According to Sundaytimes.co.za

” The Moerane Commission into South Africa’s fuel supply crisis – suffered late last year – has reported that another supply crisis could emerge in the second half of this year because of scheduled refinery shutdowns….. “

- Nothing to worry about, just another scheduled refinery shutdowns….hmmm That means it’s maintenance? Ok, maybe it’s just their annual maintenance to collide with other bad news (Alaskan oil disruption, Iran nuclear standoff, Israel war with Lebanon etc.) ….Let’s just hope the market don’t over react on this news.

According to bloomberg:

“Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) — On a sweltering Tuesday in mid-July, in the fields outside Pisa, Italy, Willem Kadijk scribbles notes as a ragtag troupe of doomsayers predict the end of the Oil Age.

With his shaved head, jeans and sandals, Kadijk, 48, blends into a crowd gathered under a white tent to hear of the coming calamity. The death of cheap, abundant crude, the forecasters warn, might unleash war and plunge the world into a second Great Depression.

That’s not the prophecy of some apocalyptic cult. Kadijk, a hedge fund adviser, had flown from Amsterdam to attend a conference on a geologic theory known as peak oil.”

- Thanks LOWEM for informing of this BIG news! bloomberg is now going to make market investor go nuts with extra-cash on hand to jump into the peak oil bandwagon. The inevitable is near, we might still have some time do what is logical and prepare for food, water, electricity and back up plans now.

A very short and sweet PEAK OIL video presentation on the problem and part of the solution. It did not cover the possibility of alternative energies but it did have the right concept of the type of trouble that we are all going to be in very soon.

All other alternative energies will take many years to fully implement but if all can be done simultaneously, I believe we can have a rocky but possible transition to a tough but survivable world.

Do view the video to the very end to sink in what is this PEAK OIL’s implication.

(Note: This video was created in the USA and their electricity is generated mostly by coal whereas Singapore is using mostly Natural Gas)

According to Yahoo! Asia News

JAKARTA, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Indonesia is considering giving a higher gas split of up to 49 percent to British energy explorer Premier Oil to supply gas to power plants and industries on Batam island, Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Monday.

Premier has found about 500 billion cubic feet of gas reserves in West Natuna block A and Indonesia wants the gas to be supplied to Batam island, near Singapore, for cheaper energy.

Indonesia is the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter but has been struggling to meet export commitments due to declining gas output being diverted to the domestic market.

- The article misrepresented that the declining gas output is due to diversion of gas supply to meet indonesia’s own domestic market.

The fact is that Indonesia’s gas production had been declining faster then expected thus needed to curb exports and use the remaining for their own domestic use instead of exporting more to other countries.
Oh, Singapore depends on Indonesia and Malaysia Piped Natural Gas (PNG) for 80% of our electricity generation as of now until the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) starts shipping to the new LNG terminal that is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

The LNG market by then should be very saturated and no longer can get any fixed priced long term contracts but on prices that depends on market forces. So we will be in direct competition with CHINA, Mexico, Tokyo, USA, India, and many more by 2012. Let’s hope that we are prepared by then! ^_^

According to Channelnewsasia

TOKYO: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi left for Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as the first sitting Japanese premier to visit Central Asia, the government said.

Koizumi, who steps down next month, will hold meetings with President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev during his four-day trip to Central Asia.

The visit, the first by any Japanese prime minister to the region, comes as Tokyo looks to bolster cooperation with the oil- and gas-rich nations to compete with the booming Chinese economy for regional energy resources.

Japan relies heavily on foreign energy and imports nearly all of its oil, mostly from members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the volatile Middle East, such as Iran.

In Kazakhstan, Koizumi and Nazarbayev will announce an agreement to send Japanese experts to help develop Kazakh nuclear power plants.

-Japan is in the worst situation ever for their energy security since the world war 2, with a possible lost of Indonesia natural gas (LNG) after contracts expires in 2010 and a possible sanction against IRAN (oil disruption) will mean they must acquire whatever energy resources they get hold of EVEN at higher market prices.

