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The Peak Oil Crisis: Labor Day 2006

What a difference a month makes. Just four weeks ago Hezbollah and the Israelis were engaged in the heaviest fighting the world has seen since the US overran Iraq.

When the fighting started, oil prices jumped on concerns that oil exports might be affected. In July there were fears US motorists might draw down the country’s gasoline reserves during the summer driving binge. Soon thereafter, BP noticed that some of its Prudhoe oil pipelines were rusting through, threatening an important share of the US’s West Coast oil supply. Finally, the hurricane season was about to begin.

( Read on )

Peak Oil Forecasters Win Converts on Wall Street to $200 Crude

On a sweltering Tuesday in mid-July, in the fields outside Pisa, Italy, Willem Kadijk scribbles notes as a ragtag troupe of doomsayers predict the end of the Oil Age.

With his shaved head, jeans and sandals, Kadijk, 48, blends into a crowd gathered under a white tent to hear of the coming calamity. The death of cheap, abundant crude, the forecasters warn, might unleash war and plunge the world into a second Great Depression.

( Read on )

End of an era

Global demand for oil will one day overtake our ability to produce it cheaply, and prices will skyrocket as half the world's easily extractable oil is gone. But when? A growing number think soon - if it hasn't already happened.

( Read on )

Absence of an ill wind blows some good

GLOBAL warming's failure so far to produce a repeat of last year's serial hurricane assault and battery of the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico is the swing factor in the suddenly soft price of oil.

( Read on )

Peak Oil and the Fall of the Soviet Union

After over 70 years in power, the mighty Soviet Empire unexpectedly vanished overnight and almost the entire communist tradition there dissolved. Was the cause of this cataclysmic collapse really the result of communist inefficiency and U.S. president Ronald Reagan’s Cold War military build up? Or was there an oil crisis that shocked the Soviet system? Or if Marxist-Leninist communism was so inefficient, then why did it last for over 70 years, through World War II and early Cold War tensions that were arguably also strong enough to have toppled it?

( Read on )

When oil dries up

Richard Heinberg is an unlikely latter-day Jeremiah. The contrast between this quietly spoken Californian college professor and accomplished classical violinist and his explosive message couldn't be more marked.

( Read on )

ASPO 5. Skrebowski tells us there’s 1,500 days until the Peak, & closing thoughts on ASPO 5.

Chris is the editor or Petroleum Review and is a well known speaker on peak oil. He also uses very detailed Powerpoint presentations which he zips through so fast that comprehensive note taking is nigh on impossible! You can find his powerpoint here, which is well worth a read, as he is a challenge to even the most dedicated note taker! Here’s what I got down from his talk, for which I make no claims of completeness (it was very hot in that tent!)

( Read on )

US vs. Iran - Is An Attack Inevitable?

We are being mentally prepared for what is about to come: a devastating war with Iran. This war has been planned a long time ago and has been delayed by the unexpected insurgency in Iraq (for full details read "Why Iraq and Now Iran"). This war, in one form or other, is "almost" inevitable. The current US administration has climbed on a tiger, and in fear of being eaten, doesn’t know how to get-off.

( Read on )

Nigeria: Cars in Country to Run on Natural Gas

The Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) declared, last Friday, that within the next twelve months, cars used in Nigeria would start running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in view of the escalating cost of petrol, saying it has sent some of its staff to Argentina to be trained on how to establish and run NGC stations.

( Read on )

Wind turbine makers scramble to meet demand

U.S. installations projected to grow by 50% by the end of next year
Rising prices for oil and natural gas fuel demand for wind power.

A team of eight workers scrambled to assemble the 185th windmill in the largest wind farm in the northeastern United States. They had 10 more to build and wanted to wrap up the job by Labor Day.

( Read on )

Think Local, Think Small

At Black Mountain, North Carolina, there is a developing ecovillage known as Earthaven that exemplifies Catherine Austin Fitts’ Solari economic model to a tee, though the community has never consciously worked directly from it. It is usually assumed that an intentional community such as this is a commune, but that is not so in the case of Earthaven. Instead, what I will call a “natural-capitalist” model has been embraced where investment in the community is encouraged through equity. One community member calls this “capitalism with a heart.”

( Read on )

ASPO 5. Dennis Meadows - Peak Oil and Limits to Growth

Dennis Meadows. Peak Oil and Limits to Growth. Wednesday 19th July 2006.

The Fifth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO-5) July 18-19 2006 in San Rossore, Italy.

( Read on )

Peak Oil and Bakhtiari's 4 Phases of Transition

IN A RECENT ARTICLE entitled "Nothing Like Business as Usual," published Aug. 11, 2006, in Whiskey & Gunpowder, I outlined the views on Peak Oil of a man named Ali Morteza Samsam Bakhtiari. Dr. Bakhtiari is a former senior energy expert who spent his long career, which started in 1971, employed by the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) of Tehran, Iran. During the course of his employment with NIOC, he held many important positions of trust and responsibility.

( Read on )

Aust urged to reduce oil dependence

An American energy expert is pushing for Australia to sign up to an international protocol to reduce its dependence on petroleum.

The Oil Depletion Protocol calls for nations to reduce their petroleum production and importation by 2.6 per cent each year - and gradually wean themselves off oil altogether.

( Read on )

ASPO 5. Jeremy Leggett Intertwines Peak Oil and Climate Change.

Jeremy Leggett. Peak Oil, climate change, and the daunting arithmetic of carbon fuels.

The Fifth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO-5) July 18-19 2006 in San Rossore, Italy.

( Read on )

Confronting Today's Oil Crisis in the U.S.

