Geologist: Depletion of Oil Reservoir “Unlikely”

There are 4 alternative explanations for the unexpectedly low oil pressure in the BP well: (1) A leak in the pipe in the well bore; (2) flow under the well between sand layers; (3) a blockage in the well; or (4) depletion of the oil reservoir. This essay focuses on the fourth possibility: depletion of […]

Well cap may keep blocking oil until permanent fix

The custom-built cap that finally cut off the oil flowing from BP’s broken well held steady Sunday, and the company hopes to leave it that way until crews can permanently kill the leak. That differs from the plan the federal government laid out a day earlier, in which millions more gallons of oil could be […]

UN’s Agenda of Population Control Accelerating

In the context of the UN’s World Population Day (last July 11), several developing nations were quick to pledge allegiance to the eugenic deity. In the east-Indian state of Bihar, officials put out the announcement that: “The Bihar government will soon formulate a new population control policy. The policy will be framed in collaboration with […]

Peak Oil per Capita

Most people have enough trouble dealing with the reality of peak oil. It’s like being married to someone who says, “I’m not an alcoholic, I just sometimes drink too much.” But perhaps to soften the blow, or maybe just to simplify the numbers, what is generally left out is the fact that it’s not really […]

Rethinking the Measure of Growth

Almost overlooked amid BP’s debacle in the Gulf of Mexico was an oil spill in the Singapore Strait, where in late May two tankers collided and disgorged the equivalent of 18,000 barrels of oil into one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The Singapore incident was small compared with the 87-day catastrophe bubbling away in […]

U.S. Military Vaults into Clean Energy Future Despite Fossil Fuel Lobby

Throughout the last century, the U.S. achieved global military advantage primarily due to fossil fuels, but energy technology changes over time and sooner or later fossil fuels are destined to give way to new energy sources and energy storage solutions that serve modern military purposes far more effectively, and far less expensively. The fossil fuel […]

Is the Next Global Food Crisis Now in the Making?

Recent weeks have produced a series of grim and related headlines: Russia has declared a state of emergency because of drought in 12 regions, while in major wheat exporter Ukraine, severe flooding may depress crop yields. Dry conditions threaten Vietnamese rice production. The USDA has projected a disappointingly low Midwest harvest, and China has raised […]

Peak Oil: Tower of Power

“There’s only so much oil in the ground Sooner or later there won’t be much around Tell that to your kids while you driving round downtown That there’s only so much oil in the ground”

Podcast: Technogenic Catastrophe

“If you translate “industrial accident” into Russian and then back into English, you’re likely to end up with “technogenic catastrophe.” Might the Gulf Oil Spill be the American Chernobyl? KMO welcomes Dmitry Orlov back to the podcast to examine these questions and to explain why collapse is still the optimistic scenario, why it isn’t necessary […]

In the Gulf of Mexico, Natural Gas Reaches 100,000 Times Normal Level

Too little oxygen could result in a condition similar to what is found today at the bottom of the Black Sea, where little or no life exists. Tiny microbes naturally found in the ocean will consume the gases. But the process also means the depletion of oxygen, with the microbes needing almost five times more […]

Oilpatch engineer replies to peak oil activist

To find that common ground that Bart referred to in order to solve these problems – we need to start by avoiding the use of stereotypes. I don’t know Mr. Lundgren, and any stereotype I might choose for him would be an unfair, simplistic description for someone who is likely one of those folks who […]

OPEC going sideways; not a good time for oil importers

OPEC’s increase is heavily dependent on Saudi Arabia and Iraq. In fact, without increases  in Iraq OPEC is back to square one in 2012/13. Imagine the conflicts within OPEC about quotas for Iraq (at present outside the quota system) while Iran’s production is declining. Ok, so we have an increase of 1.9 mb/d, but on […]

Iran, Russia to establish joint oil bank

Tehran and Moscow have agreed to establish a joint bank to help fund bilateral projects and expand cooperation in natural gas deliveries and oil products. According to Deputy Oil Minister Javad Oji, the joint bank will finance oil and gas projects and work out a mechanism for using the currencies of both countries for payments, […]

The Oil Cap Is Holding — Now What?

