Daily Oil Blog

Yes.The royalties from the land of north Dakota are making millionaires out of their residents that are sitting on oil.We’re talking about 1 out of 3 residents!What are royalties some of you may ask.It’s the price of letting some companies the right to develop the resource which in this case is oil.

And with the high oil prices this days, Americans will no doubt find relief once again the crude energy that they may have to drill in alaska are be in abundence in their backyard.And the oil is easier to refine compared to Alberta tar sands.This all come at a time when US exploration for oil seems to be going no where.

Big oil and gas companies already rushing into the region of north dakota for drilling and the results seems to be positive in the long run.The Bakken basin has been confirmed by the US government having a big oil formation.This would release American being beholden by Saudi Oil and also create fortunes for the local landowners there as well.

I guess the environmentalists will have a say on this matter.Meanwhile the royalties in Dakota will be around for some time.

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 Petroleum giant Shell recently mapped out 2 possible outcomes for our declining fossil world.First one is called Scramble and the second named blueprints.Let me summarize the 2 scenerios:

Scramble view:

a)World leaders cannot find the will to follow up on their promises to reduce carbon emissions as lower consumption of energy will affect the socio economic living many developed countries enjoyed and developing countries aspire.

b) Using biofuels for our energy needs but drive up our food prices by doing so. Many poor in our world will find it impossible to get cheap food.

c)Survival politics will be more frequent than ideologies in an oil scarce world.Coups will become more common in third world and volatile region.The fight for remaining oil resources will sour ties even between once cordial relations between countries.

Blueprint view :

a)Awakened giant China will become more concerned about her role in climate change and respond to it in a positive sustainable manner.She will use the revenue from the auctioning of emission permits which will distribute to other nations in the future.

b)Oil rich countries like the middle east and russia playing a bigger role by exporting more oil for more profits, they’re able to do this as their domestic demand drops in favour of alternative energy.

c)Enviromnental friendly financial markets and insurance develop and cash in on the emerging green trend and governments become more green due to a eco friendly populace.

The above scenerios by Shell shows how the leaders and her people in the world can make a difference between confrontation and cooperation in the energy scacre planet.I personally feel that our world may be going into a hybrid of the duo outcome hopefully with the blueprint weighing more in the process

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The sequel to the hulk movie is better than the first directed by Lee Ang starring eric bana as the green giant.This time Edward norton played the role of the freak incident that turn him into a unlikely green muscled hero.

Some scenes were shot in Brazil slums, one can see the disparity of wealth in that country and also the environmental degradation formed by the unstructured dwellings the underclass live.Ed norton having that frail look seems to suit the role better than banna and also the plot seems more palatable than the first that relied more on CGI .

Overall I would give this 3.5 out of 5 due to the sequel lack of continuity from the first.It scored in the subtle view that give us a look at how the problems in developing latin countries would somehow catch up with the developed world like the US if one would disconnect the hulk movie from the favelas scene.

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To go from high fossil consumption city to low fossil one takes lifestyle changes:

a)Buy energy efficient appliances eg..airconditioners and fridges that’s energy efficient if possible use fans instead of air con in your homes

b)To recycle paper-use double side paper for printing

c)Take shorter showers to conserve water

d)Use public transport to minimize carbon output and helps to cut one’s budget in high oil society

e)Recycle one’s clothes to give them away to salvation army as not to waste natural materials.

The above steps seems easy but actually take personal efforts of each of us living in a big city of more than 3 million.Eco city is a pipe dream if all of us do not take initiative to change our ways of high consumption.

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America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.

Oscar Wilde

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Hi guys,

Just got back from Hong kong last week and like to share some of my thoughts of the commercial city .Singapore tends to be more sterile compared to HK for their buzz and thrill of the street life. It’s been more than a decade since I first step into HK and so the changes are more obvious.Transportation of trains and buses definitely have improved and is comparable to Singapore.

Crude decline may change HK in the coming decades, as declining populace of local HK chinese finds it more challenging to support a high cost consumer society bringing in more mainland cousins to fuel the habit, it’s been already been opening up for skilled labour I guess.

The HK model of property and financial services may not be a strength in oil shortage era.As the two industries tend to be linked with abundent and cheap oil in the last century.Can the future HK meet the challenge and change into a sustainable economic model?

The transition would take discipline and creativity which HK is stronger in the latter and Singapore stronger on the former.

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I’ll be flying off to hongkong for a week , will be back next thursday evening.Wonder will the weather from Hong kong will be as fickleminded?

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I went to a dental checkup to do some scaling and polishing of my teeth after many years of lapse visits.By right one should at least do a routine yearly visit and I decided to make it my priority starting this year.

After years of neglect from the dental treatment, the dentist spent more time vibrating my teeth and gums, need less to say blood from the gums flowed and the pain tends to be intensified.This helps to prevent gum disease and cleanse the tartars from one’s teeth.

Luckily the the dentist I visited was more patient person so it puts me more at ease with the treatment.So for all those who have not make dental visit a yearly routine, please do so.Your teeth will be cleaner, gums healtier and less prone to bad breath.

Even though crude oil cannot relieve the discomfort of cleaning your teeth and gums for now, at least it will not increase the pain  by using manual instuments rather than employing  vibrator.

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Living in Asia I came to look upon Japan as an economic model for the rest of the region here, indeed the japanese have outdone the rest of us in GDP per capita, high tech development , lower crime rate compared to most industrialised countries worldwide.

The export oriented success for Japan became the recipe for south korea and now China to follow.Consumer living became the norm for the japanese after her post war ascent to an economic power.However it changed the traditional family unit to a more individualistic western outlook in life as more educated japanese women joined the workforce delaying marriage and child bearing.

What’s startling about Japan is that the society is rapidly greying without the fertilty rate to replace the retiring workforce.There seems to be a lack of institutions in Japan compared to the west in allowing married women to work and the space for raising children.And many younger women is choosing not to married in pursuit of lifestyles unlike the ways of their mothers and grandmothers.

Demographics is destiny and with the land of the rising aged in Japan coinciding with the high cude oil of this century, the maintainence of japanese position as an economic powerhouse will posed many challenges like foreign immigration and a move towards a more sustainable economy.

But a rich country like Japan will have the luxury of time to ease the transition towards an older lower populated society but whether it will compromise her prominence in the world stage remains to be seen.

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Kind of strange that the weather in June is stormy in certain days and I’m living on the equator of the planet!

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