With little doubt today the United States is being confronted with a crisis of major proportions. As world oil demand keeps growing and oil supplies are curtailed or threatened by political turmoil in the Mideast, world oil prices could well continue to escalate upwards at an alarming rate. This would portend a major increase in transportation costs with serious economic repercussions throughout the country. The question is what can we do NOW?

( Read on )

Decaying pipes risk 20% gains to energy prices

BP Plc’s shutdown of the largest US oil field may be the first of many, as decaying pipelines threaten to add 20% to energy prices in the next decade.

"We’ll look back on this event as the Pearl Harbor Day in energy,’’ said Matthew Simmons, chairman of energy investment bank Simmons & Co International in Houston. The chance that the leaks and corrosion found at Prudhoe Bay by BP, Europe’s second- largest oil company, are an isolated occurrence is "zero,’’ said Simmons, who’s writing a book on aging oil infrastructure.

( Read on )

Ethanol could consume two-thirds of Nebraska's corn crop in five years

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman last week proclaimed September Renewable Fuels Awareness Month. Nebraska Corn Board Executive Director Don Hutchens says the proclamation comes as the state’s ethanol production is expected to surge over the next five years.

( Read on )

Betting billions on liquefied natural gas

An estimated $30 billion a year is pouring into developing liquefied natural gas.

Despite concerns over the safety and the cost of importing it, analysts say the fuel will make up a larger and larger share of America's energy mix and may help prevent seasonal natural gas price spikes.

( Read on )

Commodities: Worry over Caribbean storm drives up natural gas

NEW YORK Worries that a tropical storm front approaching the Caribbean could strengthen and head toward the Gulf of Mexico, where about a fifth of all U.S. natural gas is produced, drove gas prices higher on Thursday.

( Read on )

Bracks urged to think ahead as 'oil runs out'

THE Bracks Government has been challenged to establish an office of oil vulnerability to assess the impact of declining global oil production and prepare for petrol shortages.

Bruce Robinson, convener of the Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, has also called for higher fuel taxes.

( Read on )

DOE predicts gasoline shortages

Gasoline shortages and even higher prices loom, a new government report says, and it will take decades and trillions of dollars to replace American dependence on foreign oil.

The U.S. Department of Energy report directly addressed the concept of peak oil and how to deal with it. Peak oil means oil production is maximized and supply goes down from that point forward. Coupled with a surge in demand from countries like China and India, some energy experts say this could be a problem for America's economy.

( Read on )

Letters, faxes, and e-mail

Given the fact that planet Earth is finite, it follows that the oil under the Earth's surface is finite as well. The point will come, if it hasn't already, when half the world's oil will have been pumped.

When this point occurs, it will become more difficult and expensive to pump the remaining oil, causing the price of oil to go up. This will signal the point of peak oil production, and each year the amount of oil produced will be less than the year before. At the same time, the demand for oil from developing countries such as China and India will be increasing.

( read on )

Simmons-Kunstler interview

Matt Simmons and Jim Kunstler were interviewed on November 1, 2005 by Glenn Mitchell on KERA 90.1, the local PBS station in Dallas, Texas.

( Transcript here )

A False Sense of Insecurity?

DETERMINING HOW TO respond to the terrorist challenge has become a major public policy issue in the United States over the last three years. It has been discussed endlessly, many lives have been changed, a couple of wars have been waged, and huge sums of money have been spent -- often after little contemplation -- to deal with the problem.

( Read on )

Helping cities, towns and municipalities adapt to peak oil

As a member of the Portland Peak Oil Task Force, I am excited to see the amazing progress our team is making. The twelve members of the Task Force come from various backgrounds, including land use planners, social workers, business executives, farmers, environmental experts, and more.

( Read on )

When oil dries up

Oil is close to running out, and chaos will follow, according to a US expert. Nick Galvin reports.

RICHARD HEINBERG is an unlikely latter-day Jeremiah. The contrast between this quietly spoken Californian college professor and accomplished classical violinist and his explosive message couldn't be more marked.

( Read on )

Oil crisis by 2010

WORLD oil production will peak in just 1500 days. After that, oil shortages will force massive changes to our lifestyle and business, experts have predicted.

( Read on )

One stock market analyst speaks her mind

Despite the recent rally, some stock market analysts are still concerned about a possible economic slowdown that could lead to a recession. You can count Ms. Liz Ann Sonders, Chief Investment Strategist for Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., in that camp.

( read on )

Peak Oil Passnotes: Peak Pipelines

The venerable and entertaining Matthew Simmons of Simmons International investment banking has managed to tweak the ear of the media once again this week. This time however it is not those nasty Saudi Arabians about which Simmons has written so much. Instead it is about pipelines.

( Read on )

Peak Oil prophecies

Lately, I've been freaking out over Peak Oil. For the uninitiated, Peak Oilers envision a fitful collapse of our hyper-industrial society, when crude oil passes its peak supply arc and slowly declines as a resource. As the supply of cheap energy sputters out of existence, Peak Oil adherents imagine resource wars, population die-offs, and eventually, an agrarian society surrounded by urban and suburban ruins. Essentially, it's a progressive dystopia, mirroring the gloom and doom of the Christian Left Behind series of books. Until recently, it seemed like more an environmentalist, Luddite revenge fantasy than an accurate image of the near future, but with gas prices surging, it doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore.

( Read on )

The Peak Oil Crisis: Conserving Light

This week the UN is to come up with a sanctions resolution that will keep Iran's two million barrels a day of exports flowing and at the same time convince Tehran to give up on uninspected nuclear enrichment.

