Executive Order: Federal Government To Take Control of Domestic Natural Gas Production; EPA Set To Move Within One Week

While Americans focused their attention on the Colombian controversy involving U.S. Secret Service agents, prostitutes and excessive drinking, President Obama quietly signed his latest Presidential Executive Order. The Supporting Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources Executive Order seeks to create what amounts to a Presidential super committee that will oversee the regulation and […]

March Iranian and Saudi Oil Production

The above graph shows average Saudi oil production (left scale) and Iranian oil production (right scale).  Neither side is zero-scaled but they are on the same sized scale (to better show and compare absolute changes).  The data point in March is based solely on the secondary sources for the OPEC MOMR but appears to show […]

Wintershall Discovers Oil off Norway

German oil and gas firm Wintershall announced Monday that it has made an oil discovery at its Skarfjell prospect in the Norwegian North Sea. The wildcat well 35/9-7, on production license 418 where Wintershall is operator, found Upper Jurassic reservoir sands of “very good quality” and that contain light oil with “a significant oil column”, […]

A Visual Tour of the Fuel Pools of Fukushima

Do You Know What the Fuel Pools Actually Look Like? You already know that Fukushima’s fuel pool number 4 may be the single greatest threat, but that pool number 3 is very dangerous as well. You’ve heard that unit 3′s fuel pool contains less radioactive material than unit 4 … but still a tremendous amount […]

Global crisis, what global crisis?

The current economic crisis is called the “global financial crisis”. But is the term “global” really justified? Yes, in much of the developed world – in Europe, North America and Russia – growth spluttered – and in many countries, but not in all years, rates of GDP growth turned negative. And yes, global output declined […]

Peak Oil: Capitalism & Sustainability (Pt 4)

Back in November, Naomi Klein offered a fascinating and thought-provoking essay in Nation magazine entitled “Capitalism vs. the Climate” in which she discussed the transformative changes needed if we are to successfully (not a guarantee) and thoroughly address the challenges of our warming planet. Her insights and observations can easily be adapted to the similar […]

Commodity ‘Super Cycle’ May Be Coming to End, Citigroup Says

The “super cycle” of gains across commodity prices may be coming to an end as raw material production rises in response to higher prices and as China’s dominance in demand recedes, according to Citigroup Inc. Commodity markets are reflecting “increased differentiation as a group,” the bank said in a report e-mailed today. While China’s demand […]

Peak Oil and the Future of Energy

Energy Crisis: What We Need to Know (2006) David Hughes, of the Geological Survey of Canada, delivered a thought-provoking presentation about energy production and consumption in Canada and the world. View David Hughes Presentation (PDF) – http://www.cnv.org/c//data/2/217/2006%2011%2026%20-%20David%20Hughes%20Presentation.pdf Presented by Mayor Darrell Mussatto and the City of North Vancouver, in partnership with the GVRD and Capilano […]

Chancellor pours oil on troubled North Sea

The mood in Britain’s oil and gas industry was so buoyant after last month’s Budget, it was difficult to believe the North Sea has suffered from 12 consecutive years of rapid declines in production. Part of the euphoria was relief that the Chancellor hadn’t sprung another nasty surprise, as he did last year by slapping […]

Looking for a place to crash

People keep asking me where they think the best place would be to hold out when the post industrial age gets into full swing. I’ve said before that I think Britain is as good a place as any, with some large provisos. There are a number of reasons I think this to be so, which […]

Pakistan And India To Go To War Over Water

A peaceful and stable Pakistan is integral to western efforts to pacify Afghanistan, but Islamabad’s obsessions with its giant eastern neighbor may render such issues moot. Since partition in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought four armed conflicts, in 1947, 1965, 1971 (which led to the establishment of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan) and the 1999 […]

Robert Zubrin makes the case against Population Control

Around the world, the population control movement has resulted in billions of lost or ruined lives. We cannot stop at merely rebutting the pseudoscience and recounting the crimes of the population controllers. We must also expose and confront the underlying antihumanist ideology. If the idea is accepted that the world’s resources are fixed with only […]

Saudis committed to lower oil prices

Ali Al-Naimi, the Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, released a statement commenting on the prolonged period of high oil prices. “We are not happy about it. The Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] is determined to see a lower price and is working toward that goal,” he said during his visit to Seoul. Saudi Arabia […]

Valero Oil Memo to employees

The Valero Oil Company memo was sent in January in response to President Obama’s denial of the Keystone Pipeline permit. The copy of the memo was introduced by the note which precedes it.   For those of you unfamiliar with Valero, it is an independent oil company based in San Antonio , TX . It […]

Let’s hear it for higher gasoline prices

Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe. — U.S. Secretary of Energy-designate Steven Chu, 2008 Of course we don’t want the price of gasoline to go up, we want it to go down. — U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, 2012   Gas prices […]

How Long Will the Pain at the Pump Last?

