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Oil price leaps to year’s high
Terry Macalister, Guardian
The price of oil burst through the $71 a barrel mark today amid revelations that proven reserves had fallen for the first time in 10 years and predictions that the price could eventually hit $250.
The latest high – from lows of $30 only four months ago – came on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where the cost of July deliveries rose by $1.35 to $71.36.
… Declines in important producers such as Russia and Norway offset rises in new areas such as Vietnam, India and Egypt. The figures did not include Canada’s tar sands, which are put at 150bn barrels.
The drop is partly attributed to a drop in exploration drilling due to the precipitous fall in oil prices last year but also to the end of “easy” oil. Conflict this week in the Amazon and speculation about Arctic drilling underlined how oil companies are pushing into environmentally sensitive places to find new reserves.
… Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive, insisted there was enough crude to last 42 years at current consumption levels, roughly the same as last year. Adherents of “peak oil” – the theory that the maximum rate of oil production has been reached – believe supplies will run out much sooner because of growing demand.
(10 June 2009)
The article betrays the common confusion between peak oil production and “running out” of oil. -BA
BP’s Tony Hayward warns of dwindling demand for oil
Robin Pagnamenta and Carl Mortished, Times (UK)
It used to be the nightmare scenario that the world would run out of oil and civilisation would grind to a halt. Not so, Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, said yesterday: global oil production will decline, but because of dwindling demand, not because of a scarcity of supplies of crude.
Gains in energy efficiency will lead, ultimately, to falling oil demand, he said. Indeed, consumption of oil in the developed world fell by 1.6 per cent last year, the largest drop since 1982, and the decline is set to continue.
Mr Hayward’s prediction of weakening demand came as the energy company unveiled its annual review of energy trends. The BP Statistical Review of World Energy showed that, for the first time, total energy demand in poorer countries, including China and India, exceeded the hunger for power and fuel in wealthier nations in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
(11 June 2009)
Are we running out of oil? The world in energy statistics
Terry Macalister, Guardian
New figures provide a fascinating insight into how we consume power – and how much of it we have left
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The amount of proven oil reserves awaiting to be exploited fell last year for the first time in a decade, according to new figures released today. The amount of crude left in the ground was 1.258trn barrels – 3bn less than this time last year.
These figures, revealed in the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, are probably the result of a slump in drilling activity due to a fall in the price of oil last year – from $150 per barrel to $30.
At today’s rate of use however there is still enough oil to last the next 42 years, according to the oil company although those concerned about Peak Oil say we are closer to running out given demand is expected to rise strongly in the short-term
(10 June 2009)
Lufthansa lashes out at speculators
Agence France Presse
The head of Germany’s flag carrier airline, Lufthansa, took aim on Wednesday at financial market speculators he said were responsible for a volatile oil price that is hammering the airline industry.
In an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland, Wolfgang Mayrhuber said: “Financial speculators now have an enormous influence on our business.”
Calling for stricter regulation, he added: “The old rule whereby supply and demand dictated the price of a certain raw material no longer applies.”
…Lufthansa is one of the few firms in the troubled aviation sector still expecting to stay in the black this year.
(10 June 2009)
Suggested by EB contributor Thomas Christiansen
Highly vulnerable to oil shortages
Andrew West, Sydney Morning Herald
ONE of the world’s leading energy experts has warned that Australia will be one of the first countries hit hard by oil shortages as oil production peaks within the next three years.
Kjell Aleklett, a physicist from Uppsala University in Sweden, says Australia’s relatively underdeveloped public transport system leaves the country more vulnerable to a downturn in energy production.
“Australia is very sensitive to such developments,” Professor Aleklett told the Herald. “Much of your industry and transit is dependent on oil, and supplies will decline.”
(11 June 2009)
