We'll be cold but at least the wok will be hot.

From today's Wall Street Journal:

Natural Gas Soars to New Highs As Winter Storm Hits U.S.

Associated Press
December 9, 2005 8:08 a.m.

SINGAPORE – Natural-gas prices rose to a new record Friday as a winter storm hit the northern U.S., while crude and heating-oil prices also gained amid expectations for strong demand.

Natural gas for January on the New York Mercantile Exchange reached an all-time intraday high of $15.52 per 1,000 cubic feet in Asian electronic trade midmorning in Singapore, double its price from a year earlier. The contract had closed at $14.994 overnight, also a new record.

Nymex crude was also up. Light, sweet crude oil for January delivery surged 74 cents to $61.40 a barrel in midafternoon electronic trading in Asia after closing up nearly $1.50 overnight at $60.66.

Although nearly $10 lower than its all-time high of $70.85 a barrel set Sept. 30, oil prices are more than 40% higher than a year earlier.

Put those pickles down, we have to pay the heating bill this month

Once again, market speculation is driving energy pricies. The great winds of the north are creating hysteria.

From the Wall Street Journal
The Dow industrials fell 55.79 points to 10755.12, sliding into the red for the year, as energy prices surged. Natural gas hit a record high above $15 and crude cruised past $60.

Get some wood so we can make a jump for our bikes.

Orders to U.S. factories posted a solid increase in October, the government reported Tuesday, providing the latest evidence that the economy is rebounding from the Gulf Coast hurricanes and a spike in energy prices.

The Commerce Department said that demand for manufactured goods rose by 2.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted $399.8 billion in October, erasing a 1.4 percent September decline when demand was jolted by the hurricanes, a strike at aircraft giant Boeing and a jump in energy costs.

The October increase was in line with economists' expectations. Orders for durable goods, items expected to last three or more years, increased by 3.7 percent while demand for nondurable goods rose by 0.5 percent.

In other news, the productivity of American workers shot up at an annual rate of 4.7 percent in the July-September quarter, the best showing in two years. The new report from the Labor Department represented a big upward revision from an initial estimate made a month ago that productivity was growing at a 4.1 percent rate in the third quarter.

But does it do the dishes????

From today's Wall Street Journal:

Energy Department Teams With Consortium to Build Model 'Clean-Coal' Plant

By JOHN J. FIALKA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 6, 2005; Page A2

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy has signed an agreement with an international consortium to build a $950 million prototype for a new generation of coal-fired power plants that remove pollutants including carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen as well as electricity.

The plant, called FutureGen, is scheduled to be built by 2012. If it works, it will further one of the Bush administration's main policy goals: to reduce reliance on imported oil and natural gas by using technology to clean up and increase the use of coal, a fuel the U.S. has in abundance.

The agency is set today to announce that a group of eight companies, including major coal and electricity producers, will contribute $250 million toward the project. The plant will produce 250 megawatts of electricity -- the output of a medium-sized power plant -- as well as hydrogen, which could be sold to power future cars and trucks or sent to oil refineries to upgrade petroleum products. And some of the pollutants removed from the coal, which would be gasified, may also be sold as byproducts, according to the agency.

Hey man is that hydroponic weeeeeed........

From Slashdot:

Concerned Onlooker wrote to mention an article at Science Daily discussing a microbe that lives in volcanic environments, which emits Hydrogen gas as a waste product. "As the world increasingly considers hydrogen as a potential biofuel, technology could benefit from having the genomes of such microbes. 'C. hydrogenoformans is one of the fastest-growing microbes that can convert water and carbon monoxide to hydrogen," remarks TIGR evolutionary biologist Jonathan Eisen, senior author of the PLoS Genetics study. "So if you're interested in making clean fuels, this microbe makes an excellent starting point.'"

Look for made in china on your next flight.......

By DON PHILLIPS and DAVID LAGUE

PARIS, Dec. 6 - Airbus and China announced a $9 billion order today for 150 narrow-body A320 aircraft, and said they would study the possibility of building a final assembly line for the aircraft in China.

The long-expected order allows Airbus, the huge European aircraft manufacturer, to surpass the recent China orders of its rival Boeing, and puts the company ahead of Boeing for aircraft orders taken this year. Both major aircraft manufacturers see China and India as the two top markets for aircraft sales in the next decade as travel expands in their growing economies.

An assembly line in China would give Airbus an important advantage, similar to the clear advantage that Chicago-based Boeing has gained in Japan by having the Japanese build a significant number of components for the new Boeing 787. The 787 does not go to final assembly in Japan, however.

China made virtually the same arrangement years ago with McDonnell Douglas, now part of Boeing, to build new twin-engine narrow-body MD-80's in China. In that case, the new aircraft could not be sold outside China.

Cup of Tea and a biscuit sirrrr?

Oil industry braced for new tax in pre-Budget report
By James Blitz and Chris Giles
Published: December 4 2005 21:39 | Last updated: December 5 2005 12:11

Gordon Brown is preparing to unveil a pre-Budget report that aims to boost the level of affordable housing across the UK as part of Labour’s manifesto bid to create a million more homeowners.

But although the chancellor will use the PBR to announce a string of measures to assist poorer families, there are strong expectations he will do so by imposing a new tax on oil companies, which have enjoyed a big jump in profits in 2005.

