Peak Oil – are we there yet?

  • This topic is empty.
Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #3361
    Martin W
    Participant

      Here in Hong Kong, the Living Islands Movement has circulated guff on a video about the imminent end of oil; steep demise forecast for within three years (which would seem too fast to me, without seeing the video). various related sites:

      via one of these, came across ABC (Australian tv) documentary on Peak Oil, which you can watch online surely gives pause for thought:

      Peak Oil?

      Also a site on a 90-minute documentary, The Oil Crash

      Try also Simmons and Company International – Investment Bankers to the Energy Industry, inc the speeches by Matthew R. Simmons: I've had read through "The Energy Crisis has Arrived"

      #4325
      Martin W
      Participant
        Quote:
        World demand for oil and gas will outstrip supply within seven years, according to Royal Dutch Shell. The oil multinational is predicting that conventional supplies will not keep pace with soaring population growth and the rapid pace of economic development. Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s chief executive, said in an e-mail to the company’s staff this week that output of conventional oil and gas was close to peaking. He wrote: “Shell estimates that after 2015 supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand.” The boss of the world’s second-largest oil company forecast that, regardless of government policy initiatives and investment in renewables, the world would need more nuclear power and unconventional fossil fuels, such as oil sands. “Using more energy inevitably means emitting more CO2 at a time when climate change has become a critical global issue,” he wrote.

        The Times: Shell chief fears oil shortage in seven years

        #4526

        From a Wall Street Journal blog:

        Quote:
        What’s up with oil prices? Well, it’s not speculators, and there’s no relief in sight, meaning at least five more years of high prices with no easy fixes. The ugly truth? Peak oil isn’t fringe anymore—it’s going mainstream.

        That’s the reading from the latest oil market report from the International Energy Agency, the rich-country energy watchdog. The IEA’s latest x-ray of the oil market includes plenty of disturbing nuggets.

        The fact that there are no growing stockpiles of crude around the world, for example, suggests speculators aren’t behind crude’s dizzying rise this year …

        And while U.S. drivers fret and worry over how to pay for the Prius, the sad truth is that it doesn’t matter: By 2015, developing country oil demand will outstrip the rich world’s. They’re already in the driver’s seat: 90% of the demand growth over the next five years will come from Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, the IEA said.

        But the juiciest nugget? The conservative IEA appears to be inching ever-closer to the “peak-oil” crowd. Supply simply can’t keep pace with demand—everybody with an oil well has the taps open, but there’s not much left in the keg. Oil fields are aging quicker than free-agent pitchers, and the global oil industry has to run faster just to stay in place.

        – one of comments includes:

        Quote:
        Those of us with engineering and science backgrounds that understood the “Limits to Growth” concept back in the 1970’s are finally able to say “We told you so, you f*&k’ng idiots!

        Peak Oil: IEA Inches Toward the Pessimists’ Camp

        #4622

        Investment banker Steve Crower has sent me link to his video on Peak Oil, 91 86 90:

        [video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDIYgG0gSiY%5D

        #4731

        From the Guardian:

        Quote:

        Speculation that government ministers are far more concerned about a future supply crunch than they have admitted has been fuelled by the revelation that they are canvassing views from industry and the scientific community about "peak oil".

        The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is also refusing to hand over policy documents about "peak oil" – the point at which oil production reaches its maximum and then declines – under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, despite releasing others in which it admits "secrecy around the topic is probably not good".

        Experts say they have received a letter from David Mackay, chief scientific adviser to the DECC, asking for information and advice on peak oil amid a growing campaign from industrialists such as Sir Richard Branson for the government to put contingency plans in place to deal with any future crisis.

        … documents obtained under the FoI Act seen by the Observer show that a "peak oil workshop" brought together staff from the DECC, the Bank of England and Ministry of Defence among others to discuss the issue.

        an internal IEA source said: "Many inside the organisation believe that maintaining oil supplies at even 90m to 95m barrels a day would be impossible, but there are fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further. And the Americans fear the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to oil resources."

        Peak oil alarm revealed by secret official talks

        Behind government dismissals of 'alarmist' fears there is growing concern over critical future energy supplies

      Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
      • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.