This is not a good sign... oil, energy and the dollar.

I gave a healthy warning before the 2008 crisis... here is your 2011 edition.
“We are in the danger zone now with prices and how the economy is responding.”  IEA chief economist

ASPO Briefs (clips from recent Peak Oil News dailies are indicated by date and item #)

• A Russian state study warns the government that it faces a future light crude oil shortage and that it can only sustain its world leading production rates for another 15 years. The annual ministry of natural resources survey painted a bleak Russian energy picture that also pointed to problems in future export rates of natural gas. (4/27, #20) (4/27, #21)
• Russia decided to halt exports of gasoline and switch the flow to domestic markets to fight shortages and price increases. Deputy Energy Ministry Sergei Kudryashov suggested that the export restrictions would apply only for the month of May and then be followed by higher gasoline export duties aimed at keeping most future sales within Russia. (4/27, #19) (4/28, #25)
• Japanese factory output suffered a record decline in March as the tsunami crippled supply chains across the economy. The government said production plummeted 15.3 percent in March from February, the biggest decline since records began in 1953, and worse than analysts had expected. (4/25, #17) (4/28, #17)
• China’s census shows its population grew to 1.34 billion people by 2010, with a sharp rise in those over 60. This census, the first in 10 years, comes after a decade of rapid economic growth that has led to significant social change. The results revealed that almost half of all Chinese - 49.7% of the population - now live in cities, up from about 36% 10 years ago. (4/28, #13)
• Nepal faces its worst fuel crisis since 1990 as the Nepal Oil Corporation is on the verge of running out of its diesel and petrol stock, informed sources revealed to the Himalayan Times. (4/29, #12) 
• A 14 percent reduction in its 2011 fiscal-year budget will force the Energy Information Administration to cut back some energy data and analysis. The budget for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 provides $95.4 million for the EIA, the independent analytical and statistical wing of the Department of Energy, a drop of $15.2 million from the fiscal year 2010 level. (4/30, #3)
• IEA chief economist, Fatih Birol, said high oil prices are threatening to disrupt a still-fragile global economic recovery. “We are in the danger zone now with prices and how the economy is responding,” said Birol. He also said that oil use is set to increase by as much as three million barrels a day over the next few months, and prices could march higher unless major producers pump out more crude. (4/30, #2)
• Libya imported gasoline from Italian refiner Saras in early April, taking advantage of a loophole in United Nations sanctions that permits purchases by companies not on a U.N. list of banned entities. Shipping sources with direct knowledge of the transaction said the cargo was transferred to a Libyan ship in Tunisian waters before sailing to Libya. (4/26, #6)
• Political instability in Libya has slowed the progress of the Kenya-Uganda oil pipeline - one of the most critical regional infrastructure projects in East Africa. Tripoli was financing the project. (4/25, #11)
• US President Obama reiterated his call to end billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies and instead invest in alternative energy sources. Obama said the government should be spending more money on developing new energy sources, such as solar- and wind-power, and encouraging the development of energy-efficient technologies. (4/25, #19) (4/30, #14) (4/30, #15)
• Without sufficient investments in oil field development and the use of new, advanced technologies, Mexico faces becoming a net oil importer in 10 years, according to research by Rice University’s Baker Institute and Oxford University. Mexico’s oil production peaked at about 3.9 million b/d in 2004. Since 2005, output has fallen by more than 25% to 2.98 million b/d in 2010. (4/30, #12)
• India is looking at using Turkish banks to pay Iran for crude oil, a senior Indian oil ministry official said. A US official said Turkey’s commercial banks should avoid transactions with Iranian banks the U.S. has identified as conduits for financing Tehran’s nuclear program. (4/28, #8)
• Iran’s deputy oil minister says the country will increase its crude oil production by more than 100,000 b/d by March 2012. Masjed Soleiman, Yadavaran, Mansouri, and Hengam oilfields are the four main drilling projects that will contribute to the increase. (4/30, #7)
• With oil prices well above $100, an export bottleneck in Iraq is preventing some of its newly increased oil production from reaching export markets. Ravaged by years of war and international sanctions, the crumbling infrastructure in the south of Iraq is proving inadequate to support increasing production from Iraq’s southern oil fields. (4/25, #6)
• Venezuela will charge an increased tax in lieu of royalties as long as crude trades above $70 per barrel. “Oil companies are doing well,” Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said at a press conference in Caracas. “I have the revenue and profit numbers, and this windfall tax is not going to hurt them,” he said. (4/25, #14) (4/27, #7) (4/27, #8)

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. - George Orwell