Crafting such a resolution is likely to take some doing as the Chinese, who are more concerned about losing oil imports than whether or not Tehran comes up with an atomic bomb, have to sign off on any sanctions plan.

( Read on )

Age and neglect meet in global oil pipelines

PARIS BP's shutdown of the largest U.S. oil field may be the first of many, as decaying pipelines threaten to add to already soaring energy prices in the next decade.

( Read on )

Why Are Americans So Angry?

I have been involved in politics for over 30 years and have never seen the American people so angry. It’s not unusual to sense a modest amount of outrage, but it seems the anger today is unusually intense and quite possibly worse than ever. It’s not easily explained, but I have some thoughts on this matter. Generally, anger and frustration among people are related to economic conditions; bread and butter issues. Yet today, according to government statistics, things are going well. We have low unemployment, low inflation, more homeowners than ever before, and abundant leisure with abundant luxuries. Even the poor have cell phones, televisions, and computers. Public school is free, and anyone can get free medical care at any emergency room in the country. Almost all taxes are paid by the top 50% of income earners. The lower 50% pay essentially no income taxes, yet general dissatisfaction and anger are commonplace. The old slogan “It’s the economy, stupid,” just doesn’t seem to explain things.

( Read on )

Waving the Warning Flags

The eternal truth in the investment world is that every asset class goes
through boom and bust cycles, which typically last for several years.
However, it is ironic that toward the end of any bull-market, when the
risk is extreme, optimism toward the booming asset-class is usually at a
record-high. On the other hand, during the final phase of a bear-market,
when the downside risk is limited, the asset that is selling at a huge
discount is always neglected and hated by the public. The reason for this
irrational behavior is that most people find it hard to foresee and accept
change. The conditions that have been prevalent for a long time are
considered to be permanent, and investment decisions are made accordingly.

( Read on )

What pipeline problem?

Lost in the fallout from BP's shut-down at Prudhoe Bay is the fact that the system is getting better, and oil supplies are growing, says Fortune's Jon Birger.

( Read on )

An Open Letter to my Friends in the Media

"According to OPEC, in June 2006 Russia extracted 9.236 million barrels of oil, which is 46,000 barrels more than Saudi Arabia. The statistics also showed that Russian production in the first half of this year increased to 235.8 million tons, a year-on-year improvement of 2.3 percent."

( Read on )

Oil output set to peak, but no fuel shortage-UBS

Oil production looks set to peak in the mid-to-late 2020s, but the decline will be offset as high fuel costs accelerate the quest for other energy sources, notably natural gas, UBS said in a study published on Wednesday.

( Read on )

ASPO 5. Colin Campbell Puts the Oil Age Into Perspective…

The first proper speech of ASPO 5 was by Dr. Colin Campbell, and was called ‘Peak Oil in Perspective’. Here is an overview of what he said.

( Read on )

Axis of Appeasement – The Inconvenient Truth

On January 20, 2002, President George W. Bush in his State of the Union Address stated:
States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.

Today, we are seeing the allies of the United States possible becoming the “The Axis of Appeasement.” The question remains to see if the allies joined for freedom and liberty will support a battle against the forces of evil.

( Read on )

Why you must buy gold - or, even better, silver - now

Many investors believe that gold is a hedge against inflation. And, that’s true... but that’s not the real secret of gold...

The real purpose of gold is to hedge against government hubris.

( read on )

The Secret Price of Gold

You've heard the saying, "They don't make 'em like they used to"?

Well, they don't charge the way they used to, either. Nobody does. Try buying a loaf of bread for 50¢. Or a gallon of gas for $1.25. Nothing costs the same as it did in 1980. Nothing.

Except, maybe, gold.

( Read on )

ASPO 5. Richard Heinberg on the Oil Depletion Protocol

Richard Heinberg. “The Oil Depletion Protocol: A Plan to Avert Oil Wars, Terrorism and Economic Collapse”.

The Fifth International Conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO-5) July 18-19 2006 in San Rossore, Italy.

( Read on )

Corn-Based Ethanol May Lead To Global Food Fight - VIDEO NEWS STORY

Lester Brown, president of Earth Policy Institute tells Bloomberg TV that there are some serious drawbacks and problems with expecting too much from corn-based ethanol.

( Read on )

Clean energy for eternity

OUR lives are about to change. We face two critical issues in the near future. The first is that we are about to run out of oil. By 2100 it will be gone! Over the next decade, the cost of petrol is going to increase rapidly as demand outstrips supply. Everything is going to be more expensive.

( Read on )

Jeremy Warner's Outlook: BP's Prudhoe Bay debacle highlights a wider problem of underinvestment in oil supply

Matthew Simmons is a Houston-based energy consultant known for his alarmist predictions about the state of the oil market. His most famous is that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest single source of oil supply, has grossly overestimated the size of its remaining reserves, with the result that production rates will soon be declining precipitously, sending the oil price through the roof. Believe it if you will.

( Read on )

Pipeline crisis 'could halve flow of oil'

The price of crude oil could hit $300 (£158) a barrel if BP's pipeline corrosion crisis in Alaska turns out to be an endemic problem for the industry, according to the leading oil industry analyst Matthew Simmons.

( Read on )

CERA's Rosy Oil Forecast – Pabulum to the People

At a moment when a tank full of gasoline costs $75, the Chinese are eagerly trading bicycles for cars, and Americans are consuming their body weight in petroleum each week, it would be nice to know how much oil will be readily available a decade from now. In a thirsty world, will supply be adequate to satisfy demand?

