Industry

The Bakken boom — A modern day gold rush

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While the Bakken boom offers a hopeful story in which American ingenuity and nature’s endless bounty emancipate us from energy oppression and dependence on evil and oppressive foreign dictators, musings of energy independence are premature, misguided and misleading. The problem with the Bakken story as told by Crooks and others is that it lacks historical context. Referring to recent developments as an energy revolution implies that there are no lessons to be learned from history. But as Mark Twain put it, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”

Deconstructing “ethical oil”

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EthicalOil.org is a defense of the Canadian oil sands industry. The argument it makes is that because human rights standards are much better in Canada than in many other oil exporting nations, Canada should be considered a more “moral” source of oil. In fact, the oil from the oil sands is touted as a “fair trade choice.” Once I’d read through the site, it was hard to imagine why the oil sands industry would even want it online. If these people were working for me with the express mission of defending the oil sands, I would fire them.

World Petroleum Congress in Doha, Qatar – ExxonMobil: ‘Technology to beat Peak Oil’ and Total pulls itself into line

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Before the World Petroleum Congress in Doha, Qatar the newspaper Gulf Times wrote in an article that, “A highlight is the keynote speech that will be delivered by Total’s President and CEO, Christophe de Margerie on the theme: “Peak oil – ahead of us or behind us?” on December 7”. The fact that Peak Oil is the theme for one of the seven main presentations at the congress shows that Peak Oil is now an important topic of discussion in the international and national oil industries. Earlier, Total had indicated that they believed Peak Oil could occur before 2030 so it was with some suspense that we awaited the message from Total and their managing director de Margarie.

Radio China International and 20th World Petroleum Congress in Doha, Qatar

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Yesterday I received an email and a telephone call from Radio China International. They inquired if I would be willing to answer a few questions on the occasion of the 20th World Petroleum Congress in Doha, Qatar. Every third year the world’s oil producers gather for a large congress. For the first time they have now gathered in the Middle East. The interview with Radio China International has now been completed and it is interesting to look at the questions that they wanted to discuss…They sent me written copies of the questions that they wanted to discuss so let’s look at what worries and interests China.

Biofuels and biomass – December 8

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-Biomass is the next biofuel ‘land grab’ on tropical forests, warn campaigners
-Climate Committee: Biomass has “no role” in electricity production without CCS
-CLIMATE CHANGE: Biofuels Are Not the Solution
-Navy’s Big Biofuel Bet: 450,000 Gallons at 4 Times the Price of Oil
-Aviation could switch to low-carbon fuel ‘sooner than thought’

Wind fights solar; Triangle wins

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For me, the most delightful turn of events in the ultimate nerd-song”Particle Man” by They Might Be Giants, is that after introducing (in order of complexity) particle-man, triangle-man, universe-man, and person-man—and learning that triangle-man naturally beats particle-man in a match up—we pit person-man against triangle-man to discover that triangle wins—again. In this post, we’ll pit solar against wind and see who wins.

When oil disruptions lead to crises: Learning from the Arab oil embargoes 1967 and 1973-74

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What is oil dependence and how can it lead to energy crises? What lessons can be learned from history to tackle new energy crisis? And why do some oil disruptions lead to crisis while other do not? This article looks at the Arab Oil Embargo of 1967 and the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973-74 and examines why the Arab oil embargo against the US in 1967 did not lead to a crisis while the Arab oil embargo against the US in 1973-74 did.