Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Our desire not to stand on the wrong side of history is radically tempered by our desire to keep the flow of oil coming and the markets stable. The US cannot endure another major economic shock, and oil price spikes and the possible market repercussions of a destabilizing Middle East clearly terrify our present administration.
– Oil Prices Rise Sunday as Egypt Unrest Gooses Market
– Egyptian Unrest Has Repercussions in Global Economy
– White House quietly prepares for a post-Mubarak era in Egypt
– Juan Cole interview: “Egypt is a Praetorian Regime”
– Israel ‘anxiously monitoring’ turmoil in Egypt
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Deepwater drilling
-China’s ongoing drought
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
In response to the financial crisis, governments and central banks have undertaken a series of extraordinary, dramatic measures. In this section we will focus primarily on the U.S….From Richard Heinberg’s upcoming book The End Growth.
This morning, I’ve been catching up on some reading about the protests in Egypt and Algeria, following on the Jasmine Revolution that is in process in Tunisia. Clearly, the reason for interest is wondering to what extent is there any risk of these events spreading into the big oil exporters, which could cause extremely large disruptions in the global economy. This is probably unlikely, but not so inconceivable that serious observers aren’t starting to at least think about it.
Author, blogger and social critic James Howard Kunstler opens up on two circumstances he sees running neck and neck “that are going to put us out of business as an advanced industrial civilization”—the “fiasco” in banking, money and finance and the unfolding “energy predicament.” He explains that the crises are really all about “capital” and that we need to look at how wealth has been accumulated and deployed for productive purposes.
Twenty six (26) units of fossil fuel energy goes into producing one (1) unit of food energy in the form of beef. While fossil fuels provide us with tremendous labor efficiency, we can no longer say we have an energy efficient way to make food since food production is now an energy sink.
– One Commodity to Rule Them All: Oil (WikiLeaks cables)
– The Will to Drill
– Cuba doesn’t share our oil concerns
– CNBC anchor implies US must support dictators to keep cheap oil flowing
– Oil prices climb on unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Yemen
– Gail Tverberg: What’s behind Egypt’s Problems? How do they affect others?
Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi hinted this week that OPEC might move to increase oil production to satisfy rising demand. Both OPEC and the IEA are anticipating demand growth this year, and with Brent crude close to $100/barrel the pressure on OPEC is growing…Many of the OPEC nations face serious threats of their own as they struggle to generate jobs for their growing populations. No doubt the house of Saud and other OPEC leaders will be casting a wary eye at the recent uprising in Tunisia and the riots in Egypt.
In a brief but revealing cable included in the vast WikiLeaks “CableGate” trove and published last week by the Norwegian paper Aftenposten, US embassy officials report that the Nordic nation opted to divest its sovereign wealth holdings from companies violating “humanitarian principles” and “fundamental ethical norms.”
Program information about the 9th International ASPO Conference about Peakoil & Gas, 27-29 April 2011, Brussels, Belgium
