Yahoo!Malaysia News: MADRID (AFP) – - An all-out strike by Spanish fishermen, Europe’s largest fleet, went into a second day Saturday, as protests continued on land and at sea across Europe at rocketing fuel prices.

Almost all Portuguese trawlers were also staying in harbour, union officials said, whilst striking Italian fishermen managed to delay the start of a sailing race in the Mediterranean, ANSA news agency reported.

The rapid rise in the price of oil has pushed up the cost of marine diesel by around 30 percent since the beginning of the year, causing trawler owners to warn they face bankruptcy without increased subsidies.

French fishermen have been on strike for two weeks, whilst in eastern France a Saturday morning go-slow by around 100 lorries jammed up major roads in the Lorraine region, according to organisers.

The Spanish fishing strike has so far been “a big success in terms of participation,” said Javier Garat, secretary general of the Cepesca employers’ federation, which represents some 1,600 boats and 20,000 fishermen.

On Friday evening protesting French farmers decided to lift their blockage of a petrol depot at Annecy, but warned of further unspecified action on Monday.

Another depot, at Villette de Vienne “will remain blockaded at least until Sunday evening,” according to Jean-Louis Ogier, an official from the Rural Coordination movement in Isere.

The Italian fishermen who blocked the start of the sailing race between Viareggio, in Tuscany, and Monaco, unfurled banners from their trawlers outside the port saying: “Expensive diesel is choking fishermen,” and “400 families are on their knees because of fuel prices,” ANSA reported.

In northern Spain, striking fishermen face a particularly acute dilemma, as June marks the beginning of the tuna season, which brings in 80 percent of the annual revenue for the 50-trawler strong fleet of Bermeo, according to Patxi Martinez, a local boat-owner.

“To leave harbour and fish in these conditions, is to lose money. To not set sail, that will also ruin us, and destroy the fleet. Unfortunately, these are the only two options available to us,” the president of the Bermeo Fishing Cooperative, Jon Lartitegui, told AFP

Read the full article at Yahoo!Malaysia News:

- More strike may be on the way when the oil prices skyrocket in the coming future…if the following conditions are met.

1. OPEC get no additional investment to boost output.
2. If Iran got attacked…for whatever reasons.
3. If oil producing countries starts to ban export of petrochemical products due to high cost for their domestic market.

ABS-CBN News Online:

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan will advance the official clock by one hour at the stroke of midnight Saturday to use more daylight time in a bid to conserve energy, the interior ministry said.

The move is one the measures announced by the government recently to save energy that also included closing shopping centers by 9 pm, earlier than the usual 11pm to midnight, from June 1.

The change will put Pakistan’s clock six hours ahead of the GMT.

The country has in recent months been hit by a massive shortfall of around 4,000 megawatts of power, which has resulted in long daily power outages causing hardship and putting a strain on businesses.

Statesman.com: NEW YORK — Meteorologists are predicting a busy hurricane season this year, and any direct hit on the Gulf of Mexico’s extensive oil and gas infrastructure could easily send already sky-high oil prices rocketing past $150 a barrel.

But predicting whether, much less where a big storm will strike, is tricky business. Energy markets haven’t priced in a potential catastrophe, and won’t factor in a hurricane until a storm actually forms.

The 2005 hurricane season was one of the most destructive in history. It sent oil prices soaring into the then-unfathomable $60s.

But oil trades at double that amount today, and a turbulent summer in the Gulf could send prices well beyond the record $135 per barrel it reached last week.

“If we get anything that disrupts Gulf production in a meaningful way … I think it could easily push prices to the $150 level,” said Brad Samples, an analyst at Summit Energy Services Inc. in Louisville, Ky.

The Gulf is home to hundreds of oil and gas drilling platforms and pipelines that are typically shut down when a storm approaches. Hurricanes can damage rigs or scatter pipelines, and that can take months to repair.

Storms also disrupt tanker traffic and the Gulf Coast ports that receive the vast majority of the nation’s petroleum imports. The huge refineries that dot the coast grind to a halt when a hurricane approaches land, driving the price of gasoline and other petroleum products upward.

“There’s a lot of areas of infrastructure that can be disrupted,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates.

Read the full article at Statesman.com:

– What is my prediction? My prediction is near $150 per barrel can be reach without any Hurricane….but of course depending on other factors as well.

