...oil was the objective. Maybe. From ABC: Five years after the US-led coalition stormed into Iraq there is set to be another western invasion. This time it is the world's biggest oil companies leading the charge, 36 years after Saddam Hussein kicked them out. The oil giants are seeking access to Iraq's rich crude reserves, Australian companies BHP Billiton and Woodside are among them. The Iraqi government wants to make up for the lost opportunities under Hussein's rule and has the ambitious goal of doubling Iraqi oil production to more than 4 million barrels a day within five years. Peter Zeihan, an energy analyst at geopolitical intelligence group Stratfor, says there is plenty of incentive for the big oil companies. "They have the largest, easiest reservoirs to tap, they're very close to existing export points, there's infrastructure in place for over double the amount of oil that currently is being produced in Iraq," Mr Zeihan said. "When ...

By Jason Simpkins Associate Editor Iraq has officially opened the door for foreign oil companies to invest in the country’s rich energy sector for the first time in more than 30 years. Thirty-five foreign oil majors have been invited to bid for contracts to provide technical support and help boost production in eight oil and natural gas fields. The contracts will be awarded in 2009, as Iraq’s oil minister, Hussein Shahristani, hopes to increase production by 2 million barrels of crude oil per day by 2013. Iraq has the world’s third largest proven petroleum reserves, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). While Iraq boasts proven reserves of 112 billion barrels, the EIA estimates that up to 90% of the country remains unexplored. Only 2,000 wells have been drilled in Iraq, versus approximately 1 million in the state of Texas alone. The war-torn ...

Here is a nutty thought.Some folks want to impose a windfall profits tax on the oil companies because of how much money they are making. The profits are obscene these people say.I have never heard anyone define obscene but wouldn't obscene have to be indexed to inflation?Some other folks feel that the gub'ment's inflation data is cooked in such a way as to minimize the true rate of inflation because of various COLA requirements for entitlement programs.Wouldn't windfall profits inflation indexing be an incentive for cooking the inflation numbers upward? The COLA indexing an incentive to cook the numbers downward? Which one would win?If more taxes could solve problems, not have unintended consequences and be good economics then people would be all for it but the reality is higher taxes do not solve problems, do have unintended consequences and is ...

Some companies just have all the luck. They work to find what they know could be a lucrative product, and find it. Then, to top off the find, the product’s value shoots through the roof just as the company’s efforts hit their production stride. Timing and luck - there is little one can do to predict it, but when the two get together there’s a solid payday on the way.

New Century Energy Corp., an oil and gas exploration and development company, works to explore and develop oil and gas properties in Texas. The company currently owns over 20,000 acres of oil producing properties and is working to increase its holdings through 2008. Where many smaller oil and gas exploration companies are looking to recapture or find new sources of oil and gas, New Century Energy is producing oil and gas with positive revenue results.

In the first quarter of 2008, the

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The price of gasoline is soaring — regular gas has hit an average $3.72 nationally according to the Energy Information Administration, and prices have already climbed well beyond $4 a gallon in California, Alaska and other pricey locales.

On average, consumers pay over 20% more for gasoline than they did a year ago. Skyrocketing gas prices are putting some serious hurt on drivers’ wallets, and throwing politicians, car makers and others into full-blown panic.

As a result, we’re hearing some ideas on how to ease the pain at the pump. Quite honestly, some of them are so ridiculous they don’t pass the horse-sense test — in fact; some are so dumb they could have fallen out of the wrong end of a mule.

Nevertheless, the following three ideas are getting a lot of play …