( Read on )

Katrina, global warming and peak oil

When Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, it led to more than 1,000 deaths and $200 billion in damages and set off the largest, most costly disaster-relief operation in American history.

But was global warming to blame?

( Read on )

Ukraine fears energy crisis as gas prices bite

Ukraine may still face an energy crisis this winter, Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuev said yesterday, despite assurances from Russia that it will not sharply raise the price of gas supplies to its neighbour.

Klyuev, who oversees the energy sector, chaired a government meeting to discuss preparations for winter and avoid a repeat of a gas crisis that hit Ukraine and Europe in January when Russia cut supplies to Kiev due to a pricing row.

( Read on )

Natural Resources are Fuelling a New Cold War

Oil and gas supplies are becoming scarcer and more expensive. The hunt for the world's remaining resources is creating new alliances and the danger of fresh conflicts. China is moving aggressively to sate its growing appetite for energy, potentially setting up a confrontation with the United States for the dwindling resources of the Middle East and Africa.

( read on )

Arctic drilling is necessary, just not now

THE UNITED STATES again is close to squandering a rare resource. The issue affects national security and generations who will need the resource far more than we do in the early 21st century. The subject is oil drilling in Alaska, but hold on before skipping to the next article. This is a new argument to most readers.

( Read on )

Petrol $2 by Christmas

Petrol is an alternate word for Gasoline, used in much of British Common wealth. $2 refered to in the subject line is for a litre of Gasoline. 1 gallon is approximately 3.78 liters. This story is from Australia.

( Read on )

Peak Oil Passnotes: Supply 'Cushionitis'

You have seen what Resource Investor was mooting about the oil market last week, basically come true. Oil has actually fallen a little faster than we expected - to around $71 - but it still has an important couple of barriers to break before it goes really wild to the downside. So let us take a little look at some recent history and see if we can figure out why.

( Read on )

Peak oil and Malaysia

I’m sure you readers are aware of Peak Oil and its implications. After reading up on it and assured of its inevitability, I ve decided to take action.

I scoured the Internet and found excellent research done by Wan N L Noor, a Malaysian student in the UK, on the implications of Peak Oil on Malaysia. I’ve been discussing it with him and we realised that first we must create awareness among the Malaysian populace.

( Read on )

The more precious commodity in 2050: Water or oil?

I'm sure most readers here are familiar with the concept of peak oil, and there's another article today on the increasing concern over the scarcity of fresh water. So I thought I would ask a simple question: by mid-century which commodity will be most precious -- oil or water?

( Read on )

BY THE LIGHT OF A BURNING BRIDGE

It was about a week before I left the United States forever that I watched Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. tell Charlie Rose something all of us already know in our hearts. “Today,” he said, “the United States is hated around the world far worse than it was at the height of the Vietnam War.” I remember the Vietnam War. I will never forget it.

I opposed that war, and I still remember riots on the UCLA campus in May,1970 when four students were shot dead by National Guard troops at Kent State University in Ohio. I was a college student then, and I was 2S-deferred for the draft. A year later I would be re-classified 1A as the nation shifted to a lottery system. At least someone in my country was willing to risk his life in the face of injustice. It gave me hope. That kind of risk-taking was commonplace then, from the civil rights movement to the anti-war movement, to the American Indian Movement. American blood was shed regularly on American soil to resist American tyranny; from Watts, to Detroit, to Selma, to San Francisco to Memphis to Wounded Knee. It fertilized our lives and souls as it touched the ground. The willingness to endure physical suffering, material sacrifice, and jail for the sake of justice was a singular mark of the American character that earned respect as it infected the world.

( Read on )

BYE BYE PETROLEUM

With demand for oil soaring yet supply stable at best, the idea that oil stocks have 'peaked' is increasingly influential. So what are the latest theories around peak oil? B Leamy reports.

( Read on )

Coal to oil conversion gaining interest in China, U.S.

Driven by surging oil prices, but fueling environmental concerns

High oil prices are spawning greater interest in technologies that convert coal into liquid fuel, according to an article published yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, but the shift could have a significant impact on the environment.

( Read on )

Rethinking America's Cars

The mini-crises relating to oil production springing up during the last few weeks seem to have settled down for a while. There is a ceasefire in Lebanon . Iraq has patched up its northern export pipeline for the umpteenth time. BP has figured out that they only have to shut down half the production from Prudhoe Bay . There are no hurricanes in sight, and we have another two weeks before having to do something about Iran 's refusal to shut down its uranium enrichment facilities.

( Read on )

Oil binds U.S., Latin nemesis

With his purchase, he helped prop up one of the last leftist regimes in the world. His money also made a bunch of impoverished Indians happy. To understand how, you must hail another cab, this time in Caracas, Venezuela.

Taxis in Venezuela come cheap. Gas in the oil-flush Caribbean nation sells for 14 cents a gallon. For less than $150, a driver will transport you six long hours into the country's parched hinterlands, to a faded oil town called Anaco. Another hour's journey by truck across an arid savanna will bring you to the Karina Indian village of Mapiricure.

( Read on )

Oil, Water, Weather crises will hit cities

Municipalities are facing a "perfect storm" once the era of cheap oil, cheap water and altered weather patterns hits with full force, says Ontario's environmental commissioner.

( Read on )

Col. Drake and the Age of Oil

THERE HE WAS, as big as life and looking quite good for a man who died in 1880. I was on a visit to the Drake Well Museum, just south of Titusville, Pa. I was walking into the museum compound, and whom should I encounter but Col. Edwin Drake, dressed in the period garb one is accustomed to seeing in the grainy old photos. “Well, hello, Col. Drake.”

