Oil Industry – Aug 20
Kazakhstan’s Kashagan costs blowout
Sacked Iran minister warns of energy ‘catastrophe’
Esso reckons 20 more years of oil left in Bass Strait
Staff
Peak Oil Review – August 20, 2007
An executive summary of weekly news from a peak oil perspective, featuring:
– Production and Prices
– Iraq
– Rumblings from Canada
– Energy Briefs
Do EIA natural gas forecasts contain systematic errors?
Research findings give considerable face validity to criticisms by some commentators (e.g. American Association of Petroleum Geologists) that EIA forecasts present a consistently “optimistic” view of NG – e.g. underestimating price and overestimating supply.
“Peak oil” becomes burning issue
Swiss scientists say politicians and the public should have a greater awareness of “peak oil” – the moment when the world’s maximum crude oil output is reached. “It’s as if we planned to climb the Matterhorn to get to the summit at midnight, leaving it much too late to descend.”
Bikes – Aug 20
Kenya: Levies threaten to push boda bodas off the roads
State of cycling (in NYC)
Beijing to rent out 50,000 bicycles ahead of Olympics
The one-of-a-kind wooden bicycle
Paris goes cycling mad, declares vélorution
The complexity of modern life
Failure of complex systems comes about not because the systems fail to accomplish their nominal purpose, but as a result of unintended consequences of the interactions of the component parts.
Peak phosphorus – the bottom line
What is new and controversial in the article is the assertion that we have passed the point of “Peak phosphorus” – the point of maximum production and consumption of phosphorus. This would mean that over time phosphorus will become more difficult to obtain, and more expensive. This would be a major problem for society, since without sufficient supplies of phosphorus we will have difficulty feeding ourselves.
Climate – Aug 15
The case against expanding Heathrow airport
Crematorium concern over carbon footprint
Carbon market encourages chopping forests
Scientists warn Arctic sea ice is melting at its fastest rate
Energy industry – Aug 15
Tropical Storm Dean heads towards Caribbean
There’s money in oil, oystermen find
Clash over Canadian oil sands inevitable
Drilling hits new high in ultra-deep Gulf of Mexico
Disappointing first half douses hope for ’07 big oil output gains
Food & agriculture – Aug 15
Tanzania families dig deeper into pockets to put food on tables
Prices for key foods are rising sharply
Global warming boosts crop disease
Transport – Aug 15
Two steps to reduce America’s energy problem
Economist: Clean green flying machine? Don’t hold your breath
The NAFTA Superhighway
Driving down the road of congestion in Melbourne
Scrabbling around for plan B
The bubble mentality that led to the current chaos in the world’s credit markets has uncomfortable parallels to the way the industrial world treats its energy resources. Will the fossil fuel-driven boom that has created modern industrial society turn out in retrospect to be akin to a speculative bubble?
