Who's to blame for the current spike in oil prices and who exactly is benefiting? It seems everyone has an answer to these questions lately. Regardless of whether one believes that we should drill the ANWR region, end oil speculation, boost refinery capability, or pressure automakers to deliver fuel-efficient or electric vehicles, it still doesn't take away the current sting of paying more for gas than we've ever experienced.

That sting has been aptly called "nozzlerage." Some creative filmmakers decided to channel their nozzlerage into an entertaining video on youtube.

Many in the green transportation field see high gas prices as the ultimate motivator to shift the transportation paradigm on a mass scale. Not only are Americans starting to think differently about fossil fuel usage, but they are also acting differently. Current prices have led to the greatest change in driving behavior since the 1970s. While this change is still only a 1% drop in average miles driven over a six month period, it is considered a "historic" phenomenon.

Perhaps nozzlerage can be good thing?

Saudi Aramco's core area in Dhahran city

The world's insatiable demand for petroleum is about to cause more drilling and pumping in Saudi Arabia, as the country is set to begin setting up shop on the Khurais oil field. A ten-billion dollar investment will be made which is expected to allow the nation to pump one and a half billion additional barrels of oil per day by the end of next year. The project, which is already expected to begin shipping over a million barrels of oil beginning next June, is a massive undertaking.

Saudi Arabia has, to this point, resisted producing additional oil, as it believes there is no shortage at all. Instead, the country points to the low value of the U.S. dollar and unrealistic speculators are the major driving forces behind the record-high oil prices. Still, the country remains extremely important to major oil-consuming nations such as the United States as it currently produces eleven-percent of the world's daily supply of oil and is the only country left with relatively easy-to-tap oil reserves.

[Source: AP via The Detroit News]

Not long ago we spoke about a campaign by the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) that recommended to verify how often motor oil had to be changed. General Motors has joined the campaign and will support CIWMB in informing motorists that millions vehicles can be driven much longer than the old standard of 3,000 miles between changes. Driver farther, save oil.

GM also took the chance to speak about its Oil Life System, which checks the quality of motor oil for the driver, informing about its "life." The system uses an algorithm based on key engine functions to determine when oil should be changed. This usually extends oil change intervals to 6,000 miles (although it depends on vehicle usage). According to GM, this would save more than eight million gallons of motor oil per year in California alone.

[Source: GM]

Chevron, one of the largest oil companies in the world, will double the amount of money it spends in search of more oil. Over the next five years, Chevron will spend about $20 billion in Africa alone, which is thirty percent more than it spent in the previous five years. Peter Robertson, vice chairman of Chevron, says of oil, "The world is saying it needs it." That's a hard point to argue against these days. Despite the fact that much of the world is concerned with global climate change and the need to find alternatives to petroleum, oil is still the commodity which runs the world.

Like Chevron, Exxon, the world's most profitable company, is also spending big bucks looking for additional supplies of oil. You know, if all else fails, we could just melt down Greenland. We've heard that there is plenty of oil there just waiting to be found.

Related:

• Chevron: Roughly 10% of Americans "hate us and our industry"

[Source: Bloomberg]

If $120+ per barrel of black gooey stuff of puts you in a bad mood, you might not want to read this. According to energy strategist Argun Murti of Goldman Sachs, "Surging demand was increasingly likely to create a 'super-spike' past $200 in six months to two years' time." Yikes! Ethel, get in the ark! No, first help me with this pair of aardvarks!

While a high price for oil might bode well for the environment if it translates into less of the stuff being burned just to move us around, that large a gain in as little as 6 months could really put an economic hurtin' on people the world over. I probably don't need to remind everyone that the cost of, well, everything is pretty much tied in some way to the price of fuel. Of course, we did bring up the possibility before a couple months ago and even OPEC has mentioned it but with the time frame potentially being so incredibly compressed, it's a little worrisome. The rise is being blamed on a slow speed of growth of supply coupled with increased usage in countries like China and India. Maybe it's time to dust off that bicycle. Thanks to Aviv for the tip.

