Welcome to Peak Oil Panic!

Mexico Needs Calderón’s Proposed Fiscal Reforms
Mexidata.info - San Diego,CA,USA
(Mexico’s oil fields, particularly the once gargantuan but rapidly dwindling Cantarell Field, supply the federal government with about 40 percent of its …

GLOBAL MARKETS-Europe shares near 6-1/2 yr peak; oil eyes record
Reuters - USA
… 6-1/2 year high on Monday as a fresh bout of corporate takeover activity helped to ease concerns about oil prices which approached lifetime peaks. …

Peak oil advocates blast US industry study
Reuters - USA
By Chris Baltimore WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Proponents of “peak oil” — the theory that global crude oil production has hit its zenith and is headed for a …

On the precipice: Energy security and economic stability on the edge
Energy Bulletin - USA
Like most people, I had never heard of the term “peak oil” before 2003, and had not given any thought to the possibility of what might happen if the supply …

New Oil Reports Add Confusion To ‘Peak Oil‘ Theory
Global Politician - Brooklyn,NY,USA
Proponents of “peak oil” — the theory that global crude oil production has hit its zenith and is headed for a steep decline — are upset with a US oil …

Energy’s Manpower Peak? - Why the biggest problem might not be oil.
Energy Tribune - Houston,TX,USA
That may be the case. But it is obvious that broader concerns about peak oil may be misplaced. Yes, the world has a finite amount of oil and gas. …

Are these the last days of the Oil Age?
Times Online - UK
Some analysts think that the peak oil moment has already been reached; some still think that it will not come until 2020 - which is itself only 12 years …

World not running out of oil, says report
Business Day - Johannesburg,South Africa
WASHINGTON — Proponents of “peak oil“, the theory that global crude oil production is nearing its zenith, are unimpressed with a US oil industry group’s …

‘Peak oil‘ advocates blast US study
The Canberra Times - Canberra,Australian Capital Territory,Australia
By Chris Baltimore Proponents of “peak oil” - the theory that global crude oil production has hit its zenith and is headed for a steep decline - are steamed …

Bush administration is in no position to cope with the fallout of …
VHeadline.com - Worth,IL,USA
On the other side of the debate, we have an announcement by the National Petroleum Council that the peak oil study the Secretary of Energy requested nearly …

Critics blast US oil report
Montreal Gazette - Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Proponents of “peak oil” - the theory that global crude oil production has hit its zenith and is headed for a steep decline - are steamed with a US oil …

How do I figure this is good news? Simply because I recall about a year ago all sorts of analysts were calling for $100 barrel by the end of the year. Thats why.

right here,

WORLD oil prices breached $US76 again in
London and hit 73 dollars in New York overnight, approaching record
highs as more kidnappings in Nigeria added to global supply concerns.

Brent North Sea crude for August delivery touched
$US76.34 per barrel, a level last reached on August 10, 2006. The
contract is about $US2 from the record $US78.65 hit the same month.

Fuck me, as if the Mexicans didn’t have enough problems with the declining production of the Cantarell, now they have to deal with militants.

An obscure guerrilla group that has been barely active for a decade
took responsibility today for a recent series of pipeline explosions in
central Mexico.

The People’s Revolutionary Army, which until now has been active
mostly in Guerrero, Oaxaca and other southern Mexican states, said in a
communique that “several platoons” of its militants blew up the
pipelines in the past week as part of a new campaign.

At this point I’m going to file this under bad news.

It is probably safe to say that our only hope is for Leonardo Dicaprio to make a movie about it! (at which point it gets filed under bad-movie)

Read the full story here.

Ok, its been widely noted that Hubbert’s peak did not factor in technological advances.

Here is a good example. Composites.

In our generation we have moved from wooden tennis rackets, to carbon/composite rackets becoming the norm, with the wooden racket becoming a historic curiosity.

Those are consumer consumables, imagine the advances that are being made in commercial high-performance materials - like maybe those that are used for drilling in deep water.

Here is a bit of an article on some of the development of composity goodness that just may stave off “The Dreaded Peak Of Death”, for maybe a generation or two.

DeepFlex also has patented a lightweight catenary system, comprised of proprietary external weights in the touchdown area, which put tension in their extremely lightweight, high-pressure tubulars that hang from floating production vessels and service subsea installations in water as deep as 3,000m (9,843 ft).

I don’t know about you, but being able to drill in depths of about 3,000 meters sure sounds good to me!

Check out the full article here.

This hardly comes as a surprise. I’m guessing that this has something to do with the recent declines in Cantarell production.

True to the lackluster journalistic nature of this blog, we can’t be bothered to sign up for a WSJ account. If anyone ever reads this blog post, could you take a peek at what they have in their article and maybe post a summary in the comments. Thanks!

So I did a search on google for “peak oil” - the first sponsored result was for Leonardo Dicaprio’s upcoming climate change cash grab - the 11th Hour.

WHat does this mean?

Is Leo officially on the Peak band wagon?

Is it really aimed at Treehuggers and is there an automatic assumption that anyone concerned with climate change is automatically enlightened and equally concerned with Peak Oil?

Is Leo going to save the world?

Not content with conflict over religious difference, geographic boundaries, who hates Western Foreign policy more, it looks like the Middle East is going to throw another cause for war into the mix: water.

Potential Water Conflicts in the Middle East

Water will remain one of the most volatile issues in the Middle East
and the source of potentially serious conflicts. The oil rich countries
have resolved their water shortage through desalination. Israel is
moving in that direction as well. Countries with more restricted
financial resources such as Syria, Jordan, Morocco and Yemen are
constrained from going through the desalination path. Rapidly growing
population and a trend toward urbanization will heighten water
shortages and exacerbate potential political or military conflicts.

Water is the key to war or peace. Borders can be redrawn,
refugees resettled, trade barriers can be removed and agriculture
reformed and made more efficient. But water will still be required to
meet basic human needs. Population growth and a shift toward
urbanization will render these needs even greater in the future.

As much as I’d like to file this one under good news as it might distract some of the energies that are currently spent over fighting for engery, the net result is more conflict. More instability in the cradle of my oil supply  = one more checkmark for the  bad news column.

Once again let’s score one up for good news!

The Problem’s Not Peak Oil, It’s Politics

“The oil is in the ground, but serious doubts are being raised about
whether countries have the desire and means to produce it,” says Leo
Drollas, deputy director of the Center for Global Energy Studies, a
London think tank.

Kurdish Oil Riches Lure Wildcatters Unswayed by Deaths in Iraq

This isn’t really good news in terms of the deaths in Iraq, it seems to be good news in that there is another big oil giant
comparable to Ghawar

Once known as Baba Gurgur, Kurdish for “father of fire,” Kirkuk is a coveted prize in the oil wars. It holds reserves second only to the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

That there is no mention of decline on this one, lets file it under good news!