This is a guest post by Jean Laherrère on gold. Although of little relevance to our economies in the present day, this precious metal has been used as money for many thousands of years, and still retains its importance and value. In a two part article, [...]
Home Green Home: Reality Check
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement surrounding renewable energy technology. After all, what homeowner wouldn’t want to reduce — or even eliminate — his or her electric bill with a backyard wind turbine, or a rooftop solar array?
As readers might imagine, however, [...]
The Press and Journal (regional newspaper covering north Scotland and Aberdeen) had a headline story on carbon capture and storage (CCS) last week that inspired me to send a letter to the editor that was published today.
Striving to enhance oil recovery factors and prolong the life of the North Sea [...]
In Germany, the high price of going green
GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY -- In this nation that embraced one of the world's most aggressive campaigns against global warming, the Pokropp family can almost hear the cha-ching when switching off their lights.
A kilowatt of electricity costs three times as much here as it [...]
World oil production peaked in July 2008 at 74.74 million barrels/day (mbd) and now has fallen to about 72 mbd. It is expected that oil production will decline at about 2.2 mbd per year as shown below in the chart. The forecasts from the IEA WEO 2008 and 2009 [...]
This is a continuation of the tech talks, discussing technical topics, that I write on Sundays. For the past few weeks I have been writing about some of the techniques used in producing the gas from shales, and that will likely continue for another week or two. Because of [...]
US builds up its bases in oil-rich South America
The United States is massively building up its potential for nuclear and non-nuclear strikes in Latin America and the Caribbean by acquiring unprecedented freedom of action in seven new military, naval and air bases in Colombia. The development – and the [...]
Below the fold is a guest essay by John Michael Greer, author of The Long Descent, a book I have read and recommend. The post examines the importance and viability of relocalization from a historical perspective.
How Relocalization Worked by John Michael Greer(Original can be found here.)
One of the points [...]
Oil's expanding frontiers
In 1914, the Bureau of Mines said U.S. oil reserves would be exhausted by 1924. In 1939, the Interior Department said the world had 13 years worth of petroleum reserves. Then a global war was fought and the postwar boom was fueled, and in 1951 Interior reported' [...]
People become afraid when you mention theory. Everyone talks about entropy without actually understanding it. Simplicity can come out of complexity. "Knowledge" remains a slippery thing. We think that science flows linearly as [...]
Below is a summary of my presentation, The Renewables Gap, from the ASPO 2009 conference. The intent of my presentation was to highlight the political challenge of affecting a societal transition to renewable sources of energy. In particular, I focus on wind and solar, though it seems to me that [...]
Mexico oil output rises slightly in Oct from Sept
MEXICO CITY, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Mexican oil production increased slightly in October from the previous month, lending credence to the government's argument that a steep decline in output appears to be stabilizing.
Mexico produced 2.602 million barrels per day of' [...]
Australia needs to kick the oil addiction before peak oil kicks it for us by driving prices sky high.
"We must start planning now to bring on the sustainable alternatives of renewably-powered electric vehicles, both public and private, and tackle the climate and peak" [...]
We the Six Billion: The Ammonia Economy
His presentation, entitled "The Gulf of Maine: What Lies Beyond the Fossil Fuel Horizon," was billed as "describing the role that off-shore wind can play in reducing Maine's unsustainable dependence on fossil fuel based energy resources."
At the Strand he pulled no punches in' [...]
The November 2009 edition of Oilwatch Monthly can be downloaded at this weblink (PDF, 1.24 MB, 33 pp).
Figure 1 - OECD Crude Oil & Product Stocks from January 2002 to September 2009
The Oilwatch Monthly is a newsletter that is available free of charge with the latest data [...]
The Peak Oil Crisis: Accusations
Not many years from now, there will be a huge uproar over who missed the coming of peak oil. There will be Congressional hearings and much finger pointing and protestations that the peaking of world oil production was impossible to predict.
It will all sound much [...]
One of the features of many models that are used to predict future events is that they focus on target years. Decadal years are the most common target years, so that whether talking of climate or the amount of oil or natural gas available, models focus on, for example, the [...]
Pemex Proved Reserves May Drop 2.8% This Year
(Bloomberg) -- Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, said proved reserves of crude-oil equivalent may drop for an 11th straight year as existing fields dry up and discoveries are smaller than expected.
Proved reserves may decline 2.8 percent to 13.9 billion barrels this [...]
the internal infighting between groups of' [...]
