Image Day - Who's rich?

Car lights are seen streaking past an oil-rig extracting petroleum in Los-Angeles.

As the price of crude oil rises to nearly $120 per barrel, it is prompting oil companies to re-open numerous wells across the nation that were considered tapped out and unprofitable decades ago, when oil sold for one-fifth the price.

Many of the old unprofitable wells, known as 'stripper wells', are located in urban areas where home owners are often outraged by the noise, smell, and possible environmental hazards associated with living so close to renewed oil drilling.

Since homeowners usually do not own the mineral rights under their land, oil firms can drill at an angle to go under homes regardless of the desires of residents. Using expensive new technology and drilling techniques, producers have reversed a long decline of about 5 percent annually with an increased crude flow.

> Getty-Images

Housing Slumps, Defective Pumps

Seen on: YouTube

Sales of new homes plunged last month to the lowest level in 16 and a half years. Microsoft is to keep XP-running; and, are defective pumps costing you a fortune?

Profit in Greentech

"I don't think we're going to make it," John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment.

Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers embarked on a greentech world tour -- surveying the state of the art, from the ethanol revolution in Brazil to Wal-mart's (!) eco-concept store in Bentonville, Arkansas. KPCB is investing $200 million in green technologies to save the planet and make a profit to boot. But, Doerr fears, it may not be enough.

An Oil Giant's Green Dream

If you filled your tank with gasoline today, or warmed your home with natural gas, there's a chance you sent some money to Abu-Dhabi.

So it might come as a surprise to learn that Abu Dhabi is this week hosting the world's first Future Energy Summit, a three-day gathering of more than 4,000 entrepreneurs, analysts and officials from the alternative energy world.

But if the idea of an Arab oil power like Abu Dhabi supporting fossil fuel alternatives sounds a bit like a heroin dealer trying to sell methadone, think again. In 2006 it launched the Masdar-Initiative (means "source" in Arabic), a scheme that includes a collaborative research institute with the MIT.

"We have a long tradition as a global energy leader and we have the financial resources to develop new fields of energy," said Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, Masdar's CEO. "Leadership entails responsibility."

These are bold plans for a city that had little green experience until recently — but for Abu Dhabi, investing in alternative power is a way to remain a world energy center in the event that concerns over climate-change cut into the demand for fossil fuels.

Via Time-Magazine

World's Largest Company

China's biggest oil and gas company, PetroChina, surged past ExxonMobil on Monday to become the world's first company worth more than $1-trillion. The 4 billion new shares listed in Shanghai surged to 43.96 yuan ($5.90) in the first day of trading Monday, nearly triple the IPO price of 16.70 yuan ($2.24).

> PetroChina Triples in Shanghai IPO