Word: oil
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Anyone who ever doubted the centrality of oil and natural gas to the global economy should have been convinced by the political events of the past few months. As petroleum prices have risen to record levels, the spiraling price of gasoline has become issue number one in the American Presidential election. That's prompted Republican candidate John McCain to make expanded offshore oil drilling a focus of his campaign. For years, offshore drilling has been illegal outside parts of the Gulf of Mexico due to environmental concerns, with public support. But that has reversed in recent months, with even green...
...green group Save America's Forests, however, the western Amazon could be on the brink of an energy bonanza - and that could be bad news for the rich array of plants and wildlife the forest supports. Finer points out that there are approximately 180 separate zones of development for oil and gas exploration in the western Pacific, run by at least 35 multinational energy companies. The area covers almost 700,000 sq. km. and it's growing fast. In 2003 Peru cut oil and gas royalties in an effort to kick start energy investment; that discount, compounded by the rapidly...
...original version of this story said that only small wildcatter firms have signed oil deals with the Kurdish Regional Government. While the oil companies are small, they cannot be accurately described as "wildcatter firms...
...oil company looking to get involved in Iraq faces some major disincentives. Without an oil law, which appears unlikely anytime soon because of political bickering, companies wanting to start work in Iraq must essentially lobby both the Iraqi parliament and the government, which rarely find consensus. Two of the biggest projects, gas fields in the provinces of Anbar and Diyala, sit in territory plagued by violence and tribal politics. And none of the ventures are likely to allow companies to have a stake in any newly discovered oil reserves, the real moneymaking prize. "These deals themselves are not likely...
That leaves much of the oil in the world's third largest reserves effectively off-line for the time being and hopes for a sharp drop in prices at the pump in Iraq, the United States and around the world still distant. "This is a hope," says al-Ueaibi of Iraq's potential rise in oil production. "Let's say hopeful wishing...