Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
A monthly publication put out by the Bank of Montreal argues that “Hubbert’s Peak must have arrived for Ghawar, the world’s biggest oilfield, and Wall Street’s most-cited reason for assuring us month after month that oil prices would plunge…”
Oil markets have entered a “super-spike” period that could see 1970’s-style price surges as high as $105 a barrel, investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a research report.
LOS ANGELES — The Russian government plans to increase its oil export duty to a record $102.60/tonne starting Apr. 1. The duty has been $83/tonne since Feb. 1.
During December 2004 and January, the duty was $101/tonne, the previous highest level. Russia’s oil export duty is reconsidered every 2 months.
But similar to industry trend where private oil companies can’t locate large future reserves.
Philippines President Gloria Arroyo ordered most Philippine government offices to go on to four-day working weeks in April and May to conserve energy amid surging crude oil prices, the presidential palace said today.
The hike in oil prices is beginning to ripple through the economy, pinching consumers at places far beyond the gas pump.
The United States must act now to deal with peaking world oil production or face disruptions far greater that the 1973 oil embargo or the 1979 Iranian oil cutoff, according to an article in the spring issue of Issues in Science and Technology.
Several Asian countries are pushing ahead with their long held objective of establishing a regional oil market for cheaper supplies, despite warnings such an initiative could backfire.
A group of former national security officials on Monday took up the cause of weaning U.S. drivers from their oil addiction — normally the realm of environmental groups — and asked the Bush administration to spend $1 billion on lighter, more fuel-efficient automobiles.
The interesting question about the advent of $50-a-barrel oil is whether it signals a new era in the economics and politics of energy.
An independent study has modeled various scenarios to project possible dates of global oil peak. The modelers used data from both the USGS and ASPO to reach their conclusion that ‘the answer to the question, “how much longer can we increase oil production?”, seems to be probably not much more than 30 years, and perhaps less than five.’
If Geo-Green ideas are unchallenged, we will watch tragedy unfold as unsustainable proposals continue to be written as energy policy in Washington D.C., with billions spent on blind industry wish fulfillment.