( Read on )

Rough ride after oil production peak

While a growing chorus of voices has been trying to get the public's attention about our "oil problem," little in-depth analysis has appeared in the national media. An essay for this page Monday described an "oil shock wave" as the problem. The real problem is much more serious.

( Read on )

Economist reports Saudi oil production can continue unabated

This reminds me of the cover story in economist in 1999 "Drowning in oil". It went on to predict that oil prices were headed to $5 a barrel, exactly when the prices turned the corner; the beginning of the new bull market.

( Read on )

Nuclear power returns to stage amid oil crisis

It might be a weird coincidence that political leaders in major economies have pronounced support for nuclear energy in 2006, on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

( Read on )

Robert Rapier talks about Vinod Khosla, Proposition 87, peak oil, and the need for transportation electrification

( Click here )

When tomorrow brings the twilight of oil

Crude oil has reached a point where the skeptics of yore have become the proselytes of tomorrow, readying the world when crude tops $100 per barrel.

That day is not far away though few saw it coming.

( Read on )

Peak Oil and Relocalization in Ohio

A new peak oil organization, called Ohio Peak Oil Action (OPOA), is working to prepare the Ohio area for the coming times by promoting relocalization, sustainability, permaculture, and bioregionalism.

( Read on )

Is Saudi supply pushing its limit?

Saudi Arabia's epic oil reserves are a global insurance policy: always counted on, in a pinch, to ease almost any energy crisis.

( Read on )

Investing in alternative energy

Listen to this story

PM's petrol package a con, says Labor

THERE is nothing in Prime Minister John Howard's energy package to ease the high fuel price pressure on Australian motorists, Labor said today.

Motorists will be offered up to $2000 to convert their cars to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) under a $1.6 billion package.

( Read on )

4 Corners :Peak oil ?

A very interesting multimedia page with interviews and interactives.

( Click here )

The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community

By what name will future generations know our time?

Will they speak in anger and frustration of the time of the Great Unraveling, when profligate consumption exceeded Earth's capacity to sustain and led to an accelerating wave of collapsing environmental systems, violent competition for what remained of the planet's resources, and a dramatic dieback of the human population? Or will they look back in joyful celebration on the time of the Great Turning, when their forebears embraced the higher-order potential of their human nature, turned crisis into opportunity, and learned to live in creative partnership with one another and Earth?

( Read on )

Oil price spike to end, you can bet on it

AT RECENT conferences on the future of biofuels, I have offered a $10 bet to anyone in the room that the West Texas intermediate oil price will be less than US$40 a barrel within three years. So far only three people have taken up the bet.

( Read on )

Oil-addicted America finds a temporary fix in Africa

( second part )

From last fall to early spring the crude oil flowing from offshore fields near the Akwa Ibom River tropical delta in Nigeria supplied the South Elgin, Ill., Marathon gas station 8,000 miles away with roughly one-quarter of its oil.

( Read on )

Peak oil and fragility of global oil supply

To paraphrase the late Sen Everett Dirksen, "400,000 barrels here, 400,000 barrels there. Pretty soon, you're talking about a lot of oil."
I am referring to the recent announcement by BP that it is temporarily shutting down its Alaskan oil operations in Prudhoe Bay. Corrosion in the 30-year old transit lines makes it unsafe to continue operations. BP is removing 400,000 barrels per day of oil from the world's markets.

( Read on )

Senior Oil Exec Warns Of Collision With Oil Supply

ALI SAMSAM BAKHTIARI is a retired “senior energy expert,” formerly employed by the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) of Tehran, Iran. He has held a number of important positions with NIOC since 1971. He is currently attached to the director's office in the Corporate Planning Directorate of NIOC, and specializes in questions related to the global oil, gas and petrochemical industries. This alone ought to pique your interest because Bakhtiari has the ear of the most important decision-makers in Iran. What is he telling them?

( Read on )

Truth On Ethanol Fuel Comes Out

Without tax breaks and incentives ethanol, E-85 specifically, just isn't a viable alternative to traditional gasoline. That much is made clear if you read through this rather murky article on the subject by the Fargo Forum's Patrick Springer.

( Read on )

The Coming Saudi Oil Shock

Matthew Simmons, investment banker to the global oil and gas services sector, backs off little if at all from his vision of an energy-constrained world in the paperback edition of Twilight In The Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock And The World Economy. The bestseller rocked the investment and energy communities last year with a controversial thesis: the large Saudi oilfields which underpin global supply security could have much shorter production life expectancies that previously believed.

( Full story here )

Alternative energy gets mainstream treatment

America's rocky relationship with the Middle East and rising oil prices have rekindled the debate about foreign oil dependency and made calls for energy alternatives urgent.

( Read on )

Oil crisis: It's only just begun

Last summer, a gasoline station opened in South Elgin, Ill., an old farming village that's now being swallowed by the westward sprawl of Chicago.

( Read on )

Nothing Like Business as Usual

ALI SAMSAM BAKHTIARI is a retired “senior energy expert,” formerly employed by the National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) of Tehran, Iran. He has held a number of important positions with NIOC since 1971. He is currently attached to the director's office in the Corporate Planning Directorate of NIOC, and specializes in questions related to the global oil, gas and petrochemical industries. This alone ought to pique your interest because Bakhtiari has the ear of the most important decision-makers in Iran. What is he telling them?

( Read on )

The Anglo-American empire’s “next 9/11” will set up final war; “foiled” UK terror plot a propaganda dry run

The August 10 report of a spectacular foiled UK-based super-terror plot, an alleged Operation Bojinka variation, has sparked an unprecedented round of 9/11-style fear and panic mongering throughout the world. This is a new attempt, at the highest levels of the Bush and Blair administrations, in concert with Pakistan’s ISI and Israel, to fabricate the justification for an escalation in the “war on terrorism” across the Middle East.

