Found via Kottke.org

Original post: Who Has the Oil?

Bigger image taken from: Who has the oil?

Another, interactive, Oil World Map, with different figures: The Oil World Map

On BBC:

“ Oil prices saw their sharpest drop in two years, shedding more than $2 a barrel as mild US weather led consumers to use less petrol and heating oil. US light crude oil fell $2.73 to $55.59 a barrel in New York, falling by over $5 in two days. In London meanwhile, Brent crude fell $2.85 to $55.11. The US Energy Department said stocks of distillates rose by two million barrels in the last week of 2006. The fall led oil group Opec to say it might act if prices continue dropping.”

Oil in biggest fall in two years

When prices were raising, Opec was going to act to stop them. Now, prices are falling and Opec is going to act..what is it that they want? Not only Opec, all of these so called oil people? A few months ago everybody was saying they were trying to find a way to reduce oil prices and I thought it was just a scam to keep people from burning them down. Now it's obvious, but unfortunately, as usual, nobody notices. It's ridiculous..more posts about oil

“ The Niger Delta is made up of nine states, 185 local government areas, and a population of 27 million. It has 40 ethnic groups speaking 250 dialects spread across 5,000 to 6,000 communities and covers an area of 27,000 square miles. This makes for one the highest population densities in the world, with annual population growth estimated at 3 percent. About 1,500 of those communities play host to oil company operations of one kind or another. Thousands of miles of pipelines crisscross the mangrove creeks of the Delta, broken up by occasional gas flares that send roaring orange flames into the already hot, humid air. Modern, air-conditioned facilities sit cheek-by-jowl with primitive fishing villages made of mud and straw, surrounded with razor wire and armed guards trained to be on the lookout for local troublemakers. It is, and always has been, a recipe for disaster.”

The Curse of Oil

Exxon is getting discounts:

Court halves Exxon spill damages

Considering they reported record profits for the year 2005 and the third-highest quarterly profit in the company's history they should be made to pay more not less.

Via Kottke.org:

The Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2006

“ The world's glaciers and ice caps are now in terminal decline because of global warming, scientists have discovered. A survey has revealed that the rate of melting across the world has sharply accelerated in recent years, placing even previously stable glaciers in jeopardy. The loss of glaciers in South America and Asia will threaten the water supplies of millions of people within a few decades, the experts warn.”

Water for millions at risk

“ Sitting on the edge of the water in the Gulf of Kutch on India's western shore is one of America's dirty secrets. A mass of steel pipes and concrete boxes stretches across 13 square miles (33sq km) - a third of the area of Manhattan - which will eventually become the world's largest petrochemical refinery.”

America's dirty secret

One hand fixes it and the other destroys it...typical human behaviour, apparently.

“ Peak Oil is the simplest label for the problem of energy resource depletion, or more specifically, the peak in global oil production. Oil is a finite, non-renewable resource, one that has powered phenomenal economic and population growth over the last century and a half. The rate of oil “production”, meaning extraction and refining (currently about 84 million barrels/day), has grown in most years over the last century, but once we go through the halfway point of all reserves, production becomes ever more likely to decline, hence “peak”. Peak Oil means not running out of oil, but running out of cheap oil. For societies leveraged on ever increasing amounts of cheap oil, the consequences may be dire. Without significant successful cultural reform, economic and social decline seems inevitable.”

Peak Oil primer

Wherever there is oil..:

West African oil deals

From the Guardian:

• In bed with the killers
• Caspian oil pipeline
• How allies of Britain and America benefited ties up with this previous entry

Oil (or some other resource) is the reason for most of what happens nowadays in the world, over and over:

Oil for Food (BBC) plenty of links from there

Everybody should be able to see it, right?

...wrong!