Fossil Fuels

Did Saudi Arabia really raise its oil production?

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As we begin another week of turmoil in the Middle East, and countries further afield batten down the hatches in an effort to preclude being next, here are some of the things we don’t know: — Whether oil prices are going up to $220 a barrel (and $5 at the pump), or down to $70 a barrel and more like $2.50 for a gallon of gasoline in the United States; — Whether Saudi Arabia really increased its oil production last week, or if the truth is a bit different; — And, finally, whether Russia’s gentleman president, Dmitry Medvedev, has been rummaging through Vladimir Putin’s archive of paranoid off-the-cuff remarks, and truly does not grasp what is happening around him.

Ingredients of Transition: Peak oil resolutions

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Local and regional authorities aren’t planning strategically for peak oil, and it is not a concern reflected in their policy making. They may not even understand it. Without a clear statement of concern about the issue, any further steps or actions on the issue will not have a foundation.

Oil versus light: Jeremy Leggett

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This civilization uses oil for its blood. Almost everything we make, buy, and use has oil in it’s food chain. You know that. Never mind that we are bleeding carbon into the sky and the ocean, or the developing climate shift. Even if oil was lily white, we are still running out of the cheap stuff – that we need for a global economy feeding billions of humans. And we are determined to drive right off that cliff, without a Plan B.

Commentary: How much oil will be recoverable?

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It seems to me that above some imaginary line, resources can be extracted and producers can make a profit selling them, and the economy can use them successfully. Below the imaginary line, the cost of production will be so high that if a price that is adequate for a producer to make a reasonable profit is charged, the high price will send the economy into recession.

Food: Getting fossil fuels off the plate

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My grubby little town was full of young men in big trucks and muscle cars who had come north to make their fortunes in the oil fields. During oil booms they kept the bars hopping and the hookers busy, dropping hundred dollar bills like candy…When the wells ran dry the young men disappeared, shops shuttered their windows, and the town shrank. New oil discoveries brought them back, with all of the goldrush excitement and disarray that accompanied them.

The Middle East rises – Feb 28

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– Protests in Oman Spread
– The Price of Food is at the Heart of This Wave of Revolutions
– The Arab Democratic Revolt
– Gorbachev: The US Must Take Blame for Fanning Islamic Fundamentalism
– The destiny of this pageant lies in the Kingdom of Oil
– Saudi Arabia: A Brief Guide to its Politics and Problems