Fossil Fuels

De-constructing the WSJ’s front page story, “U.S. nears milestone: net fuel exporter”

by

The primary contributor to the US becoming a net exporter of refined products and the primary contributor to the decline in US net oil imports is declining consumption in the US, as the US and many other developed countries have been forced, post-2005, to take a declining share of a falling volume of Global Net Exports (GNE), which are calculated in terms of Total Petroleum Liquids.

The WSJ reporters are taking a symptom of Peak Exports, i.e., declining US oil consumption, and presenting it as a positive story.

When oil disruptions lead to crises: Learning from the Arab oil embargoes 1967 and 1973-74

by

What is oil dependence and how can it lead to energy crises? What lessons can be learned from history to tackle new energy crisis? And why do some oil disruptions lead to crisis while other do not? This article looks at the Arab Oil Embargo of 1967 and the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973-74 and examines why the Arab oil embargo against the US in 1967 did not lead to a crisis while the Arab oil embargo against the US in 1973-74 did.

Pepperspraying the future

by

What do a whiff of pepper spray rising from a suburban big box store, a breathtakingly absurd comment by an American politician, and a breathtakingly cynical statement from a Canadian minister have in common? Arguably, an attitude that helps to explain why the political, economic, and cultural institutions of today’s industrial societies are committed to doing anything and everything in response to the crisis of our time, except the options that would actually help. With a little help from history, the Archdruid explains.

A reality check on oil supply for Newt Gingrich

by

During the CNN Republican presidential debate Tuesday, November 23, Newt Gingrich made statements about U.S. potential oil supply that reveal either total ignorance of energy or supremely dangerous demagoguery. He stated that the United States could discover and produce enough oil in 2012 to cause a worldwide oil price collapse.

The peak oil crisis: the IEA’s road show

by

Every November following the publication of the IEA’s World Energy Outlook, the leadership of the Agency travels to major capitols in an effort to explain to the world’s leaders the conclusions of the new publication. Parts of this year’s briefings contain not-so-subtle hints as to what sort of energy policies the world’s leaders might like to follow if they want to avoid killing off all life on earth a century or so from now. Earlier this week the travelers stopped in Washington, where sandwiched between visits to various dignitaries they briefed an assemblage of some 200 journalists. Here is my report.

Shocker! Newt Gingrich doesn’t understand oil

by

I often don’t bother arguing with the “Drill, Baby, drill” folks – the reason is that while I think they are misguided and their lack of understanding of the possibilities of US oil are embarassing, they also have a point – as we get further down the energy curve, most of our available energy resources will be exploited if it is economically viable to recover the oil or the gas. It simply will happen – environmental sensitivity will not be a major factor.

How big is Exxon’s gamble in Kurdistan? (Answer: BIG)

by

Has ExxonMobil — the annoyingly prissy schoolboy who always obeys the teacher — risked weakening one of its distinguishing pillars in order to break into a single oil patch? And if so, could that shake up the global oil market along with geopolitics?

We are referring to the news, indiscreetly disclosed by a Kurdistan official last week, that the northern Iraqi region has signed an oil exploration agreement with Exxon. The reason this is a problem is that Kurdistan has been in a long-standing turf war with the folks in Baghdad over how to divide the spoils from its hydrocarbon riches.

The Energy Return on Investment threshold

by

Hall and Day (2009) report that the Energy Return on Energy Invest (EROI) for coal might be as high as 80 and that for hydropower, EROI is 40. Does this mean that coal is twice as ‘good’ as hydro? The answer is no, and in this post I will discuss how this relates to the idea of an EROI Threshold