Ways to save, with relief in sight Numerous factors threaten to derail the U.S. economic recovery: The European financial crisis could worsen dramatically, causing a spillover effect in the United States. Businesses, which have added jobs in recent months, could stop hiring. Stock indices, which have been up for most of the year, could again […]

Interview with professor Will Verstraete on “The Limits to Growth”

Lou Del Bello, who keeps the blog of ASPO-Italy, interviews professor Will Verstraete of Gent University, Belgium. Recorded at the Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology meeting held in Bologna, Italy, on April 10-12 2012 (subtitles also in Italian – courtesy of Massimiliano Rupalti)

Population growth isn’t really our problem

In the course of preparing for a panel here at the Conference on World Affairs, I ran across a 2009 editorial by environmental journalist Fred Pearce, in which he explains why current global population trends aren’t as horrific as they’re often made out to be. I thought you should read it. Global population is going […]

Natural Gas Vehicles In China

With the price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States now at $5 — and climbing — CNBC’s Rick Santelli is making it his personal mission to demonstrate to the world that cars can easily be converted to run on natural gas. Santelli is best known for starting the Tea Party movement with […]

The Future of Oil: Peak Prices, Peak Production

The Future of Oil: Peak Prices, Peak Production, Piqued Consumers – Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming – 2008-06-11 – WASHINGTON (June 9, 2008) – As prices at the pump reach record levels on a daily basis, many consumers and analysts are asking the same questions: How bad could prices get? And what […]

Arctic Opening: Opportunity and Risk in the High North

From The Guardian “Lloyd’s of London, the world’s biggest insurance market, has become the first major business organisation to raise its voice about huge potential environmental damage from oil drilling in the Arctic. The City institution estimates that $100bn (£63bn) of new investment is heading for the far north over the next decade, but believes […]

Japan Use of Oil May Surge

Japanese utilities will use 300,000 more barrels of oil a day in 2012 than before last year’s nuclear crisis unless it restores some of its atomic reactors, according to the International Energy Agency. Japan will also need an additional 23 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas to meet demand if utilities can’t access idled […]

Another View of Peak Oil

A rising number of people are familiar with the concept of Peak Oil, which posits that invidual wells and hence global oil production overall exhibit very predictable patterns of output, such that when the peak of that production from either a single well or all the wells will be reached is pretty easy to calculate. […]

Exxon awarded CEO total pay of $34.9 million in 2011

Exxon Mobil Corp’s chief executive earned 20 percent more in 2011 than the year before, and the company said it saw no reason to change its pay practices, as had been urged by some investors. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson received $34.9 million in total compensation, up from $29 million in 2010, Exxon said in a […]

What the New 2011 EIA Oil Supply Data Shows

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released full-year 2011 world oil production data. In this post, I would like show some graphs of recent data, and provide some views as to where this leads with respect to future production. World oil supply is not growing very much   Figure 1. World crude oil and […]

Oil and the Real US Trade Deficit

The monthly trade data was reported this morning and you will see press reports about the nominal trade deficit. But I like to look at the real trade data as it gives a better feel for the economic impact of trade. The real trade deficit is improving and the balance in February was $44,148 million […]

Transition: What your group can do

Here are 7 things your group can do to further positive change. Here is a link to a two-sided handout version (pdf) that I created in anticipation of a speaking engagement.  It was written for church communities and other organizations which are interested in participating in the Transition process. If you would like to edit […]

The Impact of $5 Gas Prices, and Eco-Proppants

In this week’s episode of R-Squared Energy TV, I talk about the impact I believe $5 gasoline will have on most people, and whether there are any environmentally friendly proppants that can be used for hydraulic fracturing. Some of the topics discussed this week are: My observations here in Hawaii on the impact of $5 […]

OPEC Pumps More Oil as Iraq Boost Offsets Iran Decline

OPEC’s crude oil production rose to the most in more than three years in March as Iraq boosted output and offset a decline in Iranian supply, according to the International Energy Agency. The 12 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 31.43 million barrels a day of crude last month, up from a […]

Peak Oil Denial: The Liberal’s Dilemma

Reality has a well-known liberal bias – Stephen Colbert [NOTE: This is the first in a subset of my ongoing series entitled Looking Left and Right (which began here; see Category sidebar for all links). This is about Peak Oil, but addresses the considerations and potential solutions from a different perspective than purely fact-based and/or […]

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