Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
•California’s Fracking Bonanza May Fall Short of Promise •How North Sea oil helped Margaret Thatcher •Will Fossil Fuels Be Able to Maintain Economic Growth? A Q&A with Charles Hall •Peak Oil as seen through the eyes of Arab oil producers •Peak Oil Flip-Flop
On March 4, David Frum, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush, published an article on CNN.com titled "Peak Oil doomsayers proved wrong" in which he not only claimed there was no danger of a shortage of oil, but also that "our oil problem is that we’re producing so much of the stuff that we are changing the planet’s climate." Mr. Frum is only the most recent contributor to a growing list of luminaries to declare that we need not worry about any future shortage of crude oil. The only problem with these reassuring proclamations is that the physical evidence does not support them, and does in point of fact, warn of a looming imbalance between supply and demand with troubling implications for the U.S. economy.
With the media awash in stories telling us how much oil is being discovered around the world, there is one word which the optimists quoted in these stories refuse to utter: Depletion.
•Hydrocarbons and Depletion: Shale gas technology to the rescue? •The great oil swindle •Shale Monster •Lord Browne promises to invest ‘whatever it takes’ in UK fracking •Ban Hydraulic Fracturing in New Mexico
Governments and financial analysts who think unconventional fossil fuels such as bitumen, shale gas and shale oil can usher in an era of prosperity and energy plenty are dangerously deluded, concludes a groundbreaking report by one of Canada’s top energy analysts.
The way the oil industry is touting gains in U.S. crude production, you would think that production is soaring to new all-time highs. But the facts say otherwise.
•Shale Gas and Tight Oil: Boom? Bust? Or Just a Petering Out? •ENERGY: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth, Part 3 – The Bad Idea of Fracking, with Sandra Steingraber (audio) •Germany moves to allow controversial shale gas drilling •Colorado Will Sue Fort Collins Over Fracking Ban •Shale falls short for US energy security •"Frackademia" – MIT’s Ernest Moniz, Obama’s Top Candidate for Energy Secretary, Oversees Pro-Industry-Funded Research
The combination of horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, 3D seismic surveys, and other gee-wizardry has produced a near-miracle, which has left experts confounded, politicians exuberant, and journalists suffering from hyperbole.
The real challenges—and costs—of 21st century fossil fuel production suggest that such vastly increased supplies will not be easily achieved or even possible. The geological and environmental realities of trying to fulfill these exuberant proclamations deserve a closer look.This report provides an in-depth evaluation of the various unconventional energy resources behind the recent "energy independence" rhetoric, particularly shale gas, tight oil.
•Reports: Shale Gas Bubble Looms, Aided by Wall Street •Geologist’s provocative study challenges popular assumptions about ‘fracking’ •China slow to tap shale-gas bonanza •Fracking is the only way to achieve Obama climate change goals, says senior scientist •Marcellus Shale Fracking Study To Research Natural Gas Drilling Health Effects
Are we really entering a new era of energy abundance? Written by geoscientist and PCI Fellow David Hughes, "Drill, Baby, Drill" takes a far-ranging and painstakingly researched look at the prospects for US energy abundance in the 21st Century.
A weekly review including : 1. Oil and the Global Economy., 2. The Middle East, 3. US Gasoline Prices, 4. Conflicting Forecasts for 2013, 5. Quote of the Week, 6. The Briefs