Since the date of the Indonesia military exercise conducted near the Natuna & Batam is going to be on the 1st June 2008 to 20th June 2008, the above flash is to animate when the exercise is completed.

Both Natuna & Batam have natural gas pipelines to Singapore hence any military exercise near it might be pretty dangerous. So better be safe then sorry.

See Also:

1. How To Prepare For Blackout In Singapore
2. Batam threatens to block Indonesian natural gas supply to Singapore – Alert
3. Power crisis starts hitting Batam; fear investors may move offshore

Since the date of the Indonesia military exercise conducted near the Natuna & Batam is going to be on the 1st June 2008 to 20th June 2008, the above flash is to animate the urgency for you guys to prepare for the “possible” blackout event.

Both Natuna & Batam have natural gas pipelines to Singapore hence any military exercise near it might be pretty dangerous. So better be safe then sorry.

See Also:

1. How To Prepare For Blackout In Singapore
2. Batam threatens to block Indonesian natural gas supply to Singapore – Alert
3. Power crisis starts hitting Batam; fear investors may move offshore

Yahoo!News:

LONDON (AFP) – Britain on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for two new North Sea oil fields, as Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned the world faced a “great oil shock” fuelled in part by increased demand and tight supplies.

Business Secretary John Hutton said the fields some 150 kilometres (93 miles) northeast of the Shetland Islands, off northern Scotland, would peak at up to 50,000 barrels per day, with a total output of 50 million barrels.

He also outlined government plans for new oil and gas fields to be carved out of unprofitable parts of about 30 existing fields off Britain’s coast, which could see 20,000 barrels a day added to daily production.

The announcement came as Brown and his finance minister Alistair Darling met heads of the Oil and Gas UK industry body in northeast Scotland to push for greater output from Britain’s North Sea fields.

Afterwards, Brown said: “I met the oil producers today because we are facing the third great oil shock in decades.“

Oil prices had shot up from about 10 dollars a barrel when he began as finance minister 11 years ago to more than 135 dollars this week, impacting on fuel and household energy prices as well as the cost of food, he said.

“We want to do more to increase production in the North Sea and we have made proposals today that I believe will incentivise not only existing fields but new fields to come on stream,” he added.

It was also important to increase supplies worldwide, he said, vowing to put the creation of global strategy to secure a better balance between supply and demand at the top of the economic agenda at the forthcoming G8 summit in Japan.

But he warned the problem of supply and demand was “long-term”.

Elsewhere, Brown wrote in The Guardian newspaper that there should be greater use of alternative energy sources to help promote market stability, and closer links between consumers and producing nations, particularly OPEC.

Oil and Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb said the talks with Brown and Darling were “a highly constructive engagement” and the proposals could have a “significant impact on the near-term production”.

Some 37 billion barrels of oil and gas have been recovered from the North Sea, according to the trade body. Up to 25 billion barrels are thought to remain.

About 30 billion pounds (38 billion euros, 59 billion dollars) of investment is required over the next decade alone to recover the oil and gas planned, it added, but more than 17 billion pounds has not yet been secured.

Brown’s comments came a day after hundreds of lorry drivers protested in London at rising fuel prices, which they say is driving them out of business, and amid widespread calls to cut a planned rise in road tax for “gas guzzling” cars.

A number of British newspapers Wednesday said the British government was preparing to water down its proposals on road tax and fuel duties in potentially the second U-turn on tax in as many months.

The demonstrations coincided with similar protests by truckers, farmers and fishermen in France, where a Total refinery was blockaded in the northern Normandy region, and elsewhere in western Europe.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Tuesday for a Europe-wide cut in fuel taxes to help those hardest hit by the price hike while Portugal’s economy minister called for urgent EU talks on the matter.

This is a declaration of acknowledgment of “PEAK OIL” by British PM and a signal of change in the global scale. This year’s oil production is set to be the lowest since the mid 1990s and output is widely expected to continue to dip in future years due to depletion of ageing North Sea oilfields

Yahoo!News:

Moscow – The Kremlin often touts Russia’s image as an “energy superpower,” but now the country’s oil production is declining. Some say Russia may have already reached peak oil output.

Underscoring the urgency of the issue, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s new cabinet made its first order of business on Monday the approval of a package of measures to relieve the oil-production crisis.

