Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The journalist’s rule says: follow the money. This rule, however, is not really axiomatic but derivative, in that money, as even our vice president will tell you, is really a way of tracking energy. We’ll follow the energy.
North Americans complain about fuel costs. But to avoid a possibly unprecedented human crisis in coming decades, they should be urging their governments to allow the price of oil and natural gas to rise even more.
THE United States has managed to thrive despite high budget deficits and a staggering level of international indebtedness. Can it also thrive if oil prices remain above $40 a barrel and gasoline costs more than $2 a gallon at the pump?
The following article was first published by Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on Sunday 23 May 2004.
Oil is scarcer than ever. The price for petrol is at record levels. The economy, consumers and of course politicians are all worried. Therefore, an urgent appeal to oil producing countries has been made to pump more into the market so that prices once again fall. As in the past, this could happen again; but next year, perhaps, no longer, and thereafter, never again.
In the June issue of National Geographic, you can read an article called, “The End Of Cheap Oil.” For the opposite perspective, read “Never Cry Wolf — Why The Petroleum Age Is Far From Over” in the current issue of Science.
Colin Campbell and the Uppsala Hydrocarbon Depletion Study Group has now made the 2004 upgrade of the peak oil model. The peak is moved from 2010 to 2008
THE producers’ cartel that governs world oil supplies last night admitted it had lost control of the latest price rise as oil bubbled back up to near-record highs.
In our
view,
the recent high prices are just a practice run. The following is
drawn from
our recent research reports.
An argument against the imminent peaking of oil from Science Magazine.
Think gas is expensive now? Just wait. You’ve heard it before but this time it’s real. We’re at the begining of the end of cheap oil.
The last “super giant” oilfield (more than 10 billion barrels) was discovered 40 years ago; the last American refinery was built 25 years ago; each successive American “driving season” guzzles more gas than the last.
“China’s growing weight in world consumption virtually assures a heavy long-term impact on energy prices, trade, and investment. In a decade, China has gone from self-sufficiency to being the most dynamic factor in the world oil market and one of the main elements in today’s $40-plus per barrel price,” said the report by Daniel Yergin and Scott Roberts.
