Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
An analysis of Leonardo Maugeri’s optimistic forecasts on oil production, which have been trumpeted in the media.
Jean Laherrère, a retired petroleum engineer, worked 37 years for TOTAL on exploration and production of oil and gas.
-U.S. Plunge in Gas Drilling Means $1 Billion Lost Profit
-Germany Balks on Natural Gas Bonanza
-Shale Gas Industry Brings PSYOPs and Spy Ops to Poland
-Shale gas report rules out moratorium
-Collectively Photographing Fracking
With gasoline scaling $4 a gallon recently, plans announced last week by international oil giant BP to export U.S.-produced crude oil ought to have Americans howling. For such a plan to be good energy policy–rather than merely profitable for the oil industry–the United States would have to be producing more than enough oil to meet its own needs. But the country produces nowhere near that amount. Nevertheless, the industry’s deceptive campaign to make the public and policymakers believe that the United States is on the verge of energy independence seems to be succeeding–a push that is really just a smokescreen for selling the country’s oil and natural gas to the highest bidder.
The International Energy Agency released a new report this week in which it took a detailed look at the prospects for the Iraqi oil and gas industry out to 2035. The conclusion is that oil production in Iraq could increase significantly by 2020 – doubling or even trebling IF, and it is a big if, there is huge investment…
Palm oil plantation expansion in Indonesia is set to release more than 558 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2020, according to a report published Sunday in Nature Climate Change. That’s more than Canada’s yearly CO2 emissions.
-How Not to “Feed the World”
-These grassroots heroes are fighting for food democracy
-The year the grains failed: Why poorer countries are scheduling ‘food-free days’
-Global Grain Production at Record High Despite Extreme Climatic Events
-Cash-strapped farmers feed candy to cows
-Biofuel policy change strands EU farmers
-Vote for the Dinner Party
These thoughts are prompted by the latest wave of lobbying by British business interests for a third runway at Heathrow. I get weary writing about this: I went through the relevant trends at length a couple of years ago and found that in terms of air transport in the richer world almost all the trends were headwinds.
-Cabot’s Methodology Links Tainted Water Wells to Gas Fracking
-Shale gas report by health officer may remain secret
-Experts: Despite China’s efforts, technology constraints could curb shale gas development
-Water problem in shale is drawing a flood of capital
-Penn State Faculty Snub of Fracking Study Ends Research
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Middle East
-Europe
-Gasoline Prices
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
As U.S. retail gasoline prices once again near $4.00 a gallon, does this pose a threat to the economy and President Obama’s prospects for re-election? My answer is no.
Last winter, fossil-fuel enthusiasts began trumpeting the dawn of a new “golden age of oil” that would kick-start the American economy, generate millions of new jobs, and free this country from its dependence on imported petroleum. It turns out, however, that the future may prove far more recalcitrant than these prophets of an American energy cornucopia imagine.
Abandoned by the state of Pennsylvania and drilling company Rex Energy after the state’s testing found no evidence of groundwater contamination, distressed residents (whose well water is discolored and reeks, and whose families have suffered rashes and other ailments) had nowhere else to turn for clean water but their community. That’s when a group of area churches, including the Presbyterian church where my dad is a pastor, joined together to supply jugs and bottles of clean drinking water to affected families.
