Peak Oil Review — March 10th, 2008
An executive summary of weekly news from a peak oil perspective, featuring:
– Production and Prices
– Natural Gas
– $100 Oil and the Economy
– $57 Oil?
– Energy Briefs
Oil
Sense and nonsense from Nansen Saleri
A retired friend of ours from the oil industry once offered some sage advice: “When my colleagues in the industry are presenting, they are either buying or selling.” Saleri’s piece in the Wall Street Journal is a sales pitch.
Peak oil – Mar 9
Chase Manhattan predicted peak oil in 1956
The militarization of energy security
Review: Kunstler’s World Made by Hand
Deffeyes: Dashed hopes for NY Times and PO
Highway of diamonds
A line from a Bob Dylan song has increasingly struck me as a perfect symbol for the choices we now face in dealing with climate change, peak oil and population: “I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it.”
We need to get it right. No one will thank us for a highway of diamonds with nobody on it.
Relocalizing Eden
The bioregion defined by the Willamette River watershed in Oregon is one of the most bountiful in the United States. The agricultural picture of the Willamette Valley, however, has been turned inside out in the last 25 years. Nearly everything we eat comes from some place else. (Case study)
The disconnect between oil reserves and production
Looking at published oil reserves, it is easy to get the idea that huge amounts of oil are left to be extracted, and that peak oil should not be a concern. Examining the situation more closely, we discover that published oil reserves aren’t that helpful in predicting future production. Evidence suggests that oil shortages may not be many years away.
Peak oil – Mar 8
The IEA On Peak Oil
ASPO Newsletter – March 2008
Asia boom means oil will continue to rise
Review of Kunstler’s new novel
Scraping the barrel (anti-PO)
Life after the oil crash (Canada peakists)
Peak oil – true or false (abiotic oil)
The elephant in the room
The UK has until recently been one of the most resilient economies in the world. Over the last 100 years, it has survived two world wars, staged spectacular economic recoveries, been blessed with energy resources, and evolved from manufacturer to the world into a service economy. But the position in which it now finds itself looks bleaker.
ODAC Guest Commentary – Response to Peter Odell
This is the third and final part in a series of comments on Professor Peter Odell’s article that appeared in the UK newspaper The Guardian on February 15th, itself a response to an article in the same newspaper by Dr. Jeremy Leggett on February 5th.
Lump sums
Coal, so long the Cinderella of fossil fuels, is not just in demand but in desperately short supply. The world’s biggest producers and exporters are struggling, and the price of imports to Europe has doubled. Does this mean lower emissions from coal and less danger from climate change?
The first ever oil database: the history of Petroconsultants
The founder of ASPO describes the strange history of the oil database used by CERA/IHS, and how it is intertwined with the peak oil movement.
Force majeure
Hardly a day passes without new oil outages in Nigeria. Let’s examine oil fields scheduled to come on-stream, the newly elected Nigerian government, and the security situation. Welcome to the world of peak oil and rising prices.