[Source: The Economic Times]

OPEC president Chakib Khelil believes that the already staggering price for a barrel of oil could continue to rise. Citing the low value of the U.S. dollar, Khelil says that investors are likely to continue to place their bets on oil, a necessary commodity. With current prices hovering around $120 per barrel of dino-juice, the sixty percent increase mentioned by OPEC's leading man would place the going-rate darn near $200 a barrel.

Those of us living in the U.S. have seen our gas prices rise at an alarming rate, but Whatcar in the U.K. highlights more problems for those living across the pond. A strike at the Grangemoth oil refinery in Scotland could cause a ripple effect which would reach consumers just in time for the summer driving season. OPEC has chosen not to increase their output to help curb the supply and demand problem. Kinda makes us long for the electric car, huh?

[Source: What Car]

Oftentimes, when the subject of oil appears on the internet, a raging debate ensues regarding which brand offers the highest quality or whether or not synthetic is superior to straight dino-oil. We're not touching that one today, but we would like to remind our readers of the importance of recycling your used motor oil. Matt Hale, Director of EPA's Office of Solid Waste, says, "Recycling used motor oil conserves energy, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and prevents the possible contamination of our nation's drinking water supplies." How bad could a little used motor oil be on our water supplies? We'll let Castrol explain: 'one oil change -- improperly disposed and not recycled -- can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water, which is a year's supply for 50 people.' With that information firmly in mind, Castrol has teamed up with Earth911.com to educate people on oil recycling.

We've pasted a press release regarding the subject after the break. For tips on oil recycling and to find your nearest oil collection center, check out Castol's site here and Earth911.com here.

With all the attention being paid to alternative fuels, it is not surprising that Big Oil should launch a PR counteroffensive. The American Petroleum Institute (API), advertising itself as "the People of America's Oil and Natural Gas Industry," is running a new TV ad, Delivering America's Energy Security, which can be viewed at their website at energytomorrow.com. Their contention is that there is still so much oil under America that we can achieve energy independence without getting off oil for a long time. According to API, there are "112 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil beneath U.S. federal lands and coastal waters. That's enough oil to fuel 60 million cars for 60 years." Unfortunately, we already seem to have about 250,000,000 passenger vehicles in the U.S. And perhaps we don't have 60 years to reverse the effects of 100 years of gasoline-powered internal combustion.

[Source: American Petroleum Institute]

Recently we told you about oil execs explaining to congress how $123 billion in profits should entitle them to an additional $18 billion in the form of subsidies. I realize many of you out there have a lot of sympathy for their position and have spent the intervening time hounding your Congresspersons on their behalf. I mean, this is America and that means energy corporations have the right to do whatever they want - and if we don't like it we can buy a bicycle (I recommend a bicycle regardless. They are great for your health). One of the reasons these companys' hands are out-stretched beggar-like is because (they claim) they need money for further exploration and development. I don't know why they didn't have this part of the equation in their business model to begin with but hey, everyone makes mistakes. Year after year after etc. etc..

How my eyebrows did raise then when reading this article about Exxon (XOM) not increasing oil production so as to keep their record profits high, on Business Week. It is common practice now for oil companies to simply trade any capitol invested in new projects for the equivalent in oil so the countries are paying them to drill directly from their oil reserves. So why do they need our money again?

I know this may sound like a direct quote from Captain Obvious but oil companies like Exxon don't really care if Americans are struggling to keep their houses and buy food because of their desire to see higher profits which is reason number 643 why I intend my next new car to be electric. End rant.

[Source: Business Week]

Sometimes you read the newspaper and all you can do is shake your head. In an article that begins with a future scenario of Greenlanders putting away their dog sleds and transforming from reindeer hunters to oil platform workers, The Age offers up an article that informs us of one of the silver linings of global warming: 50 billion more barrels of oil. Excuse me while I light a cigar.