Oil reflects dollar moves, not market dynamics: Yergin
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Current oil prices are the result of financial market gyrations and do not reflect the supply-demand dynamics of the physical market, energy consultant and prize-winning author Daniel Yergin said on Monday.
Crude oil benchmarks are holding near $80 a barrel, [...]
Last week saw the release of the IEAs 2009 World Economic Outlook on which we will be providing some analysis in the coming weeks. The night before its release, the Guardian ran an interview with a 'whistleblower' claiming that key oil figures were distorted by US pressure so as [...]
I decided to write another rather basic level article because there are so many people I meet who have heard a bit about the oil situation, and it is hard to point to one single article to give an overview of some of the current issues. Regular readers will find [...]
This post is one of my series of tech talks, describing some of the ways in which fossil fuels are produced. In the current part of the series we are focusing a little more on the procedures that are being used to recover natural gas from formations such as [...]
Market cornered for rare minerals
As resource-hungry China scours the world for crude oil and natural gas supplies, it has managed to corner the global market for a group of obscure metals used to make iPods, wind farms and electric cars.
The mainland supplies at least 95 percent of the world's' [...]
In The Happiness Hypothesis , psychology professor Jonathan Haidt compares human brain/behavior to a man riding an elephant. There exists a complex choreography between our newer rational cortex (the 'man'), and our older, more primitive brain structures (the 'elephant'). His point was that our brains can accomplish [...]
Oil on the Brain by Lisa Margonelli was recommended by Paul Sankey at the 2009 Energy Information Administration Conference as a book that provided great insight into the oil industry. I have had it on my list of books [...]
Is Saudi Arabia ready to play hardball with Iran?
Are the Saudis prepared to constrain oil prices to weaken Iran? It's an intriguing possibility that, if implemented, could have major implications for U.S.-led efforts to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
...The Saudis have said that $75 per barrel is an [...]
Yesterday the President of the largest gold mining and production company, Barrick Gold, noted that after ten years of declining production it is time to recognize that the world has seen the peak in gold production. To maintain production ore is being mined with increasingly less gold in it. [...]
Richard Heinberg - Searching for a Miracle: ‘Net Energy’ Limits & the Fate of Industrial Society
Perhaps the most significant limit to future energy supplies is the “net energy” factor—the requirement that energy systems yield more energy than is invested in their construction and operation.
THIS REPORT IS INTENDED as a [...]
U.S. Adviser to Kurds Stands to Reap Oil Profits
OSLO — Peter W. Galbraith, an influential former American ambassador, is a powerful voice on Iraq who helped shape the views of policy makers like Joseph R. Biden Jr. and John Kerry. In the summer of 2005, he was also an [...]
The following is a brief guest commentary by an anonymous TheOilDrum reader on coping with general limits to growth anxiety.
If you have your own Campfire topics generally related to resource depletion, please email them to the editors.
I am an old man and have known a great many [...]
Standard economic principles have demonstrated that price is a function of supply and demand. The same is true for the recent oil prices fluctuations we have witnessed over the last few years, namely the equilibrium between supply and demand. However, the following conundrum has not been resolved: are oil prices high due to greater demand or too little supply? This ambiguity [...]
Your Neighbor's Saving Energy; Why Aren't You?
We all know carpooling is good for the Earth. So highway departments build high-occupancy vehicle lanes and companies offer prime parking spaces for employees who share rides.
But carpooling is unlikely to save the environment. It's too hard.
So say scientists who have studied' [...]
Yesterday's Guardian raised questions about whether oil reserves published in the past by the IEA have been inflated.
Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower
The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy' [...]
Interview With Russian President Dmitry Medvedev: 'Oil And Gas Is Our Drug'
SPIEGEL: In a recent article that you wrote entitled "Go, Russia," you spoke of your country's "humiliating" economic "backwardness." Why hasn't Russia managed to overcome its dependency on natural resources in the time since the end of the [...]
This is the fourth part of a four-part guest post by Dr. Michael Dittmar. Dr. Dittmar is a researcher with the Institute of Particle Physics of ETH Zurich, and he also works at CERN in Geneva.
The accumulated knowledge and the prospects for commercial energy production from fission breeder and [...]
Saudi Aramco Will Increase Asia’s December Oil Supply
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabian Oil Co. will supply more crude to refiners in Asia as rising prices threaten to hurt the world economic recovery.
Saudi Aramco, as the company is known, will provide 100 percent of cargoes under long-term contracts for [...]
