developed countries are in the forefront to promote biofuels as a solution to the oil crisis and, to some extent, the food crisis.

However some people have a different view all together. They argue that biofuel policies as propounded by rich countries are neither a solution to the climate nor oil crisis and instead they are compounding a third crisis the food crisis. ...

Mark Bancroft's new pellet-burning furnace hasn't been installed, but he's already counting how much money he'll save over his old oil-fired burner.

Instead of paying $5,000 for 1,100 gallons of heating oil in the coming year based on today's record prices, he'll spend $2,000 on about 8 tons of wood pellets. Even at a cost of more than $12,000, he thinks the new furnace will pay for itself within five years.

"How great is it if we make a move toward this type of heating that can boost the economy instead of sending money to foreign lands for oil?" said Bancroft, who plans to have the unit installed this summer....

Oil prices held steady Wednesday after two days of sharp declines, as news that Iran tested a long-range missile capable of hitting Israel pushed up prices temporarily.

The market shook off news of another slump in US oil inventories and also digested a pledge by the Group of Eight leaders to make the oil market more transparent to help stabilize supplies and investment.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, rose a penny to settle at 136.05 dollars per barrel.

London's Brent North Sea oil for August gained 15 cents to settle at 135.58 dollars.

Prices have tumbled some 10 dollars from record highs a week ago, and analysts say the market remains sensitive to any news with a potential effect on supply or demand....