( Read on )

Facing Reality In Derrick Jensen's "End Game"

We're at the point at which even if the alleged "dream" of beauty contestants everywhere, "World Peace," were to come tomorrow, to the Mideast, to Chechnya, to India-Pakistan, everywhere, we'd still be doomed.

( Read on )

Peak-oil theory warns tank's almost empty

FORGET pipeline problems in Alaska. The real elephant in the corner is "peak oil". This issue is in the same category as global warming - although there is a division of opinion as to whether or not it's real, it is probably prudent to assume the worse-case option.

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Peak Oil Passnotes: Buy On the Dips

They always say buy on the dips. With the purported bomb plot on U.K. and U.S. airlines, we have seen a $2 dip in oil. This seems to have cheered the equity markets. They think people are going to stop flying, stop consuming. It takes the pressure off energy and we see the Nymex take a nosedive.

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The Peak Oil Point has Passed!

I'd like to alert you to the writings of Geonomist GRMorton on why he believes that the Peak Oil has likely passed. "We have now passed the most significant time in human history. For the past million years, every day in the future humanity had more energy than they had yesterday. But from here on out, we will have less energy every day in the future.

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Iran threatens to use 'oil weapon' in nuclear standoff

Energy crisis would leave people 'shivering in cold'.
UN deadline looms for Tehran to accept deal.

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Scramble for alternatives

WITH the third oil crisis on us, more of us will take to the road in hybrid cars or convert to liquefied petroleum gas, biofuels or diesel, but none of these are likely to deliver soon the home run that will break our dependency on oil.

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A Well-Oiled Inflation Machine (By Larry Edelson)

The price of oil is on the move again, big time!

As I write this, oil is trading at $76.55. It is within an earshot of taking off to my next target: $100 a barrel.

Don't fool yourself, and don't let anyone on Wall Street convince you otherwise: Oil prices are headed much, much higher.

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Saudi Oil: Far from Twilight

Here is Michael Lynch, once again failing to address any of the points decribed in home page of this site.

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Energy Expert Warns Of Tough Times Ahead

Oil prices have already risen sharply and gasoline prices are expected to follow after this week's shutdown of one of North America's biggest oil fields. An expert in the energy industry says it's a reminder of how fragile the oil supply really is.

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The tipping point is here

When all the factions of the New World Order unify behind a major geopolitical event, it usually signals disaster. These significant moments usually come when there is unanimous elite support for violent, large-scale criminal activity.

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Time for an energy transformation

Heat waves, hurricanes, forest fires, floods, droughts, air pollution alerts, high energy prices, electrical service disruptions, species loss, intense global competition for energy supplies and energy wars are all sending a loud, clear message: It is time for an energy transformation.

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When Oilmen Turn Sour on Crude

It's a small group: three members of the Unitarian church we're gathered in, an engineer from Mexico, a smattering of activists, and a Pacifica Radio reporter. The meeting opens - the second of the just-hatched Houston Climate Protection Alliance - by talking about what each at the table has done to cut down on their fossil-fuel use.

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World oil supply poised to outpace demand: CERA

With continued high prices, strong investment and unconventional sources, there should be plenty of oil to meet demand through 2015, despite disruptions, a research group reported on Tuesday. Cambridge Energy Research Associates said a field-by-field analysis projects worldwide capacity should rise to 110 million barrels per day in 2015 from 88.7 million bpd currently, with unconventional sources growing in importance, CERA predicted.

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New Website Examines Health Care Options after Peak Oil

A new blog launched recently seeks to explore health care options after peak oil. "Because modern medicine runs on fossil fuel, just like the rest of our society, it is vulnerable to rising oil prices and supply disruptions", says blog founder.

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Peak Oil: Gas Prices, Supply Depletion & Energy Crisis SHORT

( Video on youtube )

The World at $100 A Barrel

Two years ago in May of 2002, a group of international petroleum specialists met at Uppsala University in Sweden for a two-day conference to discuss the world's oil supplies. The result was a consensus that global supplies of crude oil will peak as early as 2010 (or earlier) and then start to decline, ushering in an era of soaring energy prices and economic upheaval.

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Iran warns of oil crisis over UN sanctions

Iran has warned of a world oil crisis if the United Nations Security Council imposes sanctions on Tehran over its alleged attempt to acquire a nuclear weapons-making capability.

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The Future of Oil: Four Scenarios

Standard & Poor's examines four possible outcomes and how they would affect economic growth, consumer spending, inflation, unemployment, and other indicators

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Oil crisis will send prices up at pump

MOTORISTS are braced for fresh pain at the pumps after a surge in the price of oil yesterday.

Experts warned petrol prices here will inevitably rise after the shutdown of a major oilfield in Alaska.

The area produces 400,000 barrels of oil a day – eight per cent of normal demand from the US. The closure added to existing concerns over supplies and pushed crude above $77 a barrel, close to the record high.

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The Brilliantly Profitable Timing of the Alaska Oil Pipeline Shutdown

Is the Alaska Pipeline corroded? You bet it is. Has been for more than a decade. Did British Petroleum shut the pipe yesterday to turn a quick buck on its negligence, to profit off the disaster it created? Just ask the "smart pig."

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Consultant: oil supply still plentiful

A worldwide energy consulting firm said Tuesday that fears of the world reaching “peak oil” supply, and facing a resultant crisis as demand continues to grow in the developing world, are overblown and that the world may actually see a 25 percent increase in supply by 2015.