Apparently Greenland is practically oozing oil but there has always been this pesky thick layer of ice standing between it and the humans wanting to exploit this "resource." Now, thanks to rising temperatures from higher CO₂ levels, this black gold bonanza will soon be within the reach of oil companies. In fact, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Husky Energy have already been awarded exploration licenses and are busy rubbing their grubby hands studying seismic data to find the best drilling sites. While it goes on to discuss the huge headache this drilling will probably cause for Greenland-Danish relations, The Age mentions nothing about the consequences of the higher CO₂ levels burning this black stuff will cause.

[Source: The Age]

Oil hit a new record high price of $111.80 yesterday morning, but settled at $105.68 later, a drop of $4.42 for the day. While we're not yet ready to suggest that an end has come to the daily rise in oil prices, seeing the price for a barrel of crude drop, if only for a day, is probably a bit of a relief to some. Before yesterday's drop in prices, many analysts were suggesting that the falling value of the dollar was the largest cause for the recent upward trend in oil prices. Another contributing factor are the Federal Reserve's recent rate cuts. Monday's drop in oil prices though, could possibly point to a more serious problem which has to do with the U.S. economy as a whole. Some analysts see the sale of investment bank Bear Stearns as a sign that our economy is in even worse shape than previously thought.

We aren't stock market experts, so if you want to read more analysis related to the day's events, click here and here.

[Source: CNN Money, AP]

Farmington Hills, MI, 3/10/08

We worry about gasoline prices, but a recent New York Times article reminds us that it could be worse. The article talks to truckers about the increase in diesel prices and how it's impacting them. The Times talked to Ricardo Caraballo, who said that even after spending $500 at the pump, his tank isn't even half full. Caraballo also said that not too long ago, "$500 would have kept me rolling for two weeks. ... Now, I'll be lucky to make it three days." Diesel is impacted more by global demand, the Times explains, and international demand is high. Diesel prices set a record recently of $3.83 a gallon. Trucking companies are already starting to fail and Chad Beachler, co-owner of Beachler Trucking, puts it bluntly: the price of diesel, he said, is "killing us."

[Source: New York Times]

While the amount of energy the world demands every year is tremendous, the cost of finding and purchasing that energy is just as staggering. According to this article, ExxonMobil plans to spend between $25 and $35 billion every year for the foreseeable future in search of more oil. Even as established oil reserves dry up, the company is finding more oil through their new operations than they have been losing from closing their old ones. With $40.6 billion dollars in profits last year, the company surely has plenty of cash on hand to go out and search for even more crude.

Although Exxon Mobil is spending a pile to discover new oil sources, the amount pales in comparison to the $1 trillion in total money that the world will spend on new energy projects in the coming years. We wish that more of that money were being spent on alternatives to oil, but, as this article points out, we will undoubtedly consume all of the oil that anyone can find.

[Source: CNN Money]

On a recent episode of the Daily Show, the spike and price of a barrel of oil was explained (see videos below the fold). The comedy news show's explanation includes $15 of the $104 for a barrel of oil going towards trying to convince the public that the oil companies are not raping the environment. Another $25 goes towards blackening the oil because oil actually comes out of the ground rainbow colored. Who knew? The Daily Show also took a shot at President Bush for his press conference where he said he was unaware of the predictions that gas prices could reach $4 a gallon and for his speech at the WIRC.

[Source: Daily Show]

With India's emergence in recent years as a booming automotive market, the country needs a booming supply of oil to power all the new vehicles. Unfortunately for Indians, they don't have nearly enough domestically-produced oil, so they are forced to import their supplies from other countries. In an effort to reduce dependency on the Middle Eastern oil-producing nations, Indians are looking to get oil from countries in Central Asia and Africa. Purchasing the oil is all well and good, but how then does India get the oil from the ground in some other country to the tanks of cars in its own? According to this article, through massive pipelines and oil tankers across a sea and an ocean.

The article also highlights the point that other emerging countries, especially China, are all fighting for the same oil supplies, along with the already established players in Europe and the U.S. There's only so much oil to go around, folks, and every country is trying to get their hands on it.

[Source: Asia Times via Automotive Blog]