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Download ASPO Newsletter 60 (December 2005)
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- 636 Automobile manufacturers awake to Peak Oil
Executives of the Ford Motor Company have drawn attention to the difficulties facing the industry, listing Peak Oil as one of the factors. Both Ford and General Motors are in serious financial difficulties with massive debts, while Rovers, once Britain’s flagship, has gone out of business. - 637 Rimini Conference
A conference sub-titled The Troubled Horizons of Oil : Sustainability or Apocalypse Soon ? was held in Rimini on October 28-30th under the auspices of the Pio Manzu Centre. - 638 BP Forecast of Oil Price The Daily Telegraph of November 5th reports that Lord Browne, the Chief Executive of BP, predicts that oil prices will tumble to $40 or below.
- 639 Saudi Reserves
The New York Times of October 27th carries a report referring to statements by Mr Edward Price, the former Exploration Manager of Aramco, to the effect that claims for substantial new discovery in Saudi Arabia conflict with the evidence from previous exploration efforts undertaken while Aramco was still managed by major international companies. He further revealed that he had been informed by the Sauds that their high estimates were based on the now discredited USGS study of 2000, and not new work of their own. - 640 Country Re-Assessment – Syria
The Newsletter has now covered most major producing countries, so it is perhaps time to update earlier assessments, starting with Syria - 641 Strange Times
We seem to be living in strange times giving a certain intangible sense of foreboding. - 642 Kuwait Confession
Kuwait’s reported reserves have been suspect since it announced an implausible 50% increase in 1985. It now begins to admit to depletion according to the following article. - 643 Saudi Wealth
It is reported that King Fahd’s widow is suing his estate from her bespoke London home for 50 billion dollars as her share of the inheritance. - 644 Voices of Sense in Washington
A Resolution (#507) has been passed in the House of Representative urging the government “to address the inevitable challenges of Peak Oil”. It is gratifying to see the use of this term, which seems to vindicate the endeavours of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (“ASPO”) - 645 More confusion from the International Energy Agency
The IEA has recently published a report From Resources to Reserves that seeks to demonstrate how new technology will add reserves. - 646 Sweden’s new policy to wean itself of oil dependency
The Prime Minister of Sweden has announced a new policy aiming severely limit the use of oil for heating and transport by 2020, referring to the work of ASPO at Uppsala University. - 647 Vituperation
The following website alleges dishonesty and incompetence by the Editor of this Newsletter along with schizophrenic and Fascist tendencies… - 648 Britain’s new energy policy
Mr Blair’s Government can no longer deny the decline of Britain’s own oil and gas, and now announces that it is considering re-building the nuclear power supply. - 649 Energy Descent
Now that Peak Oil is being widely recognised, attention turns to reactions and responses both at national and, more important, local levels. Rob Hopkins, who pioneered the Energy Descent Action Plan and was initiator of June’s Fuelling the Future Conference, has established a new website, Transition Culture – an evolving exploration into the Head, Heart and Hands of Energy Descent. - 650 Review of the IEA World Energy Outlook
Jőrg Schindler and Werner Zittel of LB-Systemtechnik in Munich offer the following review of the IEA’s latest World Energy Outlook - 651 Oil Depletion Protocol
Interest in the Oil Depletion Protocol (no longer named for the Rimini Conference) is gaining ground, with new interest in Canada (see CACOR www.cacor.ca) - 652 ASPO-Australia Reports
During a busy visit to Perth and Brisbane, ASPO President, Prof Kjell Aleklett found time to launch ASPO-Australia at a media conference held at the Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia.