( Full story here )

Why is petrol so expensive?

Prime Minister John Howard has called for an all-out debate on energy in Australia. But what he doesn’t want is an all-out debate on petrol prices - because that’s a debate that he can’t win.

So far, for reasons best known to themselves, the Labor Party has given Howard an easy run on petrol prices. Perhaps they assume rising fuel prices reflect international pressures over which the Howard Government has little control.

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Today's BP Spill: Timed To Keep Oil Prices Up?

Last summer we pointed out various suspicious instances where incidents happened that would coincidently would boost the price of oil at critical junctures: a refinery shutdown here, a pipeline attack there, saber rattling overseas... always something.

The price of oil was on a confirmed downtrend and the Fed was ready to pause as the inflation pressure from energy seemed to be ready to subside in the long-term. The hurricane forecast was revised down to only 3 likely storms this season, and the pattern has shifted away from the Gulf while most of our platforms are now back on line from last year.

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War could trigger oil crisis, warns EIU

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has warned that if Iran were to become involved in the current Israeli-Lebanese conflict, the results could be “catastrophic” for the world’s oil market.

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Feel the Beat : A Boshian Peak Oil Canvas

"As the authors of THE LIMITS TO GROWTH so plainly said three decades ago, exponential growth rates can be very powerful. They can create growth curves which suddenly mushroom, as 3% increments of small numbers suddenly become a 3% increase of a much larger base. This mushroom growth can quickly become almost overwhelming until powerful forces of physical limits, the finally unseen consequences of such growth rates, suddenly appear "out of nowhere", bring these trends to an abrupt halt."

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Natural gas prices expected to continue upward trend

Just days after temperatures soared above 100 degrees and $3-per-gallon gas made its appearance on area pumps, winter heating bills are not a hot topic.

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Gold hovering between FOMC and Hezbollah

“Inflation is as violent as a mugger,” said Ronald Reagan, “as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.” Though Reagan pontificated these beautiful words, he did nothing to control inflation himself. In fact, he fuelled inflation as much as he could. When, in January 1981, he took charge of the office, the US dollar money supply was $2023.5 billion. When he retired in December 1988, it was $3941.1 billion - a figure almost double the original one.

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Oil's twilight

Forget about the price of gas for a moment. Think instead of all the oil sitting deep below the earth's crust, waiting millions of years to be pumped to the surface, refined and used in all the ways that drive modern civilization.

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The Long War in the Middle East and Russian Oil

Of course, the world has changed dramatically since the 1980s, with the biggest change in energy markets being the rise of China and India as massive consumers. But certain things remain the same: even without the Central Asian republics, Russia is once again the world’s largest oil producer, and will soon surpass the production levels of the entire USSR at its peak.

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Mexico's energy problems hurt U.S.

America's energy doomsday clock could be inching closer to midnight with the news that Mexico's primary oilfield may be ready to crater. If these dire predictions turn out to be correct, such a development could deal a body blow to the United States' desperately needed oil supplies.

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Cantarell output to drop at faster rate

Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos said Wednesday that production at its Cantarell oil field, the second-largest in the world, will drop faster than expected.

The decline in production at the Gulf of Mexico oil field is a cause of concern for the country, where oil exports are the top source of foreign income. Mexico relies on heavily on oil revenues to fund its budget

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When chaos replaces oil

Peter Lloyd is preparing for a ghastly future. The world he foresees is one in which it will cost $700 or $1000 to fill the family car - if petrol is available for private use.

It will be a world in which the scarcity and expense of oil, widespread pollution, environmental ruin and climate change will bring down modern civilisation in terrible anarchy as countries go to war over oil, fresh water or arable land; as ordinary people try to adjust to living primitive lives without the medicines and technology that support their lives in the 21st century.

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Has agriculture reached a tipping point?

So far farm production has kept up with population growth, but has the increase in productivity come at too high a cost? Faced with the additional threat of global warming has industrialised farming reached a 'tipping point' asks Claire Hope Cummings in this extract from an article in the latest issue of World Watch magazine.

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Lebanon, Syria, Iran and the Coming Imperialist Re-Division of the World

The sheer brutality of the butchery of civilians by Israeli WMD – bombs and fighter planes provided by the United States – on Lebanon is firstly a warning to the rest of the world from the United States: 'accept US global domination, or else’; and secondly, it is the beginning of a serious struggle for all-out control over Middle-East, Caspian Basin and Central Asian oil and gas. It is not the puppet Israel but the US itself who sets the tone of this purposefully brutal war, a war which opens up a qualitative change in US aggression and inter-imperialist conflict, a period that will draw the whole world into intensifying horrors and suffering. At the same time this new period opens a large window for the dramatic re-appearance of world-wide mass class struggle bringing workers and youth back into the centre-stage of global politics.


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Oil in decline, get used to it

I READ your article on fuel prices “Oil groups must pay up” (The Border Mail, July 29) with interest. Unfortunately the NRMA has a very uneducated approach to fuel.

Arguing for renewable fuels demonstrates a marked lack of comprehension about the geological and economic forces that are shaping our futures.

We are in the first transitional phase of peak oil.

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Profiting From The Threatening Deflation-to-Stagflation Scenario

Two leading indicators of economic health, retail sales and housing starts, generated signals in June (as reported in late July) warning of a coming recession.

Specifically, the June, 2006 numbers reflected a 1.2% annualized real (inflation adjusted) second quarter retail sales contraction and the annual retail sales growth rate moved below the 1.8% "fail safe level" as reported by John Williams, Shadow Government Statistics, July 24, 2006.