The possibility that IRAN might use oil supply as a weapon against allies of USA is a clear and present danger even if it’s just against USA only, the implication is market forces will run into panic mode causing the oil prices to sky rocket and fluctuate wildly causing serious implication to world economies. 

However, to think of IRAN to be nuclear powered is a serious problem for the world national security together with North Korea (Iran’s ally and ballistic missile trading partner) will make the world a less safer place to be. The future is bleak but we must maintain positive and earn as much as possible to prepare for any contingencies. (Energy Crisis, Water Crisis)

A funny video on post-oil man that over prepare for the day when oil runs out. The frightening thing is this funny clip actually depicts what I am feeling right now….let’s see who gets the last laugh!! LOL

According to Yahoo! News

Iran insisted it remained determined to produce its own nuclear fuel, just four days before a UN Security Council deadline to freeze the sensitive work or face the risk of sanctions.

And in a new show of its military might, Iran test-fired a long range radar-evading sea-to-air missile during war games it says aim to demonstrate its readiness for “any threat.”

Oil-rich Iran, the second biggest exporter in OPEC, insists it has the right to nuclear technology as a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that it only plans to generate electricity.

- Japan and Russia had voiced out publicly on their objection to UN sanction against IRAN. Japan depends on IRAN and mid-eastern countries for their oil and Russia and China are close trading partner with IRAN, this will surely make it difficult for the UN Security Council to make any decision of any sanction on IRAN.

As the Hurricane Ernesto forcing it’s way into Florida, and together with more geopolitical show-down over IRAN’s defiance on cessation of Nuclear Enrichment activities will definitely make the interesting impact on the OIL PRICES in the coming week.

Also seen in SingaporePeakoil blog
Singapore needs to rethink energy policy

“We need to start planning for scenarios in which oil hits US$100 (S$158) or US$150 a barrel. The decision to go with the LNG terminal was based purely on a comparison of choices between competing fossil fuels. The Tokyo Gas study ignored or sidestepped the widespread debate in the oil industry over a possible peaking of global oil reserves. We are living in a more dangerous and unpredictable world.”

-I agreed to most of the article’s point of view except for dropping the LNG terminal project totally. The project does cost lot’s of investor huge amount of money but this also might buy Singapore some time to migrate into alternative energies such as solar energy which is also mentioned in the article.

We are going into the era of very uncertain energy future, every industry including your kopitiam will face uncertain future when their energy cost goes up substantially. We as individual must take ownership to buy our own Solar Cells NOW before it’s too late. You can buy one at a time or import in mass with a few friends combined investment.

If you need assistant in wiring up, do learn about in online…otherwise contact me

According to Channelnewsasia

TOKYO : Japan, which is almost entirely dependent on Middle Eastern oil, will oppose United Nations sanctions on Iran’s energy sector over its nuclear programme, a newspaper said Monday.

Tehran risks sanctions if it fails to abide by a UN Security Council resolution calling for a halt to the enrichment, which creates fuel for nuclear power plants but can also be used to make the core of a bomb. 

- Many other countries that import from IRAN also will be hurt by the possible sanction including China also…let’s see if it will happen…if it did, prepare for your emergency dynamo torches and candles

According to channelnewsasia

SINGAPORE : Allowing households and smaller businesses to choose their electricity supplier will be a key step in the liberalisation of the energy sector.

This is according to Senoko Power during an energy seminar on Wednesday.

Senoko said that its parent Temasek Holdings is still reviewing plans to sell the three power plants it owns.

According to earlier reports, Temasek Holdings is expected to make a decision about the sale of the three power companies – Senoko Power, PowerSeraya and Tuas Power – by the end of the year.

Thanks Ee Mien Low for informing about this news! And get ready for the big announcement in 2007 for the new electricity market!!

See also:
- “True” outcome of Liberalising of the Electricity Market
- Liberalisation of Electricity Market