Oil is still there but harder to extract

Drivers cringe as they watch the numbers roll higher on the gas pump meter. They feel even worse as they see news stories projecting gas at $4 or even $5 as the weather warms. No problem, says candidate Newt Gingrich with a promise to return the price to $2.50 if elected president. This is the […]

Doomsday business is booming

Reality TV shows and emergency shelters, books and supplies of freeze-dried food. Whether or not you believe in the Mayan prophecy, Peak Oil or Global flooding, there is big money being made out of the coming collapse. From society’s wealthiest and powerful Wall Streeters to rural bug-out types, people are preparing for the worst, and […]

Did BP Cause Damage to the Gulf Sea Floor … Which Is Leading to Ever-Larger “Natural” Oil Seeps from the Macondo Reservoir?

In June of 2010, BP officials admitted to damage beneath the seafloor under BP’s Gulf Macondo well. Nmerous scientists have speculated that the blowout and subsequent clumsy attempts by BP to plug the well could have created new seeps, and made pre-existing natural seeps bigger. We have repeatedly noted that the Macondo oil reservoir may […]

ExxonMobil admits 2012 output will fall

Exxon Mobil has admitted it expects its output to drop 3% this year, although the supermajor insists production will still grow by an average of 1% to 2% a year over the next five years. In an annual presentation to analysts at the New York Stock Exchange, the company said its production of liquids would […]

Ohio: Hydraulic fracking led to earthquakes

A dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater into the earth, Ohio oil and gas regulators said Friday as they announced a series of tough new regulations for drillers. Among the new regulations: Well operators must submit more comprehensive geological data when requesting a drill site, and the […]

Using Solar/Wind to Fuel the Oil Industry

Oil industry executives attending the 2012 East Texas Oilfield Expo this week are getting the chance to view a rather unusual exhibitor. Progress Solar Solutions is on hand, demonstrating how its solar/wind light tower can help cut costs and reduce emissions at oil field operations. You might think, as I did, that pitching solar and wind-powered technology to the […]

Why The American Empire Was Destined To Collapse, Nomi Prins Interviews Morris Berman

Several years after the Wall Street-ignited crisis began, the nation’s top bank CEOs (who far out-accumulated their European and other international counterparts) continue to hobnob with the president at campaign dinners where each plate costs more than one out of four US households make in a year. Financial bigwigs lead their affluent lives, unaffected, unremorseful, […]

How releasing government oil stockpiles could raise, not lower, crude prices

Two questions hang over the salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana that hold the US government’s emergency stockpile of crude oil: Will President Barack Obama sell any of those reserves this year? And will a release bring down prices? Politicians in Washington have spent weeks answering those questions in ways that suit their broader views […]

Vietnam forges ahead with nuclear power

Vietnam is pressing ahead with nuclear power, a government official said. Addressing an international conference on nuclear power Thursday in Vietnam, Le Dinh Tien, deputy minister of the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology, maintained that nuclear power is an important power source worldwide, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reports. His stance comes days before […]

Japan Shutting Down Its Nuclear Power Industry

All but two of Japan’s 54 commercial reactors have gone offline since the nuclear disaster a year ago, after the earthquake and tsunami, and it is not clear when they can be restarted. With the last operating reactor scheduled to be idled as soon as next month, Japan — once one of the world’s leaders […]

Rapid Population Growth: Its Startling Effects on the World as a Whole

Why would a company giant like Coca-Cola feel compelled to implement new plans focusing on water conservation? They, along with similar corporations, see the imminent dwindling of the Earth’s water supply. The global population, as of October 2011, has reached seven billion people. The recent rapid growth of the population on Earth has resulted in […]

The true cost of oil: Garth Lenz @ TEDxVictoria

What does environmental devastation actually look like? At TEDxVictoria, photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking photos of the Alberta Tar Sands mining project — and the beautiful (and vital) ecosystems under threat. For almost twenty years, Garth’s photography of threatened wilderness regions, devastation, and the impacts on indigenous peoples, has appeared in the world’s leading publications. […]

Heinberg: China Coal Update

World coal production and consumption data for 2011 are not yet compiled and published, but one key number is in. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reports that the country’s coal output rose 8.7 percent from 2010 to reach 3.88 billion short tons last year. For comparison, US consumption in 2010 was just over […]

Pentagon ‘very worried’ about Iran war

A top US official has revealed that the Pentagon is “very worried” about the prospects of a military confrontation with Iran, despite the escalating war threats emanating from Washington and Tel Aviv. “[The] military is very worried about what they’re confronting with budget cuts and are just not anxious to take on another war,” Lee […]

R-Squared: Gas Prices & Keystone Pipeline

In this week’s episode of R-Squared Energy TV, I answer more questions about gas prices, and discuss the Keystone XL pipeline and future development of Canada’s oil sands. Some of the topics discussed are: The EROEI for producing oil sands The emissions profile of shipping the oil sands to China versus refining it in the U.S. […]