This year's Petroleum Geology Conference in London included the following item on the agenda:
Peak Oil: Advancing the topical debate over the timing of peak oil & gas
The aim of the Geological Society's Peak Oil evening meeting is to further discuss and debate the timing and impact of [...]
End Of Cheap Oil, End Of Road For Ruinous Lifestyle
"Every serious discussion of the environment ... is ultimately about oil, whether it specifically mentions oil or not," Owen writes. The explosive growth and general prosperity of the past century have been made possible by the "prodigious abundance" of oil; [...]
Scientific American presents "A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030" in its November issue. In many ways, it sounds good. But let's think about the details: What would the end result look like? Would it really be sustainable? What would the costs really be? Is there any' [...]
Robert Cutler has an interesting article in Gundogar recently in which he asks, concerning the recent articles questioning the size of Turkenistan’s gas reserves “Who stands to gain?” from the imbroglio. His conclusion is that it is likely the Russians, and certainly not the Turkmen.
The story, in [...]
Shrinking to grow: Is Conoco plan a model for industry?
Although one company doesn’t represent a whole industry, a shrink-to-grow strategy adopted by ConocoPhillips illustrates pressures on the biggest operators in a world of shrinking opportunity.
ConocoPhillips has disclosed plans to cut capital spending next year to $11 billion from $12.5 [...]
Interview With Ian Gordon
IAN: Well I do subscribe to the theory of peak oil. But again, I think the demand for oil is going to drop precipitously. Simply because no one’s gonna be working. Again if we use the idea that 45% of the U.S economy is going to [...]
At the Denver ASPO conference, I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Albert Bartlett. Afterward, Dr. Bartlett e-mailed me some material he had written over the years. The "Laws of Sustainability" were included in this material. They are part of Al Bartlett's contribution to the anthology The Future' [...]
Kunstler: It's Time to Rebuild Our Passenger Railroad System
The world economic fiasco, which I call "The Long Emergency," may be speeding us into a future of permanent nostalgia in which anything that is not of the present time looks good.
I say this to avert any accusations that I am' [...]
Energy Return of Water Invested (EROWI). From an article by Robert Service in Science Magazine. The data in the table originate from "Energy demands on water resources",report to the congress, 2006 link.
The readers of "The Oil Drum" are familiar with the concept of [...]
Note from the author (Dan Allen): As a high-school teacher, I wanted to give my thoroughly-industrial, suburban-NJ students a more detailed peek [...]
Monday, November 2, Arthur Berman wrote in his blog:
Pressure from Petrohawk helps cancel World Oil column
In an act of extraordinary courage, a top Petrohawk executive threatened to cancel his free subscription to World Oil if the magazine continued to publish my column. Today, John Royall, President and CEO for [...]
World Need for Oil Expected to Ease: International Energy Agency Says Conservation Efforts Will Trump Any Global Economic Recovery
The International Energy Agency next week will make a "substantial" downward revision to its long-term forecast for global oil demand, a person familiar with the matter said, marking the second year [...]
This is a guest post from Will Stewart. Will is a systems engineer in the DC area and previously has written several guest posts on The Oil Drum, including a series on Passive Solar Design.
As oil production falls and volatile oil prices in concert with a struggling economy induce [...]
Shale gas row gets nasty
Today Daniel Yergin, author of the seminal oil industry tome ‘The Prize’, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that shale gas is a game changer for US energy. Those who follow natgas will have heard it all before: more advanced and affordable technology, mainly hydraulic [...]
This is a post by Piccolo, a petroleum engineer working in the petroleum industry.
In April 2008, we published an initial assessment of the Bakken Shale and compared it to the USGS estimates of the resource: “The Bakken – How much will it help?” That piece covered production up [...]
Aramco takes war on speculators to whole new index
With oil prices thoroughly decoupled from the fundamentals of supply and demand, Saudi Aramco has decided it is time to nudge the market towards reality.
Last week, the world’s biggest oil company said that as of next January, it would use the [...]
An energy game-changer?: Louisiana shale could change fate of U.S. energy supply
The gas found in the area's Haynesville shale and in other shale formations throughout the country has changed the nation's energy outlook in just a few short years.
Some see abundant North American natural gas as the gateway to [...]
Gail the Actuary, Leanan, Euan Mearns, Chris Vernon, Rembrandt, Nate Hagens, Heading Out, ace, Jerome a Paris, David Murphy, Robert Rapier, Sam Foucher, jeffvail, Phil Hart, Francois Cellier, Ugo Bardi, Luis de Sousa
