Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Occasionally, there are tipping-point moments and we are witnessing one at the moment. Seismic change is afoot. As oil prices breach $60 a barrel and pessimists warn that the world could be as little as 10 years away from a first-order resources crisis, China’s largest oil company, CNOOC, has launched a $18.5 billion bid for one of the US’s juiciest medium-sized oil companies, Unocal.
“Energy will be one of the defining issues of this century. One thing is clear: the era of easy oil is over. What we do next will determine how well we meet the energy needs of the entire world in this century and beyond.
So we invite you to join us for a series of discussions on some very important issues. Will you join us?”
LA PAZ, Bolivia – For centuries, this country made it easy for prospectors to mine – from the Spaniards who plundered gold to the tin barons of the 19th century to the multinational energy companies that flocked here in the 1990’s to develop Latin America’s second-largest natural gas deposits. B like many energy-producing countries these days, Bolivia has pulled back the welcome mat. With an angry population demanding a larger share of the benefits, and some groups even calling for expropriation, the government recently raised royalties and taxes to among the highest levels in Latin America.
Washington lawmakers who have expressed opposition to CNOOC’s US$18.5 billion bid for Unocal Corp have received more than US$100,000 in campaign contributions from rival bidder Chevron since 2002, the Financial Times reported, citing publicly available filings in the US.
Recent research by Las Lianas has brought to light a disturbing process of militarization of the Amazon region and privatization of the control of Ecuador’s military to protect the interests of multinational oil companies.
We have obtained copies of secret contracts and security agreements between the Ecuadorian armed forces and foreign oil companies that reveal a military for hire and oil companies usurping the role of the elected government.
With the recently opened pipeline from the Caspian to the Mediterranean, Big Oil in the guise of BP is showing its determination to get its hands on what seems to be the largest remaining deposits after the Middle East. But human rights abuses and a cavalier attitude to safety have come hand-in-hand with the new pipeline, writes Michael Meacher, former UK Environment Secretary.
Growth in the world’s oil and gas reserves stalled last year, a report from oil giant BP showed on Tuesday, bucking a trend that has historically seen new discoveries more than match production.
More than 100 cyclists have been riding around London naked, in a mass protest against dependency on the oil industry.
World Energy (vol. 8 no. 1) carries a series of articles by the Chief Executives of the major oil companies… They speak of the magnitude of the challenge they face in meeting anticipated demand, rejecting any sense of fatalism. They try valiantly to convey a positive attitude as befits their position, but their tone lacks conviction.
…the idea of a world production peak is no longer the province of a small band of “peak oil” cranks. It’s gone mainstream.
Without any press conferences, grand announcements, or hyperbolic advertising campaigns, the Exxon Mobil Corporation, one of the world’s largest publicly owned petroleum companies, has quietly joined the ranks of those who are predicting an impending plateau in non-OPEC oil production. Their report, The Outlook for Energy: A 2030 View, forecasts a peak in just five years.
To sum up… despite their rosy views on reserves and oil production, the Economist acknowledges that energy is a vital issue and that the current status quo on oil is unsustainable: Western majors are running out of oil and, even if there is enough as they claim in the Persian Gulf countries, it is going to present major geopolitical and economical problems to bring all the oil currently burnt in the US to the consumers.
