Syria is the only significant crude oil producing country in the Eastern Mediterranean region (including Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza), according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Syria’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has announced a tender for investing in oil shale in the Khanaser area, 103 km in southeastern Aleppo, over an area of 150 km 2 divided into 14 blocks with geological reserves of 2.3 to 3 billion tons in each block. MORE

million-bbl/d Tapline to Lebanon. With Iran’s current threat to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to sanctions as a backdrop, the US Energy Information Agency issued an update to its “World Oil Transit Chokepoint” brief ( earlier post ), noting that “ Hormuz is the world’s most important oil chokepoint due to its daily oil flow of almost 17 million barrels in 2011, up from between 15.5-16.0 million bbl/d in 2009-2010. MORE

ECOtality has teamed up with the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store to unveil the Blink Direct Current Fast Charger at the Lebanon [.]. Electric cars Green cars Latest news Cracker Barrel ECOtality electric car charging electric car charging network Lebanon TennesseeThe state may be famous for Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton, but it’s the arrival of a new fast charger for electric cars that will be music to the ears of Tennessee natives. MORE

The facility is based on technologies developed in Mascoma’s laboratories in Lebanon, New Hampshire and operating in its 57,000 square foot demonstration facility in Rome, New York. Cellulosic biofuels company Mascoma Corporation, is acquiring SunOpta BioProcess Inc. SBI), a division of SunOpta Inc. MORE

In electric vehicle news 26 May, the highlights are Volvo to be all-electric by 2030, Piaggio showcases its One electric scooter online, Lebanon’s first electric car, Norway fines Tesla. Lebanon’s first electric car. Electric vehicle news 26 May. MORE

Holland, MI Lebanon, OR (Entek). President Obama announced 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects that will receive $2.4 billion in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These projects, selected through a highly competitive process by the Department of Energy (DOE), are intended to accelerate the development of US manufacturing capacity for batteries and electric drive components as well as the deployment of electric drive vehicles. MORE

Iran, Iraq, and Syria have signed a deal for the construction of the Middle East’s largest gas pipeline, which would carry gas from Iran’s South Pars gas field to Europe via Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon and beneath the Mediterranean Sea. By 2020, Syria will need about 15 to 20 million cubic meters of gas per day and Lebanon will need about five to seven million cubic meters of gas per day. MORE

ECOtality and Cracker Barrel Old Country Store unveiled the first Blink Direct Current (DC) Fast Charger in Tennessee at the Lebanon Cracker Barrel location. This is the first of 12 Cracker Barrel locations statewide that will install DC Fast Chargers as a part of The EV Project. The stations are able to charge a battery to 80% capacity in under 30 minutes. MORE

They are fighting a multi-front war with Iran directly (in Yemen) and indirectly (in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq). by Dalan McEndree for Oilprice.com. In the last quarter of 2014, in the face of possible oversupply, Saudi Arabia abandoned its traditional role as the global oil market’s swing producer and therefore it role as unofficial guarantor of existing ($100+ per barrel) prices. MORE