Rather than continue to fight to get some sort of different offshore drilling bill through both the House and Senate, and past a promised Presidential veto, the House has decided to let a more-than-25-year-old ban on offshore drilling expire next week. The measure had required renewal, and this will effectively end the ban on Oct. 1st.

Titanium, a protean element with applications from pigments to aerospace alloys, could get a new role as an environmentally friendly additive for automotive oil, thanks to work by materials scientists from Afton Chemical Corporation (Richmond, Va.) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

In a development that could lead to new technologies for cleaning up oil spills and polluted groundwater, scientists at Rice University have shown how tiny, stick-shaped particles of metal and carbon can trap oil droplets in water by spontaneously assembling into bag-like sacs.

With the price of a barrel of oil hovering around $120, U.S. drivers can expect to pay more at the pump in the near future, according to a new study by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Below is the full content – every word – of a statement former Shell Group Auditor Bill Campbell has sent to Royal Dutch Shell, the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE)and other interested parties. It contains serious allegations against Shell executives.

New research suggests that residential oil boilers, commonly used for home heating in the northeastern United States, should receive more attention as sources of air pollutants.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) cultivation has expanded dramatically in recent decades and is frequently cited as a major threat to tropical biodiversity. This is because oil palm is grown in lowland tropical regions and so impacts on the most biodiverse terrestrial habitats: tropical rainforests.

In the February issue of Geotimes magazine, now available on newsstands and online at http://www.geotimes.org, Geotimes examines the complicated issues surrounding Iraq’s oil exploration and production.

With oil hovering around $90 a barrel, Geotimes magazine examines emerging trends and issues in several obvious, and some not-so-obvious locations, in this month’s cover story “Oil Around the World.”

The bio-crude oil can be used to produce high value chemicals and biofuels, including both petrol and diesel replacement fuels.

The oil giant Shell has made a disconcerting start to the new year attracting a considerable amount of negative publicity, most recently after announcing what has been described as “obscene” net profits of $31.3 billion in 2007, the highest ever for a British company.

In Mississippi, just a few kilometres from the town of Natchez, KFG Resources (TSX.V: KFG) is about to try something that CEO Bob Kadane believes will create significant value for his company’s shareholders.