A Brief Nuclear Update

World nuclear power generation slipped again in 2009, continuing its slide since its peak in 2006. The data shown is from BP’s compilation of statistical data, but data from the World Nuclear Association shows the same pattern–peak production in 2006, with declines each year since 2006. The part of the world with what appears to […]

Richard Heinbergs Explains Peak Everything

One of the world’s foremost Peak Oil educators gives us his insight into the coming century. Recorded in Orewa on Tuesday 9th October 2007.

Matt Simmons Explains Peak Oil

A classic interview. Former energy industry investment banker, Matt Simmons, gives us the facts on Peak Oil.

New cap attempt for Gulf leak this weekend

If all goes according to plan, the tandem of the tighter cap and the tankers could keep all the oil from polluting the fragile Gulf as soon as Monday. But it would be only a temporary solution to the catastrophe unleashed by a drilling rig explosion nearly 12 weeks ago. It won’t plug the busted […]

Peak Oil: Impact # 7 – A First Look At Air Travel

I found it a bit surprising that only 4 gallons, or approximately 11 %, from every barrel of oil is typically produced as aviation fuel. As Dave Jackson noted in another recent article: “A-1 jet fuel, a high grade, moisture free kerosene, competes directly with the production of diesel. A refiner has a certain amount […]

Environmental Costs of Producing Shale Gas

Gas producers maintain that the use of horizontal drills to extract gas from under neighboring plots means drillers require less land for well pads and equipment. They argue that chemicals pumped into the ground are benign, aquifers are protected by steel and concrete, drilling requires less water than nuclear power or a coal-fired power plant, […]

Matt Simmons finds new energy

Now that the divorce is final between Matt Simmons and the boutique investment bank he took public in 1974, the outspoken energy guru is free to pursue his latest passion — offshore wind. Simmons officially parted ways with Simmons & Co. International in mid-June, after several years serving in a reduced capacity. Simmons created the […]

The Fallacy of ‘Easy Oil’

There is one thing on which almost all pundits, industry veterans, forecasting agencies and members of the public seem to agree. Energy, particularly hydrocarbons, is going to get ever scarcer and more expensive. The “age of easy oil” is over. Former Shell CEO Jeroen van der Veer opined in April 2008 that, “Easy oil and […]

Peak oil means expensive food

In contrast with the former rosy outlook of politicians and economists, a recent survey of 21 predictions (from national governments, oil producers, energy analyst firms and retired oil geologists and oil engineers) shows global decline beginning anytime up to 2020. Of these 21 predictions, the mean statistical date is 2013, just three years from now. […]

EU research funds to be diverted to fusion reactor

he proposal has alarmed scientists, who say that it will rob researchers of vital funds at a time when governments are planning to scale back domestic research budgets in response to the global economic downturn. “I think it’s a small catastrophe in the present situation,” says Helga Nowotny, president of the European Research Council, which […]

Russia Challenges Middle East on Oil

Russia is sending record amounts of oil to Asia, eroding the dominance of the Middle East, as refiners in South Korea and Japan increase purchases from a source that’s three weeks closer by ship. South Korean imports of Russian crude climbed to an all- time high of 179,000 barrels a day in May, equal to […]

Interior Rewrites History, Erases BP From List of Finalists for Safety Award

By MIKE SORAGHAN of Greenwire Published: July 7, 2010 There are probably a lot of things Interior Department officials would like to change about the how they looked at BP Exploration and Production’s drilling operations. They’ve found one thing that they can change — their website. They’ve found one thing that they can change — […]

PeakOil.com: Weekly Petroleum Supply Report 6.6.10

Well, here is the situation we are faced with this morning: 1. A giant blob of toxic goo is sitting out in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore, mainly submerged so no one can see it, killing everything it touches. 2. There was a Category 1 hurricane last week that parked itself over Mexico’s biggest oil […]

More Oil Wells in Gulf Leaking?

A new AP investigation suggests that more than 27,000 abandoned oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico may be leaking.