The Story Behind US Gas Price Pain

Gasoline consumption in the United States has been dropping for years. In the last decade, vehicle fuel efficiency has improved by 20%, and the combination of that shift and a weak economy of late has pushed gasoline demand to its lowest level in a decade. At the same time, US oil production is at its […]

The Limits of Technology

Last week we watched an unusual early spring outbreak of tornados from Kansas through Virginia. Some 39 people lost their lives in these violent storms. Having viewed the destruction on nightly TV news programs, it is amazing the fatalities weren’t even higher. During that outbreak, one community, Harveyville, Kansas, was hit without warning, with the […]

Protracted Iran Conflict Could Drive Oil Prices Up $60 Barrel

“Nobody’s announced a war, young lady,” President Barack Obama said in New York on March 2, wagging his finger at an audience member who decried the possibility of U.S. military action against Iran. “But we appreciate your sentiment.” The crowd cheered, and a smile crossed the president’s face. It’s too soon to say when, or […]

Importance of Optimized Recovery Rises as More Fields Mature

Growth in oil production to sustain the nation’s economy must be achieved through a combination of new discoveries and optimized recovery from existing fields, which account for a quarter to two-thirds of total global assets. This number is expected to increase over the coming years as more and more fields enter the mature phase. At […]

John Michael Greer: America Origins of an Empire

To understand the decline and approaching fall of the American empire, it’s necessary to understand how that empire came into being. That’s a complex issue, as all historical questions are these days, and a grasp of the tangled role of history in today’s political discourse may make it a little easier to avoid certain common […]

Sunnis United with Israel against Shia Iran

The sectarian gulf between the Sunni Arabs and Shia Iranians runs deep. Recent reports suggest that Arabs, while being motivated by their abhorrence of the Shias, appear willing to support Israel in her not-so-covert plans to attack Iran. Peter Cohan, writing in Forbes.com, reports that “Saudi Arabia’s rage against the Shias exceeds its dislike of […]

Peak US Societal Wellbeing: There Can Be No Recovery This Time

*The prevailing perception among the American public that we are currently experiencing “temporary hard times”; but because our “leaders” are implementing the proper mix of economic and political “fixes”, life will be “back to normal” soon. While this perception is understandable given our historical experience, it is also wrong. There can be no recovery this […]

Modern Myths that Destroy Humanity

“All things are subject to interpretation; whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.” –Friedrich Nietzsche I’d like to take this opportunity to comment on an oldie but a goodie from the Indian environmentalist, Vandan Shiva. In her brief article for Odewire, “Two myths that keep the world […]

Why High Oil Prices Are Now Affecting Europe More Than the US

The world is presently sharing a limited supply of oil. When oil prices rise, oil production doesn’t rise very much, if at all. Figure 1. Brent oil spot price and world oil supply (broadly defined), based on EIA data.The issues then become: Which buyers get the oil? What uses get priced out of the market? […]

Iraq Production Reached 3 Million Barrels per Day in February

According to MEES, Iraq production has passed the 3 Mb/d mark in February thanks to the opening of a single Single Point Mooring as part of the Basra terminal expansion: Iraq plans to start the actual loading of crude in a week to 10 days, initially boosting oil exports through the country’s south, which currently […]

Is Nat Gas the Most Important Commodity of the Future?

Natural gas is the buzz word at the 31st annual IHS CERAWeek as several speakers have referenced it as the most important commodity for the future. The Energy Information Administration, in its Annual Energy Outlook 2011, projected that natural gas demand in the United States could be 26.55 Tcf by the year 2035. “Thirty percent […]

Iranian vs Saudi Oil Production History

Yesterday I posted a composite oil production graph for Iran based on five data sources from 2000 through Jan 2012.  It’s interesting to contrast the Iranian production with that of Saudi Arabia, so I updated my graph for that country, based on the same sources: I also show the rig count on the right axis. […]

Doom Is (Not) Coming

Long-term forecasts are rarely sunny or even middling. In fact, they’re often fairly dystopian: Peak oil, peak gas, peak water, peak food, mass hysteria, zombie apocalypse. Yet, to believe such specific long-term forecasts, you must believe that, now, folks have the never-before-seen ability and technology to accurately make long-term forecasts based on far distant supply […]

EIA sees oil consumption outpacing production

Quote of the Day Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Leonardo DaVinci Yesterday was the largest one day decline for a variety of risk asset classes this year as the ongoing headwinds finally caught up with the bulls. This was the first correction this year that can be categorized as a bit of a sentiment changer. […]

UK: Fuel protesters target Parliament as anger boils over at record pump prices

Campaigners will pile pressure on Chancellor George Osborne to lower motoring taxes through a mass lobby of Parliament today. Organised by the FairFuelUK group, the protest will include the delivery of a key report to 10 Downing Street. The handover will be followed by a mass lobby of MPs after average petrol prices reached a […]

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