“It’s a good first step,” says Natalia Milchakova, an oil and gas analyst for Otkritiye, a Moscow-based brokerage firm. But she adds that “rapidly slowing” oil production, which was growing by more than 10 percent five years ago, isn’t “something that can be quickly fixed with political declarations.”

As the world’s second-largest oil exporter, Russia joins a growing number of top oil suppliers wrestling with how to address declining or peaking production. Like Venezuela and Mexico, Russia is heavily dependent on oil, which accounts for more than two-thirds of government revenue and 30 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Now, Moscow is trying to remedy a situation caused in part by outdated technology, heavy taxation of oil profits, and lack of investment in oil infrastructure.

The Presidium of the Cabinet, as it is officially known, in its inaugural meeting Monday approved tax holidays of up to 15 years for Russian companies that open new oil fields and proposed raising the threshold at which taxation begins from the current $9 per barrel to $15. Oil companies welcomed the measures, but experts say that after almost two decades of post-Soviet neglect, which have seen little new exploration, it may be too little, too late.

After rising steadily for several years to a post-Soviet high of 9.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, Russian oil production fell by 0.3 percent in the first four months of this year, while exports fell 3.3 percent – the first Putin-era drop. Russia’s proven oil reserves are a state secret, but the Oil & Gas Journal, a US-based industry publication, estimates it has about 60 billion barrels – the world’s eighth largest – which would last for 17 years at current production rates.

Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko recently admitted the decline, but suggested it might be overcome by fresh discoveries in underexplored eastern Siberia or in new Arctic territories recently claimed by Russia. “The output level we have today is a plateau, or stagnation,” he said.

But Leonid Fedun, vice president of Russia’s largest private oil company LUKoil, went one step further in an interview with the Financial Times last month.

“Russian oil production has peaked and may never return to current levels,” he said.

- Russia had finally officially admit of being peaked or peaking in oil production and “may never” return to current level of oil supply. This mean Russia had joined Mexico, North Sea, U.S.A., Indonesia and several other oil exporting countries to be either peaked in oil production or in decline.

This is confirming the fears of many “peak-oiler” who believes that the global production of oil is peaking or had already peaked and now in a gradual inevitable decline.

While the global demand of oil is currently hovering around 87 million barrels per day and growing and the supply starts to peak and decline may means the era of CHEAP oil is officially over.

We are entering the stage of “Peak Oil” which is the research topic of this blog. The discussion of this does not stops on proving if it’s a real theory or a scam from Big Oil Corporation to profit from this but the implication of higher oil prices can do to you and your family.

Inflation will accelerate faster every single day as cost of operation for all sectors of the economy are ran mostly on oil and petrochemicals. Oil influence practically every aspect of human sustainability and it had driven the 100 years of industrial age into the current era where human can live in concrete cities with virtually no food production within 100 to 1000 km range.

Virtually all the things in front of you are made partially from oil…I think it’s time to think alternative to prepare for sustainability, it won’t be a happy ending riding this “Long Emergency”. Wake Up!

May 28 (Bloomberg) — Indonesia, the only OPEC member in Southeast Asia, will pull out of the group after aging fields and declining production force the region’s biggest economy to boost imports as crude oil prices reached records.

Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro will sign a decree today to exit the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, he told reporters in Jakarta. The nation, a member since 1962, has been considering leaving the body in the past three years.

Indonesia imports about a third of its oil because of inadequate refining capacity and faces falling output as disputes with Exxon Mobil Corp. delayed field developments and deterred investments. The country’s oil output has slumped 49 percent from a peak in 1977 while subsidies to cap domestic diesel and gasoline prices may exceed $13 billion this year.

“There is an opportunity lost,” said Fauzi Ichsan, chief economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Jakarta. “Still, Indonesia is now a gas country” and the government needs to encourage more investment in the gas, coal and mining industries.

The withdrawal from OPEC will help the nation save 2 million euros ($3.1 million) on membership fees a year, according to Purnomo.

OPEC members account for more than 40 percent of the world’s oil supply, with output for the 12 members with quota falling 1 percent to 29.74 million barrels a day in April from a month earlier, according to Bloomberg estimates.

Indonesia’s exit follows the addition of two members. Angola became an OPEC member in January 2007 and Ecuador rejoined the organization in December after a 15-year absence, swelling OPEC’s ranks to 13.

