Fossil Fuels

ODAC Guest Commentary – Falklands oil and the British economy

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The first wells of the modern era (there may have been older ones, I don’t know) were six drilled around 1998 in the North Falklands Basin. A sniff of gas and oil was found in two of them. Other wells have since been drilled, and nothing found anything to write home about. The current minor hoo-hah relates to an old well which has been “re-interpreted” to suggest that it did cut oil-bearing reservoir. Since the early wells, FOG and Desire have been at the forefront, raising funds for more seismic and drilling, together with Rockhopper and one or two other minors and special vehicles. A few of the majors have partnered some work.

Peak Moment 155: Peak Oil: Adapting for Big Changes Ahead

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With a long-time eye to declining energy resources, Bart Anderson envisions a very different society in five years. The former editor of Energy Bulletin.net offers advice for post-oil living: Understand the problem. Prepare psychologically for big shifts and the unexpected. Find your niche and get good at it. See what your great grandparents did as a model for living well within limits. “Live poor and learn to do it well” as Bart did as a graduate student. Things will be very different, he said, but we’ll make it through.

Moloch’s Children: Do Climate Skeptics and Climate Change Activists Need to Agree?

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I’ve gottten literally dozens of emails begging me to weigh in on the East Anglia climate scandal, and for a while, I was reluctant to do so, because ultimately, paying attention to something so inane just gives it credibility. We’re back, again, to the old battles over climate change — attention to trivialities in the absence of the central issue.

Peak Oil: The Eventual End of the Oil Age

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We cannot be lulled into a false sense of security: though oil prices have declined from their historic highs, there is little doubt that peak oil is real. A 2008 research project completed at Washington University in St. Louis found strong evidence in support of the theory. Please feel free to circulate this academic document as a primer on peak oil.

Bottleneck by William Catton – A Review

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First I should confess to a strong bias toward the content of this book. As readers of my blog, Question Everything, will realize, I have been moving inexorably toward the same conclusion as the author, so you will perhaps forgive me if you think I may be suffering from a lack of sufficient critical thinking. Put bluntly, I think this is a book every thinking human being should read, and then consider for themselves.

Peak Oil Reality: Industry Experts Offer Growing Drumbeat of Supply Warnings (press release)

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Groups and individuals speaking out about forthcoming world oil supply challenges are frequently stereotyped as a fringe element with little knowledge about the oil industry. But their warnings are increasingly supported by some surprising allies: senior petroleum industry officials, consultants and analysts. Call these serious-minded critics the Harsh Realists.