Oil: Looking In All The Right Places
Wildcatting and exploration in the Canadian Maritimes — how an oil geologist and investor sees the landscape.
Fossil Fuels
Coal’s increasing importance guarantees a fight
The granddaddy of fossil fuels that has fouled the air, poisoned the waters — and created the industrial revolution — will also be the fuel of the digital age. Coal, called an antique fuel by some environmentalists, still produces more than half the electricity in the nation.
Peak Oil – 30 July, 2005
New discovery by oil companies – sustainability /
Car columnist says cheap oil gone forever /
Systems, interdependencies and peak oil /
Strapped commuters seek fuel bargains /
Oilcast: Riots, power cuts and Colin Campbell… /
Huge oil profits go for exploration /
Big oil’s output is shaky, but not its profits /
Wales: Fears over future energy sources /
Oil depletion? It’s all in the assumptions
The three years of Peak Oil
What is the third date in the great Peak Oil saga? It is the year in which alternate energy sources finally offset the equivalent decline in crude oil production. Prior to that date, oil production will in general keep falling but the energy equivalent delivered by solar, wind, nuclear, etc. will always be less.
Looming energy crunch fuels international conflict and instability
The big losers from the energy shortage are likely to be the world’s poor nations. Between them, the U.S., Western Europe and Japan—the old industrial centers—and the rising economies of Asia are driving up prices to levels that most of sub-Saharan Africa and countries such as Yemen and Bangladesh will not be able to afford.
Chevron, Oil, and China
“It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil,” notes Chevron Corporation’s two full-page ad that began appearing in July in the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Financial Times and elsewhere. “We’ll use the next trillion in 30,” the ad continues, thus quietly admitting to the Peak Oil that the industry has not previously disclosed.
Report on UK Peak Oil Day: Peak Speak
PowerSwitch recently held a conference outside London, titled Peak Speak, providing a platform to discuss the causes, consequences, and mitigation of the peak and decline in global oil production, and action that can be taken. Report includes notes on the speakers, topics they covered, and links to presentations.
Turning tar sands into oil
Huge, tarlike deposits in Canada and Venezuela will be critical over the next 50 years to the supply of liquid fuels as the world’s production of easily pumped oil plummets. Yet, turning this nonconventional oil source into synthetic oil is not likely to be the solution to our energy crisis, as some claim. Canada is no Saudi Arabia.
Experts take new look at Appalachian Basin for deep reserves
Spurred by the nation’s relentless thirst for energy, geologists are suddenly taking a fresh look at the oldest oil-producing basin in the world. They are wondering if Mother Nature stashed a jackpot in the cellar, down deep where the rocky roots of the Appalachian Mountains spread into Ohio.
Crude Fight
Wildcat drillers in China are battling Beijing after the State resumed rights over their oil wells.
UK Peak Oil Conference – London, 11 October
On 11 October 2005, in London, a major conference will look at the peak
oil problem and its impact on climate change, the world’s food supply and
the world economy. Speakers include Michael Meacher MP, Tim Lang and
Andrew Simms (of NEF), and the chair will be Dr Ian Gibson MP. The
conference is being organised by East Anglia Food Link, CRed, Sustain and
PowerSwitch.org.uk.
Peak Oil 2005?
Peak Oil is coming soon, no doubt about it in my mind. But like religious groups who set the date for the Second Coming only to end up looking like fools, some caution is advised. If Peak Oil is postponed for a few more years due to a recession, the number of peak oil books and websites will also decline. If that happens, the actual peak in oil production may arrive with more of a whimper than a bang…
