Why the oil industry doesn’t want you to remember the last 14 years

Starting next week longtime Energy Bulletin author Kurt Cobb will have his posts regularly featured in The Christian Science Monitor on its new “Energy Voices” blog. The highly respected Monitor has a century-long tradition of reasoned, thoughtful journalism which has earned it seven Pulitzer Prizes and many other awards. Its global reach–it stations writers in 11 countries–will bring a large new audience in contact with Kurt’s work on peak oil.

Today’s post is the first installment of a six-part series which will introduce key concepts and ideas to this new audience. (Hint: good also for forwarding to skeptical friends and family!)

The Peak Oil Crisis: Summer’s End

As Labor Day nears, a quiet summer seems poised to turn into an autumn to remember. Our concern here, as it has been for many years now, is the price and availability of oil products vital to our civilization. One of the many ways to think about peak oil is the point in time when our gasoline and other petroleum-fueled endeavors, such as air travel, become too expensive for casual use. As the use of petroleum products slows (US consumption is down by 4.4 percent from last year), our economy activity gradually drops to a slower pace.

The Real Reason Behind Oil Price Rises – An Interview with James Hamilton

Nowadays the energy picture is confusing at best as the more information we are shown the more blurred our vision seems to become. Mixed messages, poor reporting and a media hungry to sensationalize anything it thinks can grab a headline have led to many wondering what the true energy situation is. We hear numerous reports on how the shale revolution will transform the energy sector, why alternatives are just around the corner, why advances in oilfield extraction techniques and new finds will help to lower oil prices.

Shale gas – Aug 29

-Drilling permits decline sharply for the Pennsylvania Marcellus formation
-University of Texas Compounds Conflict Question in Review of Gas Report
-Fracking Hazards Obscured In Failure To Disclose Wells
-Natural Gas and Its Role In the U.S.’s Energy Endgame
-Destroying Precious Land for Gas
-Fracking is too important to foul up
-Shale gas failure offers rescue for EU green energy drive