ODAC Newsletter – Apr 29

Rising petrol prices and huge oil company profits combined to put pressure on President Obama this week. Prices are reaching around $4.00/gallon, levels not seen since 2008 and a psychological barrier for many Americans whose entire infrastructure is designed around the motor car.

Time to wake up: Days of abundant resources and falling prices are over forever

If I am right, we are now entering a period in which, like it or not, we must finally follow President Carter’s advice to develop a thoughtful energy policy and give up our carefree and careless ways with resources. The quicker we do this, the lower the cost will be. Any improvement at all in lifestyle for our grandchildren will take much more thoughtful behavior from political leaders and more restraint from everyone. Rapid growth is not ours by divine right; it is not even mathematically possible over a sustained period.

More on the Saudi’s slash of oil output

In other words, Mr. Horsnell is saying that since the world previously thought that the Saudi’s were producing less in December than they actually were, then the estimated worldwide “buffer” production capacity was significantly less than believed, as well. Also, his observation that the Saudi’s evidently needed to produce at 9 million b/d in order to balance the market is the exact opposite of what Mr. Naimi said, four weeks later….In turn, if the Saudi’s can’t really sustain even 9 million b/d, then this would have serious implications for the world in that the next, more intense manifestations of Peak Oil may be nearer than we think.

United States: oil and water – April 28

– Dems’ Oil Subsidy Repeal Push Puts GOP On Defensive
– Oil firm tax breaks must end quickly: Senator Reid
– President Obama Urges Congress to Eliminate Oil Company Subsidies
– Trump on Iraq: “if it is me, we take the oil”
– Climate change to reduce US West water supply – report
– A City Built on Oil (Midland, TX) Discovers How Precious Its Water Can Be

The Oil Crunch

In just a century, we’ve become almost entirely dependent on cheap oil. We rely on oil for just about everything, in fact the global economy is reliant on its free flowing supply. So what would happen if the well started to run dry and demand outstripped supply? Some oil industry experts think we’ve already hit Peak Oil and we should brace ourselves for the imminent Oil Crunch.