Thursday, April 10, 2008

Oil peak theorist warns of chaos, war


Did we reach Peak Oil in 2005?

UK Globe and Mail:
The views of Mr. Simmons, who runs Houston-based Simmons & Assoc. investment bank, bordered on apocalyptic.

Oil shortages "could lead to social chaos and war," he warned. "The issue is the most serious risk to sustaining the 21st century. Peak oil is real, and we have to take it seriously." He argued that production of conventional crude peaked in May, 2005, at 74 million barrels a day.

Since then, the world has met rising consumption - now at about 88-million barrels a day - by cutting inventories, tapping natural gas liquids that typically are included in crude production figures and using better refinery efficiencies.
More apocalyptic visions - Life after the Oil Crash.

How real is this? Very real, we are on the downhill slope. Here are what the insiders think.

Latest news.

The end of the American Empire.

Peak Oil - solved. Can we fix our oil and climate problems at the same time?

Oil Black Monday -
The bottom line: Oil prices are high today, not due to a temporary disruption in the global flow of petroleum as in 1980, but for systemic reasons that are, if anything, becoming more pronounced. This means news headlines with the phrase "record oil price" are likely to be commonplace for a long time to come. The only good news may lie in just how bad the news really is. Sooner or later, ever rising energy costs are likely to push the United States and other oil-consuming nations into deep recession, thus depressing demand and possibly beginning to bring energy prices down. But this is hardly a recipe for lower prices that anyone would voluntarily choose.
Peak Oil also coincided with a credit and housing bust after a long binge. All those interest-rate cuts aren't making it any easier for the average Jane to afford a house. There's no simple remedy for the aftermath of a borrowing binge.

On the Treasury Secretary's proposed reforms - "It's a scam, a fraud, a charade, a lie." - Jim Jubak, senior markets editor for MSN Money.

WaMu: Forget the customers; save the exec bonuses.

What's with this Shell Oil Ad? - pdf:
The bad news is that no combination of technologies can plug the energy gap if the peakists are correct. There will be a third, and last, global energy crisis. It will dwarf previous crises. Profound economic dislocation will result. The challenge for human civilization will be how we rebuild post-peak. If we mobilize with renewables and efficiency, as though for war, we have the potential to achieve a renaissance on many fronts. If we forget climate change and go for coal and tar sands, we will achieve the opposite.
Is attacking Iraq and Iran really all about peak oil? Touched on in this article which says prepare for even higher gas prices.

Last articles from the peak oil news blog.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The peak oil thing is fascinating. I've been telling people there's no ceiling on Oil and no floor under the Dollar. As this thing gets worse and worse of course, real power will be held only at the point of a gun. Cityscapes may become Balkanized along lines determined by who controls the food and water supplies at the point of a gun, much as drug turf is controlled not by the Gov't's police forces but by armed gangs like the Crips, Bloods and MS13. It'll be curious to see to what extent if any the government can manage to maintain some semblence of control over America's largest cities. By all accounts, LA is already a lost cause with the gov't only controling the CBD and the major arteries in and out thereof. The resulting carnage will be the best reality t.v. we've ever seen!