Production Peak

Crude oil has doubled in the past year to reach a record $135.09 a barrel in New York on May 22 as demand growth outstrips supplies and the dollar weakens, prompting investors to buy commodities as an inflation hedge. Oil was at $126.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 5:22 p.m. Singapore time.

OPEC Secretary General Abdalla el-Badri had no immediate comment.

Indonesia’s daily crude output has fallen below 1 million barrels since February 2004, according to Bloomberg estimates. Production probably fell 0.9 percent to 859,853 barrels a day in April from March, oil and gas regulator BPMigas said April 29.

“If production comes back to give us the status of net oil exporter then we can go back to OPEC,” Purnomo said at the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club today.

- This means with immediate effect after today, Indonesia is no longer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and unless they can find another major oil fields in their territory, Indonesia will not be able to rejoin the group.

Indonesia’s oil production had peaked in 1977 and had been a net oil importer since 2004 because of declining supply of matured oil fields and surging local domestic demand however Indonesia are able to continue to export natural gas to other countries in LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) form.

What will be the implication for this sudden pull out from OPEC by Indonesia? Absolutely huge! Without being a member of the prestige club of OPEC, Indonesia have every right to reserve what’s remaining fossil fuels for their own domestic use without being penalized contractually if they fail to export uninterrupted supply of oil.

What about natural gas? Since we know about the declining state of natural gas field in South Sumatra thanks to Batam’s news about their power outage, we can rest assured that we can no longer blame Indonesia in any event of sudden disruption of natural gas supply from Indonesia when the world now knows that Indonesia is no longer in OPEC.

Of course we cannot 100% determine how long will the natural gas field will last but in the light of the sudden pull out from OPEC may signal or hint that the natural gas supply in South Sumatra “might” be declining faster then expected.

This is of course not conclusive as only recently Thailand had signed a deal with Indonesia to buy Tangguh LNG diverted from U.S.

This means the existing pipeline from south Sumatra to Singapore via Batam may be connected to a declining natural gas field however Indonesia still have other strong producing natural gas field that can export in Liquefied (LNG) in ships to other countries.

However, Batam & Singapore does not have a working LNG terminal yet…to receive LNG instead of piped. This definitely posed a serious problems for Batam and Singapore.

With Indonesia no longer in OPEC, KPPU may have bigger case to persuade Indonesia to divert whatever remaining natural gas supply from south Sumatra to service Batam instead of going to Singapore.

Singapore may have to rely on the last 2 pipelines from Malaysia & Indonesia’s West Natuna gas fields and use oil or coal to cover the rest of the demand.

Oil or Coal are consider more dirty to the environment and it’s extremely expensive compared to the piped natural gas. That means the electricity tariff ($/kWh) might just go up faster then you can say “OMG”.

Be prepared to switch off, power down, use less, conserve electricity as much as possible otherwise you shall be facing a scary utilities bill pretty soon.

See also:

1. Power crisis starts hitting Batam; fear investors may move offshore
2. Asian governments forced to act as oil prices soar
3. Batam threatens to block Indonesian natural gas supply to Singapore – Alert
4. Japan Faces Indonesian Gas Cuts
5. Indonesia to cut LNG supply to 6 million tons after 2010
6. Betting billions on liquefied natural gas
7. Indonesian firms to build LNG terminal (and why Singapore should go nuclear)
8. Indonesia’s LNG supremacy wanes as Chevron’s fields run short
9. Energy: Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia plan power grid

Online Asia Times:

NEW YORK – The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

The source, a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state still active in the foreign affairs community, speaking anonymously, said last week that that the US plans an air strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The air strike would target the headquarters of the IRGC’s elite Quds force. With an estimated strength of up to 90,000 fighters, the Quds’ stated mission is to spread Iran’s revolution of 1979 throughout the region.

Targets could include IRGC garrisons in southern and southwestern Iran, near the border with Iraq. US officials have repeatedly claimed Iran is aiding Iraqi insurgents. In January 2007, US forces raided the Iranian consulate general in Erbil, Iraq, arresting five staff members, including two Iranian diplomats it held until November. Last September, the US Senate approved a resolution by a vote of 76-22 urging President George W Bush to declare the IRGC a terrorist organization.

Following this non-binding “sense of the senate” resolution, the White House declared sanctions against the Quds Force as a terrorist group in October. The Bush administration has also accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program, though most intelligence analysts say the program has been abandoned.

