Petroleum

Saudi Aramco Reports Gargantuan $161 Bn in Profits, But will Electric Cars kill the Oil Market within 2 Decades?

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dan Murphy at CNBC reports that the giant Saudi Aramco oil company posted an unprecedented profit of $161 billion for 2022. The company’s CEO, Amin Nasser, commented that this was probably the biggest profit ever made in the course of one year by any private company. Murphy reports that Nasser […]

Climate Crisis

Humanity put out more C02 than Ever Before last Year, but Green Energy Kept the Annual Increase Small

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – This is a bad news, good news story. Cathy Bussewitz at the Associated Press reports that carbon dioxide emissions reached an all-time high in 2022, of 36.8 gigatons. That is more CO2 spewed into the atmosphere by humanity in just one year than ever before. CO2 emissions were up nearly […]

Climate Crisis

Northwest Climate Activists, including Native Americans, Target new Oil Pipeline to stop Fossil Fuels

Waging Nonviolence

Climate groups and Indigenous nations are working to add the GTN Xpress pipeline expansion to a long list of defeated fossil fuel transportation projects in the Northwest. By Nick Engelfried | – Climate protesters gathered at the State Capitol in Portland, Oregon in 2019 to protest the later canceled Jordan Cove LNG export terminal. (Facebook/Rogue […]

Climate Crisis

Should a repressive petrostate get to host UN climate talks? The UAE Plans for a Fossil Fuel Friendly COP28

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Joey Shea | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus) – In recent weeks, grave concerns have emerged about the conflicts of interest posed by the United Arab Emirates as host of the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference known as COP28, as well as fears about the safety and security of participants in the […]

Climate Crisis

Big Oil’s trade group allies outspent Clean Energy Groups by a Whopping 27x, with Billions in Ads and Lobbying to keep Fossil Fuels Flowing

The Conversation

By Christian Downie, Australian National University and Robert Brulle, Brown University | – (The Conversation) – You’ve probably seen ads promoting gas and oil companies as the solutions to climate change. They’re meant to be inspiring and hopeful, with scenes of a green, clean future. But shiny ads are not all these companies do to […]

Climate Crisis

Exxon Scientists Accurately Forecast Climate Change back in the 1970s – What if it hadn’t been Covered up and We had Acted

The Conversation

By John Grant, Sheffield Hallam University | – Writers of speculative- and science-fiction often identify a key point in time and explore how a seemingly insignificant event might change the path of humanity. One of these moments came in the 1970s when oil giant Exxon chose to ignore its own commissioned research on the impact […]

Featured

In 2023, Biden may have to Choose between Sanctions against Russia’s Ukraine War and Maximum Pressure on Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Does President Joe Biden have a choice of winning his struggle with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, or continuing “maximum pressure” sanctions against Iran? The problem is that if he continues to pursue both, he may end up handing Russia more resources to prosecute its campaign in Ukraine.

Climate Crisis

Past 8 Years have been Hottest on Record, probably Hottest since Time of Christ

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The past 8 years are the hottest on record. So concludes The UN’s World Meteorological Organization. In 2022, the average surface temperature of the earth was 1.15 degrees C. [2.07 degrees F.] higher than the average surface temperature of the earth in 1850-1900. So this is the eighth year in […]

China

At Arab Summit, China’s Xi calls for End to Israeli Settlements and Quick Establishment of Palestinian State With East Jerusalem as Capital

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – China’s trade with the Arab world was over $330 billion in 2021, and will likely be a third larger this year, given the high price of petroleum. The largest single source of oil for China is Saudi Arabia. It imports significant amounts of petroleum, as well, from Oman, Kuwait and […]