Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The notion of ‘peak demand’ is often invoked to suggest that the US or global economy is somehow less in need of affordable oil today or that Americans are simply finding car ownership passé. But is this really the case? Are we weaning ourselves from dependence on oil? The statistics paint a more nuanced story.
It’s fair to say that lot of people, from shale gas operators to Pennsylvania state revenue collectors, see $$$ every time they think about the Marcellus shale. Only recalcitrant environmentalists worried about polluted drinking water do not salivate at the prospect that many years of U.S. gas supply will come from the Marcellus. Today I will not deal with the environmental issues. Instead, I want to examine the view that resources in the Marcellus are a big part of the shale gas cure-all for America’s energy problems.
I’m sure many of you are aware that there’s been an enormous amount of hype accompanying the coming Shale Gas Revolution.
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-International Energy Agency
Concerns are mounting about peak oil, and there continues to be much debate over when the peak will be reached, whether a plateau can be sustained or whether the onset of decline would occur quickly, whether we will hit peak demand before we hit peak supply, etc.
As Paul Krugman’s New York Times Magazine cover story on environmental economics, “Building the Green Economy,” was ricocheting around the enviro blogosphere last week, the American Wind Energy Association released its annual report on the state of the wind industry.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-China’s drought
-Venezuela’s power crisis
-Oil prices and economic recovery
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
Improved job creation data in the US along with strong Asian demand led to a run on oil prices this week taking the price of a barrel beyond $87 and out of the ‘goldilocks’ $70-$80 territory of recent months. Forecasts for the rest of the year are all over the board…
A midweek roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Prices and production
-Droughts
-Eruption in Kyrgzstan
One of the world’s foremost educators on Peak Oil, Richard Heinberg, in an exclusive interview for MMNews: “We are currently seeing the end of economic growth as we have known it.” Further on, he talks about the financial / economic crisis, monetary changes vis-à-vis a shrinking energy supply, and the Century of Declines: “Peak Everything.”
In this final installment of the Minimum EROI series we calculate the minimum EROI required from our energy sources to support the current transportation infrastructure of the U.S.
As a subscriber to the Oil & Gas Journal, lots of email alerts roll into my inbox. But sometimes there’s a missive startling enough to actually get my attention. This is one of those times.