For now, at least, there is no oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. That could last until Saturday, if BP carries out its well integrity test for a full 48 hours. Engineers are checking pressure inside the well every six hours, trying to determine if the well and casing are intact. If it works… […]

NRC Estimates Climate Changes for Centuries to Millennia

The report estimates that for every one degree increase in global temperature, rainfall would rise or fall 5% to 10%, in different regions around the world, corn crops would be reduced by that same amount and the amount of area burned by wildfires will increase two to fourfold. In order to stabilize the amount of […]

Peak Oil: Another Look At Infrastructure

“All solutions must work on a world scale. China and India will not accept a lower standard of living than we have, and will not reduce their coal burning and car usage if we demand that we all keep our cars and run our a/c any time we get warm. Neither will Russia. No narrative […]

The end of suburbia: Transition Asheville’s planning for the future

The Transition movement, first developed in Europe and now taking root in many communities in the U.S., presents an attempt to engage people and communities in taking actions to mitigate the effects of declining fossil fuels, climate change and economic crisis. It is an attempt to “re-localize” production and commerce, and produce societies that naturally […]

Pickens Says Natural Gas Only Diesel Replacement

T. Boone Pickens is making a new pitch for natural gas to be the fuel of the future, especially in America’s big rigs. However, while declaring natural gas as the only replacement for petroleum diesel, the billionaire oilman seems to forget that biodiesel is already a great source to replace petroleum-based products… without having to […]

Peak Oil: WorldCrisis, Arab Oil Producers Benefit

Even if we are to leave the issue of climate change aside for the purposes of this post yet it is clear that peak oil is a game changer. The world oil production is about 86-87 million barrels a day and the prestigious and mainstream IEA, International Energy Agency, projects the need for over 110 […]

OPEC: The Beginning of the End

There’s a moment that every oil-exporting country will experience, sooner or later. The few select countries lucky enough to label themselves “oil exporter” know it — and have nightmares of the day their number is up. Why the fright? Because we live in a cutthroat, fossil fuel-driven world — a reality we have little chance of changing […]

Oil sands cannot save us from peak oil

It is common for peak oil deniers to point to the vast reserves currently buried within the Earth, and suggest these will be exploited when the market deems them viable – which is true, of course, but this carries an implication of a smooth transition. The oil market over the past few years has shown […]

BP says new cap works

If cap holds up under pressure, it should contain oil until well plugged Officials are now monitoring the cap to see if it holds, more than 85 days after the explosion of a BP oil rig killed 11 workers & triggered the environmental disaster MSNBC

Peak Minerals: New Report Forecasts Shortages

The expert group considers that 14 raw mineral materials are critical for the European Union: Antimony, Beryllium, Cobalt, Fluorspar, Gallium, Germanium, Graphite, Indium, Magnesium, Niobium, PGMs (Platinum Group Metals), Rare earths, Tantalum and Tungsten. Forecasts indicate that demand might more than triple for a series of critical raw materials by 2030 compared with the 2006 […]

Uk Energy Security and Peak Oil

Simon Snowden, University of Liverpool Management School, Oil Depletion Impact Group Summary: Simon explains the nature of the peak oil phenomena?; When a global oil may peak; Why it matters?; Growing demand and the relationship with GDP and growth; What it means for the UK, Impacts on business of volatile oil prices, on individuals and […]

Wall St and peak oil

One of the enduring lines about peak oil is that authorities keep it a secret because there would be some kind of financial havoc if it were revealed. A recent example is a claim that Steven Chu, US energy secretary: “… knows all about peak oil, but he can’t talk about it. If the government […]

IEA sees decline in global oil-demand growth next year

Global oil demand will not grow by as much next year as it is expected to do this year, while supply from outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will continue to surge, says the International Energy Agency. In its first detailed projection for 2011, IEA said global oil demand will climb by 1.3 million […]

Another oil discovery offshore Angola

Total announces that its subsidiary, TEPA (Block 15/06), Limited, and its partners have made a new oil discovery in Block 15/06 with the well Cabaça SE-1, in the Angolan deep-offshore. The well, located in 470 metres of water depth and 100 kilometres from the Angolan shore line, encountered significant gross thickness oil bearing reservoirs in […]

Barack’s Peak Oil Confession

The United States alone consumes more than 20 million barrels a year — more than China, Japan, Russia, Germany, and India combined. And the Gulf spill, which could be accompanied by a disastrous ban on offshore drilling, will only make the oil shortfall worse. What’s the president supposed to say? I can only imagine his […]

Is Net Energy Peaking?

When most people think of fossil fuel supplies, they think in terms of barrels of oil, cubic feet of natural gas and tons of coal. But in evaluating how much energy in the form of finite fossil fuels the world has left, these are no longer adequate measurements. In the 1930s when wildcatters in Texas […]

Climate Change Used as Excuse For Population Control

The major target for the Club of Rome was a population that was improving quality of life, health and the pursuit of happiness. It argued this was achieved by unsustainable exploitation of resources and destruction of nature. As they explain; “If the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion […]

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