Turkey threatens the major prospects for Eastern Med gas supply

As Europe seeks to diversify its sources of natural gas as an alternative to the politically sensitive Russian supply, a massive off-shore gas source in the Mediterranean is ready for exploration and drilling. There are game-changing stakes at play.


Unfortunately, the Turkish leadership has threatened to use force to stop this from happening.


Read more at Security Europe Read More......

U.S. Carbon Emissions Down Due to Increased Use of Natural Gas

The most underreported recent environmental story has been the dramatic decline in energy-related carbon emissions — nearly back to mid-1990s levels, and falling. ✧ Maybe it’s because that story just doesn’t fit the left’s mantra that traditional energy sources are destroying the environment. Read more at Outside the Beltway... Read More......

Barone: Free Market, Not Government Policy, Drives Energy Boom

MICHAEL BARONE: In contrast to the marginal effects of much ballyhooed public policies, there has been a huge breakthrough in energy production in the past couple of years. Read more at Townhall...

There is a lesson here for public policy generally, including health care. No centralized government expert predicted the vast expansion in energy supply from hydraulic fracking. It was produced by decentralized specialists in firms subject to market competition.

Learn a little about "hydraulic fracking" in this article. --bc Read More......

'Evil' oil men may help Europe become less dependent on Russia

AMERICAN THINKER, 10/11/2009 by Rick Moran - While flogging the reputation of American oil men for being greedy and evil, those very same companies may be Europe's answer getting out from underneath Russia's heel when it comes to natural gas deliveries. ∴ A new way to squeeze natural gas out of oil shale is revolutionizing the industry and Europe appears ready to jump into the market with both feet:

A new technique that tapped previously inaccessible supplies of natural gas in the United States is spreading to the rest of the world, raising hopes of a huge expansion in global reserves of the cleanest fossil fuel. Italian and Norwegian oil engineers and geologists have arrived in Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania to learn how to extract gas from layers of a black rock called shale. Companies are leasing huge tracts of land across Europe for exploration. And oil executives are gathering rocks and scrutinizing Asian and North African geological maps in search of other fields. Read more at American Thinker...

Read More......

Energy Policy: Is the Obama Administration Changing Its Tune On Natural Gas

RED STATE, 9/24/2009 - Natural gas currently satisfies nearly a quarter of the country’s total energy needs. Gas is clean-burning and has less environmental impact than either oil or coal. We have a secure and abundant supply in North America, the technology to drill and produce it efficiently, and a robust distribution network to deliver it to market. Natural gas drilling could generate new, good-paying jobs by the thousands, and not two years from now, but now. At current prices, gas delivers the same energy as a barrel of oil at a third of the cost. What’s not to like? ∴ Policy makers have conflated natural gas with oil and coal as “fossil fuels”, fuels of a bygone era. When candidates intone, “We must end our dependence on fossil fuels,” most of us nod and uncritically accept the notion. We project oil’s perceived shortcomings onto natural gas (”Peak Oil”, dependence on the Middle East, balance of trade deficits, and the environmental threat of spills), when none of those issues is relevant to natural gas. With the arguable exception of nuclear fission, the steady blue flame of natural gas represents the closest thing we have to an ideal fuel. ∴ Until now, the Obama Administration’s “Green Jobs” rhetoric and the stated commitment to wind and solar had the future for natural gas looking mighty bleak, despite the obvious advantages. Just last April, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that using natural gas as a transportation fuel “will put a strain on natural gas for industrial uses, for heating, and other things“. ∴ Lately, however, there are signs that the Obama Administration might be changing its tune. Read more at Red State... Read More......

Cuba to Russia: Drill Here, Drill Now!

AMERICAN SOLUTIONS, 8/6/2009 by Steve Everley - While Americans continue to suffer from an artificial energy crisis, perhaps it's time we take advice from the unlikeliest of places: Cuba. ∴ The Cuban government announced last week that it had signed contracts with Russia to allow the Russians to explore for oil and gas off its coast, possibly as close as 45 miles from American shores. Read more at American Solutions...

"...Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, bowing to anti-energy influences, has needlessly delayed the offshore leasing process." Read More......