Peak oil – Feb 14

February 14, 2007

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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage


Oil has peaked, but where’s the data? analyst asks

Barbara Lewis, Reuters
One of the leading exponents of the peak oil theory that reserves have gone beyond maximum production and entered irreversible decline urged the world’s oil industry to build a data base to prove whether he is right.

Energy investment banker Matthew Simmons, chairman of Houston-based investment banking firm Simmons & Co. International, … said it was not just national oil companies, but also oil majors,… who should be providing precise data to establish the health of the world’s supplies once and for all.

“In my opinion the only way to reliably gauge the timing of the peak is to stipulate a legal requirement for any field producing over 50,000 barrels per day to produce historical data on a quarterly basis,” Simmons said in a speech as part of International Petroleum Week.

Data so far in existence are sketchy, with the exception of for the British and Norwegian North Sea, Simmons said.

He noted members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Saudi Arabia, have never allowed an independent audit of their reserves.

“The world is basing its energy future on a non-audited set of books,” he said.
(13 Feb 2007)
Sounds like a reasonable proposal! -BA


Fears for North Sea output grow

Ed Crooks, Financial Times
Oil and gas production in the North Sea is now expected to be about 10 per cent lower over the next few years than previously thought, according to the leading survey of the state of the industry.

The faster than expected decline in production is bad news for Britain’s energy security, increasing the country’s dependence on imported oil and gas, and also for the exchequer.

The latest annual survey from the UK Offshore Operators’ Association, the trade body which gives the most authoritative assessment of the health of the North Sea, also shows a steep increase in costs and an expected decline in investment over the next couple of years.
(13 Feb 2007)


HOT Hot hot

Euan Mearns, The Oil Drum: Europe
Last month I provided a weather up-date and it was not my intention to provide updates on a regular basis. But the latest NASA temperature anomaly data for January I feel are worthy of comment. Why is this relevant to The Oil Drum? Well amongst other things, mild winter weather in the northern hemisphere reduces demand for natural gas and heating oil. Furthermore, a continuation of current trends may see tracts of molten permafrost render oil exploration and production impossible throughout vast areas of Siberia, Canada and Alaska. Melting of Arctic Sea Ice, on the other hand, may open up new offshore provinces.
(13 Feb 2007)


Tags: Fossil Fuels, Oil