Peak Oil Review – Mar 3
A weekly review including: Oil and the Global Economy, The Middle East & North Africa, Venezuela, Ukraine, Quote of the Week, The Briefs.
A weekly review including: Oil and the Global Economy, The Middle East & North Africa, Venezuela, Ukraine, Quote of the Week, The Briefs.
This month alone has seen riots kick-off in Venezuela, Bosnia, Ukraine, Iceland, and Thailand. This is not a coincidence.
Ukraine is shaping up to be a lot like Yugoslavia, except with more than twice as many people, lots of crazed street fighters who think they now own the place, and a role critical to European energy security. If you aren’t in shock about this, then you haven’t been paying attention.
Today it is especially difficult for most people to understand our perilous global energy situation, precisely because it has never been more important to do so. Got that? No? Okay, let me explain.
Crude has traded quietly this week with New York futures hovering around $97.50 a barrel where they have been for the last two weeks and London around $106 a barrel.
The economy of Italy seem to be declining as a consequence of the increasing cost (or – equivalently – declining energy returns, EROEI) of primary energy sources, mainly natural gas and crude oil.
Energy round-up including peak oil, what next for UK shale gas, and wind power records.
New York oil futures continued to fall this week, closing on Wednesday at $92.33 a barrel which is $8 a barrel below the recent highs seen the last week of December.
Wonders-yet-to-come seem to dominate U.S. energy policy. There is talk of changing laws to allow the exporting of oil and natural gas. There is talk of American energy independence. There is talk of an American energy renaissance and the ruination of OPEC. It is all very breathless and essentially baseless.
Mark Twain once said, "It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so." And, there are many, many things that the public and policymakers know for sure about energy that just ain’t so.
It is understandably difficult to shut out the constant din of abundance stories sponsored by the industry and its well-financed public relations machine–that is, until you understand that it’s not what the industry says that’s important, but what it actually does.
•China cracks down on emissions to combat choking smog •China’s first coal-to-gas plant soon to pump gas to Beijing •China’s smog reduction plan could add to water stress and boost emissions •China Faces Gas Shortage after Cutting Coal Consumption •China’s oil demand to 2020 •Beijing slashes car sales quota in anti-pollution drive •Shale Gas Revolution Not Coming To China Anytime Soon •China faces a long battle for blue skies