Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The fallout from the IEA’s recent decision to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves continued this week. OPEC members criticized the IEA for “breaching its own principles” and interfering with the market. Traders too seemed little impressed with the move as prices recovered last week’s losses, as Greece drew back from the brink. After all, 60 million barrels is less than a day’s global consumption.
A midweekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Developments this week
There are currently no viable substitutes for oil at current rates of consumption. Although alternatives to oil do exist for many of its uses, they are generally vastly inferior to oil in their energy content and in the ease of which they can be extracted, transported, and turned into a commercially-useable fuel.
-The Shale Gas Scam Goes Public
-Reality Check for the Natural Gas Boom: A Look at the NYT Shale Gas E-Mails
-Chesapeake Energy Corporation Comments on Inaccurate and Misleading New York Times Article
-Oil, water shortages, climate change could provoke wars: report
-Sylvia Earle: If the sea is in trouble, we are all in trouble
-Like a grenade in a glasshouse
-Peak oil is ‘getting closer’ but the world is not ready
Looking at the oil supply & demand fundamentals, next year looks like an accident waiting to happen. If economic growth in emerging economies remains on track, and that is a big If, the next oil price shock will occur in 2012.
The free flow of solar radiation that powers life on earth should be diminished, suggest some, including American Enterprise Institute’s S. Thernstrom, because it threatens the growth of our candle-making economy that requires filling the atmosphere with heat-trapping gasses.
This morning, I took the oil consumption page of the BP spreadsheet, and applied a mechanical test to each country: was 2010 the highest year of consumption over the range 1990-2010?
Throughout the past two centuries economic growth has translated to an increased capability to support more humans with Earth’s available resources. More energy, more raw materials, more jobs, more trade, better sanitation, and key medical advances have all contributed to higher infant survival rates and longer life expectancy in general.
A 30-year war for energy preeminence? You wouldn’t wish it even on a desperate planet. But that’s where we’re headed and there’s no turning back.
Bahrain wouldn’t seem to have a lot to offer, except that it seems to offer something for a million people (half of which are guest workers) living on a desert island. Why is it generating so much interest? Is there any oil left there? In this article, I will discuss some recent developments between Bahrain and its neighbors in the context of its long history.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-Tapping the reserves
-China
-Quote of the week
-Briefs