The hunt for energy is not going to be pretty

The world’s energy needs are expected to double by 2050 (as we simultaneously try to halve CO2 emissions). Peter Voser, the chief executive of Shell, told an audience at the London Business School on Monday that he expects the number of cars and trucks on the road to rise from 900 million to 2 billion […]

Peak Oil, Time, And Population

Population size is directly correlated with oil supply. Oil has been the main source of energy within industrial society. It is only with abundant oil that a large global population has been possible, and it was oil that allowed population to grow so quickly. [1] If oil production drops to half of its peak amount […]

Why Alternative Energy Will Never “Pencil Out”

Advocates of a smooth transition away from petroleum may be surprised by the consequences of huge swings in the cost of oil. I first proposed a “head-fake” in the price of oil in 2008. My thesis was that the oil exporting nations had become so dependent on revenues from oil that even as prices plummeted […]

BP Drilling Of Relief Well Proceeding Ahead Of Schedule

BP’s relief well digging is proceeding ahead of schedule. All eyes are on the progress hoping the oil firm is successful in its attempt to permanently stop a leaking deep-water well. Officials from the company say the target depth may be reached within two weeks. Billy Brown, president of Blackhawk Specialty Tools, said that the […]

Fannie and Freddie to clean-energy program: Drop dead

Grist has been covering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s attack on Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), a promising tool that helps homeowners finance green improvements to their properties. Here’s the latest: On Tuesday, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended their radio silence nine weeks after sending cryptic letters warning lenders against permitting the use of […]

AP: Gulf awash in 27,000 abandoned wells

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one — not industry, not government — is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows. The oldest of these wells were abandoned […]

Fossil Fuel Industry Group Throws BP Under the Bus, Calls for More Drilling

BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has drawn the entire fossil fuel industry into an all-out fight to justify its continued dominance over U.S. energy policy.  Now the industry appears to be offering up BP as a sacrifice.  A new organization called  “Save U.S. Energy Jobs” has just launched with a press release […]

US Lawmakers Oppose Canadian Pipeline

Facing a decision on a proposed pipeline to bring Canadian crude oil to the United States, the Obama administration is confronting growing resistance from politicians who oppose the project or, at the very least, urge further study before approval. The massive pipeline, known as Keystone XL, would allow Canada to export an additional 1.1 million […]

Making Sense of the Financial Crisis in the Era of Peak Oil

Peak Oil and the collapse of global Ponzi finance are a “perfect storm” of converging phenomena that threaten to sink our age of prosperity through wealth destruction, social discontent, and global conflict. Nicole will describe how our current financial system is an unsustainable credit bubble grounded in “Ponzi dynamics,” or the logic of the pyramid […]

China and Canada: It’s All Business

Canada, perhaps the most hospitable environment among the world’s major oil exporters, is in terrific position to benefit from China’s resource needs. His reign remarkable for its relative placidity during a time of turmoil for most of his peers, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has managed to turn around what was a tense relationship for Ottawa […]

RESILIENCE: Personal Preparation

My “standard of living” is a fraction of what it formerly was, but my quality of life has never been higher. We live in a house less than half the size of our former house, my beloved boat is gone, and we have a garden and chickens in the backyard. Peering in from the outside […]

The EROEI of Ethanol

Over the past decade, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published several papers in which they investigated the energy return of corn ethanol. The energy return on energy invested (EROEI) is simply the value of the energy outputs for a process divided by the energy inputs into the process. In simple terms, if […]

India Ends Fuel Subsidies

NEW DELHI — Protests against a recent increase in fuel prices shut down markets, schools, airports and businesses across India on Monday, and thousands of people were arrested as violence flared in some cities. The effect of the demonstrations — led by political parties that oppose the governing coalition led by the Indian National Congress […]

Bustin’ at the Seams: Let’s Talk Population

I envisioned horror stories of birth limits and Chinese style one-child policies in the US and abroad and could not stomach the idea of government interference into my natural right to parent. But, that is not how it has to be. I had my “Aha” moment last night, while reading the 1992 Al Gore work, […]

Saudi Arabia ceases to develop crude oil fields

Lower oil prices makes the largest exporter of black gold to stop work on new oil fields. World’s largest exporter of crude oil, Saudi Arabia announced that it stopped all development of new oil fields. Such an order given by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the meeting of the Cabinet. Monarch explained his […]

China convicts U.S. geologist of stealing state secrets

A geologist accused of stealing state secrets after he brokered the sale of an oil database has been sentenced to eight years in jail, the U.S. embassy said on Monday, over two-and-one-half years after he was detained. Geologist Xue Feng, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen born in China, was detained late in 2007 after negotiating the […]

« Previous Page — Next Page »

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Why the IEA is Wrong About Peak Oil Demand
• Did we inadvertently speed global warming?  
• Venezuela’s Oil Monopoly Eases
• Why Germany is Choosing Natural Gas Over Nuclear Power
• U.S. coal-fired electricity generation decreased in 2022 and 2023

• America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
• Meet America’s Newest Oil Trader Extraordinaire: Joe Biden
• Is It Time To Refill America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve?
• Oil prices set to end year 10% lower as demand concerns snap winning streak
• What’s Driving America’s New Oil and Gas Boom?
• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy