Brace for $5 gas, Shell exec warns U.S.

$5 Gas by 2012? Ex-Shell Oil Exec Predicts
John Hofmeister, former president of Shell Oil, believes the $5 gas will be average in 2012 here in America. During a recent interview, Hofmeister, who left Shell Oil in 2008 and now heads Citizens for Affordable Energy, predicts that the price of a gallon of gas will be $5, if not more, by 2012. Last weekend, the taped interviewed was aired on Platts Energy Week television. Hofmeister blames global demand, tighter supplies and government inaction for a increases at the gas pump. Already, the p...

Guest Post: Former Shell Oil Chief Predicts $5 Gas by 2012
Former Shell Oil Chief Predicts $5 Gas by 2012 Though he’s no longer running one of the largest companies in the world, former President of Shell Oil John Hofmeister warns that the outlook for Gas Prices in the coming decade is not looking good: I’m predicting a worse outcome over the next two years, which takes us to 2012 with higher Gasoline prices, uncertainty as to the future of hydrocarbons, more Regulation on the hydrocarbon industry based upon who the administration is today...

Fuel Consumption Falls in Iran After Subsidy Cut
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 By Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press Tehran, Iran (AP) - Fuel consumption has fallen by a fifth since the government began slashing energy and food Subsidies earlier this month, a top government official said Wednesday, claiming an early sign of success in the Controversial program. Gasoline prices quadrupled and bread prices tripled after the cuts came into effect Dec. 19, part of a government effort to boost Iran's ailing economy by reducing the massive drai...

Fuel consumption falls in Iran after subsidy cut
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Fuel consumption has fallen by a fifth since the government began slashing energy and food Subsidies earlier this month, a top government official said Wednesday, claiming an early sign of success in the Controversial program. Gasoline prices quadrupled and bread prices tripled after the cuts came into effect Dec. 19, part of a government effort to boost Iran's ailing economy by reducing the massive drain on the state Budget from the subsidies. The economic shock has brough...

Fuel consumption falls in Iran after subsidy cut
Tehran, Iran — Fuel consumption has fallen by a fifth since the government began slashing energy and food Subsidies earlier this month, a top government official said Wednesday, claiming an early sign of success in the Controversial program. Gasoline prices quadrupled and bread prices tripled after the cuts came into effect Dec. 19, part of a government effort to boost Iran’s ailing economy by reducing the massive drain on the state Budget from the subsidies. The economic shock has ...

Gasoline Prices Are Spiking Way Out Of Season
Email Sent! You have successfully emailed the post. Doug Short is the CEO of Dshort.com. On our brief Christmas afternoon drive home from a family gathering in Clayton NC, we spotted a Wal-Mart service station sign for $3.019 regular gas. The post-Thanksgiving Holiday Season is not one I normally associate with high Gas Prices. As the chart below shows, the general pattern is for Gasoline prices to peak in the summer and decline after Labor Day. This year has run counter to the pattern by a si...

$5 A Gallon Gas Forecast Has Ex-Shell Exec Making Headlines
What is this? Predicting that Gasoline will hit $5 a gallon by some time in 2012 has put former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister on the News Media's radar today. Why's he think the price will go there? "The issues that gave rise to high priced Gasoline in 2007 and 2008 are repeating themselves, except the world demands even more oil in the next several years than before," Hofmeister tells CNN (he's due on tonight's edition of Parker Spitzer). "Asian growth is continuing. ... U.S. economic rec...

$5 A Gallon Gas Forecast Has Ex-Shell Exec Making Headlines
What is this? Predicting that Gasoline will hit $5 a gallon by some time in 2012 has put former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister on the News Media's radar today. Why's he think the price will go there? "The issues that gave rise to high priced Gasoline in 2007 and 2008 are repeating themselves, except the world demands even more oil in the next several years than before," Hofmeister tells CNN (he's due on tonight's edition of Parker Spitzer). "Asian growth is continuing. ... U.S. economic rec...

Former shell executive raises the specter of $5 per gallon gas
Gas Prices became a major topic of discussion this week after the former president of Shell said that the United States could see gas prices as high as $5 per gallon in 2012. "When American Consumers are short or prices are so high — $5 a gallon for Gasoline, for example, by 2012 — that's going to set a new tone. It's going to be panic time on behalf of the politicians," John Hofmeister, who was president of the company from 2005 to 2009, told Platts Energy Week. Platts Energy Week aired t...

Mandarin Monday China Tightens, Snow Chills Markets
(archives here) We hope all of you had a great holiday weekend! –Ilene Mandarin Monday – China Tightens, Snow Chills Markets By Phil of Phil's Stock World It's going to be another light trading week . Europe is off 1.25% this morning (8am) as the Shanghai fell 2% and the Hang Seng dropped 0.3% on news that China was raising rates 0.25% for the second time in 2 months - weeks ahead of what most considered a fairly aggressive tightening schedule. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao voiced con...

Local Gas Prices Climb 8 Cents In Week
GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Gas Prices in the Greenville area have climbed 8 cents during the past week, according to GasBuddy.com. The website said that the average price for a gallon of Gasoline is at $2.86 as of Monday, but that price is below the national average of $3.03 per gallon -- up 4.3 cents over last week. Monday's prices were 44.2 cents higher than the same day last year and 26.2 cents higher than a month ago, the website reported. Nationally, GasBuddy.com said, the average price for a gall...

Prediction: $5 Gas in 2012
Gasoline Rationing and $5 pump prices are predicted by 2012 for consumers if U.S. politicians don't get their act together, a former Shell executive said. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Read more... We invite all Americans who share these values to join us here at Fox Nation. washingtonpost: RT @postlocal Did you ke...

Storm could cost airlines $150 million
The blizzard in the Northeast that left thousands of passengers stranded and temporarily shut down the busiest air market in the U.S. this week could cost the airline industry up to $150 million, some analysts predict. The estimates came as Airlines struggled to find space for passengers whose original flights were grounded by the storm that struck Sunday, and whose rippling effect continued to cause cancellations and delays into Tuesday. "It's going to be tens of millions (of dollars) for sure,...

Consumers Open Wallets But Remain Wary
American consumers sent out decidedly contradictory signals Tuesday, spending more in December while telling researchers they were less confident about The Economy. After showing a slight improvement in November, the Conference Board's index of Consumer Confidence dropped to 52.5 in December. That's down from 54.3 the month before. A reading of 90 or above indicates a healthy economy. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 55.8 in an indication that confidence was on the mend after the longe...

American companies flourish with foreign hiring
American companies are getting back on their feet, but American workers aren't . This isn't because companies aren't hiring but, rather, because they're doing it overseas. According to the Associated Press , companies like Coca-Cola, DuPont, and Caterpillar are increasingly moving jobs to India, China, and Brazil --countries with rising middle classes, skilled workers, and growing consumer demand. This is why one Economist after another insists that the next decade's growth will largely happen i...

What Strong Holiday Sales Say About the American Consumer
Holiday sales soared in 2010. Season-over-season Retail Sales growth was 5.5%, according to MasterCard's SpendingPulse. The report indicates that Retail Sales excluding autos were $584 billion for the period from Nov. 5th through Dec. 24th. That makes it the best Holiday Season for sales since 2005, and the growth was also better than 2009's 4.1% rise. This sounds great, but does it indicate that the American consumer is really back? The answer is a little complicated. First, given that this is...

Big corporate profits don't translate into hirings in Florida — but why?
It seems like just the thing Florida's coughing, wheezing Job Market needs: With corporate profits rebounding nicely in the past year, the nation's biggest companies are sitting on almost $1.7 Trillion in earnings. Flush with cash, those businesses must be ready to hire, right? Their strong financial position must mean that stubbornly high jobless rates — 12 percent statewide, 11.9 percent in Central Florida — will soon march downward? Not necessarily. The usual relationship between ...

Free or Fair?
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 By Walter E. Williams At first blush, the mercantilists' call for "Free Trade but Fair Trade" sounds reasonable. After all, who can be against fairness? Giving the idea just a bit of thought suggests that fairness as a guide for Public Policy lays the groundwork for tyranny. You say, "Williams, I've never heard anything so farfetched! Explain yourself." Think about the First Amendment to our Constitution, which reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an estab...

Japan postpones launch of emissions trading from 2013+
TOKYO, Dec. 28 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The government decided Tuesday to put off the creation of a greenhouse Gas Emissions trading system until after fiscal 2013 in the face of strong resistance from the business world, a move that bodes ill for the country's efforts to combat Global Warming. The Democratic Party of Japan-led government has already submitted to parliament a basic anti-global warming bill that also includes an environment tax and fixed-price purchases of power generated by renewabl...

Outdoor furnaces facing possible ban
Connecticut is a state looking for Renewable Energy sources, where wood is in abundant supply. But one method of heating, outdoor wood furnaces, could be all but banned under terms of a bill to be introduced next session. State Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford, co-chair of the General Assembly's Environment Committee, said he has received so many complaints about the units, which resemble small metal sheds with round stacks, that he will introduce a bill to outlaw them for everyone but farmers. "...

Eric D. Isaacs: Why American Needs a 21st Century Power Grid
When the west wind blows hard across the prairies, its power can be seen in swirling leaves and bending trees. Here in Illinois, we're harnessing more of that power every day, with 25 Wind Farms - from one-turbine to utility-scale projects - capturing the energy of the wind and converting it into electricity. But we are facing a major obstacle in our push to build more and better Wind Farms and create Clean Energy jobs in Illinois and across the country. Because while we have the technology to...

10 to watch: GOP freshmen on energy
House Republican freshmen looking to make names for themselves on energy issues in the next Congress have some goals in common: Ramp up domestic energy production, roll back the Obama Administration’s environmental rules and ensure that cap-and-trade stays dead. There are 87 members of the GOP freshman class. Here are 10 to watch on energy and environmental issues in the next Congress: Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 David McKinley (W.Va.) — This seventh-generat...

Will generating ocean energy affect migration of sea creatures?
WASHINGTON — Without maps or GPS, great white sharks travel thousand of miles roundtrip from California to Hawaii or Australia to South Africa. Sea Turtles hatched on the beaches of Florida travel the currents of the North Atlantic Gyre to Europe, Africa and South America before heading home. And in one of the most mysterious and epic journeys of all, salmon from the streams and rivers of the Pacific Northwest head to sea and swim into the far reaches of the North Pacific before returnin...

Americas Energy Industry Is Strong And Doesnt Need Carbon Caps To Be Green
Americans are often given a fairly gloomy outlook of the future of energy in America. We’re told that Oil is running out, that coal power is destroying the planet and our only hope is expensive and unreliable Renewable Energy sources like wind and solar power. In fact, the energy dystopia often painted by the media is often used as justification for the endless subsidies Renewable Energy industries demand. The problem? Despite the machinations of government on behalf of the politically wel...

Policy matters: Renewable energy tax credits support private investment, the key to global leadership
By Guest Blogger Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Climate and Energy Campaign Last week, Congress took the opportunity to create jobs and to reinvigorate both our Manufacturing base and seize new export markets by passing the extension of the Section 1603 Treasury Grant Program, which allows Renewable Energy developers to claim tax incentives directly. The extraordinary worldwide growth in Clean Energy investment over the past five years has been defined by a simple fact: Where supportive ...