Beginning with the 2007 model engine, Volvo trucks will be come standard with 2-way satellite communications (Volvo Link Sentry) and 24/7 roadside assistance service (Volvo Action Service).

“This system combines early warning of potential trouble with technical counsel and a round-the-clock customer support system,” said Scott Kress, senior vice-president, sales & marketing. “It also gives drivers the reassurance to know that help is only a phone call – or satellite message – away, regardless of where they are or what time it is.”

Sentry will also help fleet managers to increase productivity and reduce operationg costs by sending reports of fuel used, distance traveled, time in/out of RPM sweet spot etc. It can also identify drivers with risky driving habits in need of remedial safety training.

BP said it will resume production in the east Prudhoe Bay oilfields. That will be another 150,000 barrels of oil a day.

It’s going to take about a week, though. First an inspection of the pipelines by a “smart pig.”

Chrysler’s reputation as an auto company with better management and fewer union and other problems has been sullied. Chrysler had 12 straight profitable quarters, including the first two quarters this year, but then whammy! In July the company warned that it would lose $600 million in the third quarter, now revised to a $1.5 billion operating loss.

The same old story.

“excess inventory, non-competitive legacy costs for employees and retirees, continuing high fuel prices, and a stronger shift in demand toward smaller vehicles.”

It does have a “star” in the Chrysler 300, but way, way too many other gas-guzzling pick-ups and mini-vans, and no hybrids or sub-compacts. This year’s introduction was the Jeep Commander, another biggie.

Hoping to fix things, Chrysler will make a huge production cut in the third and fourth quarters (which will no doubt cause it to lose market share, but what else can it do?).

Back to the drawing board.

According to BP, OPEC countries are sitting on top of 75% of the world’s oil reserves and account for 45% of world production. So theoretically OPEC could pick up the slack when oil production in non-OPEC countries starts down the other side of Hubbert’s Peak. But there are problems–i.e. war, political unrest.

ExxonMobil says, in its 2005 Energy Outlook, non-OPEC oil will peak in 2010-2020. OPEC can fill the gap by producing 57% more oil than it did last year.

OPEC countries will invest a combined $100 billion in the five years through 2010 so they can increase output, OPEC spokesman Omar Ibrahim says. “We are set to meet the extra call on OPEC to 2030,” Ibrahim says.

It’s hard to really tell about OPEC, though. Nobody really knows for sure how much oil it has, or how much it can produce.

Many energy analysts believe OPEC nations began overstating their resources in the 1980s, when the cartel linked members’ production quotas to the size of their reserves, says Mamdouh Salameh, an independent oil economist. In the late ’80s, cartel members raised their reserve estimates by a combined 300 billion barrels even though none of them had actually found much more oil.

Sadad al-Husseini, Exec. VP for Aramco until he retired in 2004, says it will be difficult for world production of oil to reach 90 million barrels/day in 10 years. That would be millions a day short of EIA projections of consumption.

It seems that the state of Conn. is collecting so much $$ in taxes on gasoline(6.3%), what with the price increase, that Gov. M Jodi Rell says it could cap the amount without affecting the 10-yr. 1.3 billion transportation improvement program.

She proposes capping the tax once the wholesale price hits $1.73/gal, i.e. an increase in price above that level would not be taxed.

This is part of the Gov.’s energy “blueprint” which would also include elimination of commercial utility tax surcharge, and promoting the use of biofuels and renewable energy.