An attack on Iraq would fit the Bush administration’s declared policy on Iraq. Administration officials questioned directly about military action against Iran routinely assert that “all options remain on the table”.

Iran’s options

Iran could flex its muscles in any number of ways. It could step up support for insurgents in Iraq and for its allies throughout the Middle East. Iran aids both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Israel’s Occupied Territories. It is also widely suspected of assisting Taliban rebels in Afghanistan.

Iran could also choose direct confrontation with the US in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, with which Iran shares a long, porous border. Iran has a fighting force of more than 500,000. Iran is also believed to have missiles capable of reaching US allies in the Gulf region.

Iran could also declare a complete or selective oil embargo on US allies. Iran is the second-largest oil exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and fourth-largest overall. About 70% of its oil exports go to Asia. The US has barred oil imports from Iran since 1995 and restricts US companies from investing there.

China is Iran’s biggest customer for oil, and Iran buys weapons from China. Trade between the two countries hit US$20 billion last year and continues to expand. China’s reaction to an attack on Iran is also a troubling unknown for the US.

- This is truly one of the scariest news ever surface in the internet!! The implication can be wide and possibly enough to wipe global economies down to their knees! I had mentioned in this blog previously the possibilities of IRAN war and their retaliation to the oil supply near Iran’s border (Straits of Hormuz) will be devastating!

However, I cannot 100% confirm the source of this extra-ordinary news!!

See also:

1. Iran report pushes oil to new record near $127, gas jumps above $3.73
2. Pro-Iran War Vs Anti-Iran War (Debate)
3. Iran warns U.S. of crossing its border
4. Iran says many OPEC states can’t raise output – agency
5. Iran increases petrol ration: TV
6. Israel: US report on Iran may spark war
7. ‘Danger of war’ exists with Iran: Sarkozy
8. Iran may have resumed nuclear arms program
9. Iran stops selling oil in U.S. dollars -report
10. Key oil exporters can turn into importers in 10 years: report
11. Iran’s use of oil weapon cuts two ways

KUALA LUMPUR: Petrol stations located in border states like Johor and Perlis will be barred from selling petrol and diesel to foreign-registered cars starting Friday.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said the move, aimed at plugging loopholes in the current subsidy system, was decided during an anti-inflation committee meeting yesterday.

The ban will involve between 200 and 300 petrol stations in Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, Perak and the Johor Baru and Kulai areas in Johor.

Currently, petrol stations are not allowed to sell more then 20 litres of petrol to foreign vehicles.

“This move is temporary until we come up with better management of our subsidy system,” he told reporters.

At present, Shahrir said too many foreign-registered cars, particularly those from neighbouring countries, had been crossing into Malaysia to take advantage of the lower fuel and diesel prices.

“I have been instructed to use my power under the Control of Supply Act to direct and ban the sale of subsidised fuel to these foreign cars. This applies to petrol stations located as far as 50km from the border,” he said.

Besides the northern states and the Johor Baru and Kulai areas of Johor, Shahrir said he was also studying if the ban should include petrol stations in Pontian.

He said the petrol stations would be notified by the ministry to adhere to the move.

Shahrir said that besides putting up signboards informing motorists of this new ruling, enforcement officers would also be stationed at the petrol stations to ensure businesses complied with the ruling.

“I will inform my officers about this latest decision and it will take effect by Friday or the latest Monday,” he said.

Shahrir said those caught flouting the ruling could be fined up to RM250,000.

However, he said foreign-registered vehicles which entered the country for tourism purposes could still fill up their tanks in places like Penang and Malacca where the ban would not apply.

I dare to say Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, Perak and the Johor Baru and Kulai areas in Johor might suffer sudden disappearance of customers, tourist and business delegates.

This might cause cars to be abandoned on the road sides and became targets for looters and robbers.

This I guess this is one way to drive all money spending Singaporean and rich tourist out of Malaysia, good job!!

Well, another way is to start a Malaysian-registered vehicle renting company at the border and start renting cars out to tourist…this way you can solve small problem but still will drive away those hard core shoppers who buy lot’s of things at lower prices in Malaysia.

My friend love to cut hair in Malaysia because it’s cheap for dyeing hair but now he prefer Indonesia instead. Time will tell if this new law will actually helps Malaysia as a whole comparing to removing oil subsidies like Indonesia.