There was mixed news for Mr Brown earlier on Monday as the CBI revised down its quarterly growth forecast for 2005 by 0.2 per cent to 1.7 per cent, following the previous downgrade to 1.9 per cent in its August forecast.

The organisation’s quarterly survey pointed to a modest pick up in activity through 2006, but forecast the economy would not return to its trend rate of growth until 2007.

More encouragingly for Mr Brown, Monday’s PMI data showed activity in the services sector - the biggest part of the economy - continuing to expand in November, although at a slower pace than expected.

I love this state but I hate the TN Vols.....

From the great state of Tennessee:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Transportation Commissioner Gerald Nicely says his department will biodiesel fuel this winter.

Nicely said today T-DOT will begin a pilot project today in northeast Tennessee.The department will use a blend of 80 percent standard diesel fuel and 20 percent biodiesel.The biodiesel is made from recovered animal fats, used restaurant grease and vegetable oil.Nicely says officials want to see how the blend performs in trucks used on roads in the Knoxville and Tri-Cities areas during winter driving conditions.If the fuel performs well, T-DOT will expand use to off-road construction equipment, then begin using it across the state.Nicely says advantages include reducing air pollution, creation of a new market for agricultural products and reduction of dependence on foreign oil.

I've got to buy a moose to mow the grass

Morning Edition, December 2, 2005 · Rising demand for oil -- and the resulting rise in prices -- means that the United States is increasingly looking to Canada for crude.

In Alberta, large deposits of oil sit in the ground in the form of the tar-like substance called bitumen.

The town of Fort McMurray is a hub for the extraction of bitumen and its energy-intensive conversion into synthetic oil.

The oil company Shell has been digging up bitumen near Fort McMurray for about two years. The pit it is working on is now as much as three miles wide and 200 feet deep.

Giant electric shovels dig up the earth and dump it into 400-ton trucks -- said to be the largest in the world -- that cart it off for processing. It takes two tons of the Canadian sand to make just one barrel of oil.

The oil operation has been a boon for Fort McMurray and its people. But some observers are worried about the facility's impact on the environment.

After processing the sand to extract its oily component, the gigantic holes dug in the earth are refilled and planted with trees. But the refilled mine pits rarely match the original terrain, and replanting programs so far have resulted in forests that resemble Christmas tree farms.

Full Article

The truth is out there.............

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some 56 percent of U.S. consumers think Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is bad for America, according to a Zogby International poll released Thursday by one of the retailer's most vocal critics.

The national poll -- commissioned by WakeUpWalMart.com, a union-funded group that has been pressuring Wal-Mart to raise employee wages and benefits -- surveyed 1,012 randomly chosen adults on their attitudes toward the world biggest retailer.

Respondents were asked to choose which of two statements more closely fit their personal opinions.

The majority, or 56 percent, picked: "I believe that Wal-Mart is bad for America. It may provide low prices, but these prices come with a high moral and economic cost for consumers." Thirty-nine percent agreed that "Wal-Mart is good for America. It provides low prices and saves consumers money every day."

Couple of NPR Morning Edition Stories..

Decline in Oil Prices May Not Last

by Scott Horsley

Morning Edition, December 1, 2005 · Oil prices have fallen more than $12 a barrel from their peak level after Hurricane Katrina. But with domestic production still feeling the effects of that storm, government forecasters suggest the downward trend may be ending.

States Push Automakers on Fuel Efficiency

by Kathleen Schalch

Morning Edition, December 1, 2005 · Ten states are taking steps that would gradually force automakers to produce vehicles with higher fuel efficiency and lower emissions of greenhouse gases. California is leading the effort and would also require cars and trucks to emit less carbon dioxide.

Did somebody say treasure??????Where?

China warns on impact of renminbi revaluation
Financial Times
>By Richard McGregor in Beijing
>Published: December 1 2005 04:24 | Last updated: December 1 2005 04:24

The rapid build-up in China’s foreign exchange reserves should slow as a result of the revaluation this year of the renminbi, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The level of China’s foreign exchange holdings, which had reached $769bn (€653bn, £445bn) by the end of September, is one of the most closely watched barometers of structural change in the local economy and the exchange rate system.

China’s foreign exchange levels have global implications, as a large amount of the money is invested overseas in US Treasuries.

The statement about the impact of the revaluation came in the form of an interview with an unnamed People’s Bank of China official in the China Securities Journal, an official newspaper. “The growth rate of foreign exchange reserves will be slowed slightly,” said the official.

You know you got to help me move......

New Report on 3rd Quarter Growth Shows Economy Gained Momentum Despite Devastating Hurricane Season

A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP
November 30, 2005 2:26 p.m.

The U.S. economy grew at a faster pace during the third quarter than initially thought, indicating that the nation's overall economic health managed to improve despite the destructive force of the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of U.S. economic activity, grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.3% in July through September. That was stronger than the 3.8% rate of growth seen in an earlier estimate of GDP issued a month ago, and was the best showing since an identical 4.3% gain in the first quarter of 2004.

My commentary: India's GDP grew at 8%.

Now its time for the seventh inning stretch

I've noticed a major slowdown in news surrounding oil over the last weeks. We are now entering a recession of news since oil prices have started to slide. As predicted the pressure is shrinking similiar to the 70s.

As citizens of this great country we must keep the pressure up. If you have a idea around keeping the pressure up please post comments. serious comments please.