ODAC Newsletter – June 11

June 11, 2010

Welcome to the ODAC Newsletter, a weekly roundup from the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, the UK registered charity dedicated to raising awareness of peak oil.

It is now 8 weeks since the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, and while BP claims to be capturing around 15,000 barrels of oil a day, there are still widely varying estimates of the amount of oil still escaping into the ocean. As public and political anger against the company increase, the knock on effects of the disaster for the company and the industry are growing.

President Obama raised the pitch of his criticism of BP this week. In an interview he effectively called for the dismissal of CEO Tony Hayward saying that “he wouldn’t be working for me”. Ken Salazar stated this week that BP would be charged for the lost wages of all workers affected by the drilling moratorium imposed in response to the disaster – thus further increasing the company’s liability and causing renewed pressure on its share price. On Tuesday BP was issued with a 72 hour deadline from Federal Authorities to present it latest plans to deal with the spill. Political pressure to replace BP in the clean-up is huge for a country brought up on superheroes and Hollywood endings, and unused to a problem without a quick solution.

Peak oil received some high profile news attention this week, both as a result of the Gulf of Mexico disaster and also the release of BP’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy. ODAC trustee Chris Skrebowski and ODAC patron Jeremy Leggett were both interviewed for a headline piece on the BBC’s Newsnight (available to UK based readers only). Leggett took the opportunity to call into doubt assurances from the oil industry about security of supply, comparing them to the assurances of the banking industry before the credit crunch.

The BP 2010 Statistical Review confirmed that the global economic crisis resulted in a drop in oil consumption in 2009 of 1.2 million barrels per day, the largest drop since 1982. Tony Hayward took the opportunity in his introduction to stress the importance of deepwater drilling as he pointed out that the largest source of new oil last year was from the Gulf of Mexico. With oil demand set to rise in the developing economies, and the ‘easy’ oil in decline the impact of the off-shore drilling moratorium, which has now also been extended to Norway, is going to hasten the oil crunch which is already coming.

In the UK this week the Chatham House think tank and Lloyds 360 Risk Insight released a joint report Sustainable Energy Security Strategic Risks and Opportunities for Business, which sets out the huge risks faced by business from the coming energy crunch. To quote “Businesses which prepare for and take advantage of the new energy reality will prosper – failure to do so could be catastrophic”.

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Oil

Gulf oil spill: US sets action plan deadline for BP

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BP oil spill: UK to step up checks on North Sea oil rigs

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Norway bans deepwater oil drilling

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Gulf oil spill ‘may top 100,000 barrels a day’

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BP faces bill for lost drilling wages

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BP oil spill: Most new oil ‘coming from Gulf of Mexico’

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Newsnight report on peak oil (only available week of 10/06/2020 and in the UK)

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The oil spill and credit crunch were bad. An oil crunch would be worse

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Top scientist says politicians have ‘heads in the sand’ over oil

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Lloyd’s predicts BP disaster will prove oil industry’s Three Mile Island

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Ending Fossil-Fuel Aid Will Cut Oil Demand, IEA Says

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IEA Raises Oil Demand Outlook, But Warns on U.S. Drill Ban

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China’s Five-Month Oil Imports Rise on Fuel Demand

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Decline in oil consumption largest since 1982

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Oil Rises the Most in Almost Two Weeks on China Exports, Dollar

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Gas

Pennsylvania nat gas well capped after blowout

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Behind the Russia-Ukraine deal on gas

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BP suffers $1bn setback in Siberia

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Turkey brokers key gas supply deals for Nabucco

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Shale gas not yet game-changer for Europe

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UK

Onshore wind produces “cheapest zero carbon” electricity

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UK alarm over attack on BP

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Climate

New UN climate chief calls for more ambition

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Transport

How China’s hybrid cars could change the world

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Tags: Consumption & Demand, Energy Policy, Fossil Fuels, Industry, Media & Communications, Oil