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The Economy | A shift in forces pushing oil prices higher

It's elementary economics: Price is driven by supply and demand. Changes in either one can push the price of a commodity up or down.

But there can be big differences in the result, depending on which one - supply or demand - is doing the pushing.

Case in point: crude oil.

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Peak oil and politics

Last week the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran part one of a two-part series on how Cuba survived without oil after the fall of the Soviet Union. (Not technically true -- there was oil, just far too little of it.) The next part runs this Sunday and has to do with the redefinition of Cuban medicine in the post-oil world. It's all very fascinating, and it's produced by one of our national treasures, David Suzuki.

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Middle East at a crossroads

by Richard Heinberg

At the fifth annual conference of ASPO (the Association for the Study of Peak Oil), held in July in Pisa, Italy, there were many excellent presentations, one of which I will report on at some length below.

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On the other side of the oil ‘peak’

ASTEEP rise in the price of oil over the past few years has led to increasing concerns about its possible effect on the world economy. While the oil price trend is usually blamed on short-term, politically related (actual or feared) supply disruptions, or rising demand from the emerging Asian giants, the depletion profile of this finite resource poses a far more fundamental threat.

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Peak Oil Passnotes: A Peak Oil Critique

We all believe in peak oil. Everyone believes in peak oil. Yes, apart from the whacko brigade that say oil reservoirs fill up again due to abiosis. Sensible people can stop giggling now please. Abiotic oil is sheer lunacy.

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Crisis Overload: Peak Oil, Peak Grain and Peak Water

A deadly combination of heat and drought is slowly wreaking a trail of devastation across much of the globe, and the full extend of this scourge will only be felt as winter nears.

The current phenomenon took meteorologists by surprise as it was unusually global in its reach. Like Murphy's Law, everything that could go wrong did.

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Ethanol has a few knocks of its own

As drivers cringe at the cost of filling up this summer, the ethanol industry is spending billions to build on the biofuel's momentum as an alternative to gasoline.

Advocates trumpet ethanol as a homegrown fuel that builds rural economies, benefits the environment, and enhances national security.

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A thirsty world is running dry

Australia could profit hugely from the imminent end of world oil supplies, writes Paul Sheehan.

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Saudi Arabia's oil a huge question, concerning price and control

From the Saudi Arabian sands pour more than 9 million barrels of crude oil each day, more than 10 percent of the world's production pumped from what is believed to be the largest pool of recoverable crude on Earth.

For three decades, it has been Saudi Arabian oil that poured into the market to dampen rapidly rising prices and Saudi cutbacks that pushed prices back up when they were abnormally low.

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Converging Ecological Crises: Are We Up To The Challenges?

There is a very substantial volume of highly credible writing, for anyone that wants to see it, that warns us that humankind has only a few decades left in which to ‘get it right’. We face demographic challenges and global ecological disruptions on scales like nothing that people have seen before. This is no longer news; the information is out there. In spite of this, most people in North America are still ‘sleepwalking’ into the future.

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Apocalypse No! An Indigenist Perspective

“From the beginning, this culture -- civilization -- has been a culture of occupation.”

-- Derrick Jensen


It’s scripted: a tragedy whose end is embedded in its beginnings, an unfolding logic whose conclusion is the inevitable result of its premises.

It’s simple. And obvious. We find ourselves in the midst of the most rapid mass extinction in Earth’s history; we have the power to all-but end life on Earth. We can do so with nuclear weapons, today, in Iran, or simply by turning the ignition switch on our automobiles and gliding over paved surfaces where nothing can live. A little more carbon dioxide, just a little, will tip the scale -- unleashing our potential for matching the greatest mass extinction ever -- the one called The Great Dying.

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A combination of triple scourges this winter

Along with Peak Oil, Peak Grain and Peak Water, the world enters crisis overload

A deadly combination of heat and drought is slowly wreaking a trail of devastation across much of the globe, and the full extend of this scourge will only be felt as winter nears.

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"What if I just start snorting baking powder instead?"

Speaking of sequestration: The journal Science points out today that even if we can sequester carbon dioxide, it may have bad side effects -- like, say, poisoning our drinking water. Brilliant.

So the engineering problems for CO2 sequestration are immense, it won't work with existing plants, and even if it works some time in the indefinite future, it might still kill us all. So of course, this is a serious option being discussed by many in Canadian politics and punditry.

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Peak experience

Standing on the steps of City Hall, New College professor Richard Heinberg told a crowd of San Franciscans, "The 21st century will be the decline of fossil fuels." This renowned expert on "peak oil" then headed inside to testify at a hearing convened by Sup. Ross Mirkarimi on the issue.

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when chaos replaces oil

Peter Lloyd is preparing for a ghastly future. The world he foresees is one in which it will cost $700 or $1000 to fill the family car - if petrol is available for private use.

It will be a world in which the scarcity and expense of oil, widespread pollution, environmental ruin and climate change will bring down modern civilisation in terrible anarchy as countries go to war over oil, fresh water or arable land; as ordinary people try to adjust to living primitive lives without the medicines and technology that support their lives in the 21st century.

( Full story here )

Ethanol Eco-Disaster

The delicate, fainting environment is in distress; it can’t pay its fuel bill. Heroic Merry Men of the IRS carrying MP5s and wearing green tights hold up the sneering, selfish, unworthy middle class. They give the looted bank accounts to the noble corn-ethanol producers. The chairman of Archer Daniels Midland rides off into the beautiful sunset on his yacht, waving his stock options. (The Happy Ending)

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