P11. Pick Points

Half-a-dozen or so stories of interest:

Well the situation in Europe continues to get worse. Russian deliveries to France fell 70% on Tuesday, but with the flow now apparently shut-off there is some question as to whether the pipes were closed by Russia or by Ukraine. Maybe this is why Norway has started pumping gas from Yttergryta gas field four months ahead of schedule.

Europe isn’t the only place with a problem. Gas supplies to Pakistan have now fallen 26,000 tcm/day below demand, with no LNG prospects before 2011, as domestic sources of this fuel which powers 50% of their energy needs starts to run out. Yet the country has had to restart a 110 MW gas-fired power station to reduce load shedding, and help the textile industry.

In other pipeline news, new rates are being proposed for oil transmitting the Alaskan Pipeline.

Mining is also feeling the cutbacks in demand, since the drop in auto production reduces mineral demand, even as far away as Botswana, for diamonds as well as metals. Even the Russians are concerned, and it is starting to hurt up in the tar sand operations of Alberta.

But if the world wants better energy and environmental solutions then there needs to be more science teachers. It will be their graduates that produce the fuel from algae that the airlines need, or improve the economics of domestic wind turbines, and maybe they will be able to explain why there is snow not surf in Hawaii

There are more stories listed at the Energy Bulletin, and at Drumbeat on The Oil Drum.