Powering India – Aug 15
-Every Household in India to Have Electricity in 5 Years: Indian PM
-India’s other power failure (and its opportunity)
-Smart Grid Solutions in India [White Paper]
-Asia’s real power struggle
Fossil Fuels
Shale oil & gas – Aug 15
-Shale oil everywhere… for a while
-Fracking Hazards Obscured In Failure To Disclose Wells
-Carbon Briefing: The coming PR battle over shale gas
Energy, money, conflict – Aug 14
-Energy policy: Follow the money (Chris Nelder)
-Iran and the Petrodollar Threat to U.S. Empire
-Oil and Gas in the Crosshairs
Peak oil review – August 13
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The Oil Market Report
-Ethanol and the drought
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
Comments on BP Statistical Review 2012
Digest: The BP Statistical Review has the merit of releasing every year free and convenient updated historical data on energy. This data is recopied from what is reported by national agencies, avoiding diplomatic conflicts. Despite the heterogeneity of the data, the report displays a ridiculous high number of digits, in contradiction with the real accuracy of the sources. The report wrongly adds unconventional to conventional reserves. BP ignores backdating, using obsolete reporting rules that lead to artificial reserve growth. Most economists believe this reserve growth to be the real, when in fact known Oil and Gas reserves peaked in 1980.
The Fight of Our Time: Bill McKibben’s Thought Bubble
The fossil fuel industry is quickly destroying the planet, and making the fight to protect our future increasingly challenging as industry lobbying, and unabated growth continues…
Peak oil notes – August 9
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
Climate change and developing countries
This post continues a theme I covered in my book Power Plays. Part 1 covered the impact on oil price and supply in Petroleum Demand in Developing Countries. Here I discuss some of the climate change implications.
Shale gas – Aug 9
-Study links Texas earthquakes to drilling disposal wells
-Fracking poses risk to water systems, research suggests: U.S. study
-China Drills Into Shale Gas, Targeting Huge Reserves Amid Challenges
-Shale Gas And The Overhyping Of Its CO2 Reductions
-A ‘War on Shale Gas’?
The New Paradigm: Volatile Oil Markets
So far 2012 is the fourth most volatile year for oil prices since 1982. The other top three years were 2007, 2008 and 2009. Since the production of oil from conventional sources peaked in 2005 we have reached a new paradigm: highly volatile oil prices.
Profiteers of Climate Change in the Arctic
Seventy percent of the Arctic’s natural gas reserves are thought to be on Russian territory. It’s no wonder then that Russia is particularly active in the Arctic at the moment. Last year a deal was announced between Rosneft, Russia’s largest state petroleum company, and ExxonMobil to extract petroleum and gas in the Arctic. Billions are to be invested in these projects over the coming years. Jonas Grätz is convinced: “Russia is one of the major winners from the situation in the Arctic.” Grätz is a scientist at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich and has just published an analysis of the conflict potential in the region.
Degrowth, expensive oil, and the new economics of energy
Our understandings and expectations of the world have been shaped by our experience of economic growth. The dynamic stability of that growth has habituated us to what is ‘normal.’ That normal must soon shatter. – David Korowicz
