Robert Rapier: Oil Sands and the Environment – Part II

Introduction Today I continue coverage of my recent visit to the Athabasca oil sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta. I was there as a guest of the Canadian government, which hosts annual tours for small groups of journalists and energy analysts. I will be covering multiple aspects of oil sands production in a series of posts. […]

Energy Expert Byron King on Peak Oil, Natural Gas and Rare Earths

Video from RT.  Energy Expert Byron King on Peak Oil, Natural Gas and Rare Earths

World agricultural output continues to rise, despite predictions of decline

The year 2013 has been a great year for global agriculture. Record world production of rice and healthy production of wheat and corn produced strong harvests across the world. These gains were achieved despite continuing predictions that world agricultural output is headed for a decline. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that world rice […]

Natural Gas Production in Northeast Reduces Need from Other Regions

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released a report based on natural gas production in the northeast and the effects on the region’s gas inflow, reported the Penn State Extension. Compared to 2008 natural gas records, production in the northeast has increased almost six-fold to 12.3 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day in 2013.  This […]

FT: Oil industry sums do not add up

The most interesting message in this year’s World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency is also its most disturbing. Over the past decade, the oil and gas industry’s upstream investments have registered an astronomical increase, but these ever higher levels of capital expenditure have yielded ever smaller increases in the global oil supply. Even […]

Peak Oil: Using Energy To Get Energy # 4

One of the key deficiencies of ‘unconventional’ fuels is their low energy return on investment relative to conventional fuels. Many analysts have ignored this factor because investment decisions are made on the basis of the financial, not energy, return on investment. But a growing literature suggests that the two are intimately related…. ROI cannot escape […]

The Third Revolution

Republished lecture from a conference I participated in, in Milan on October 22 -23, 2010, i.e. “The Effects of New Communication Technologies upon Information”. This is the transcript of my lecture, which focuses more than usual on the anthropological underpinnings of p2p relationships. The spoken word nature of the intervention, may make it extra readable […]

Human Beings Are Not the Problem, They Are the Solution

Whereas population controllers think having less people will solve the world’s problems, a new ad by Unilever shows a different hope for the future. When was the last time you recall seeing a major corporation promote the dignity of human life? At best, most might keep hush about the issue, not wanting to commit themselves […]

Namibian Govt fears tuna depletion as oil and gas exploration chase fish away

SEISMIC exploration of gas and oil on Namibian waters has led to massive depletion of tuna output from 1 800 tonnes last year to about 650 tonnes so far this year. This is a far cry from 2011 tuna output, which was 4 000 tonnes. In response, a government task force that completed its mandate […]

Analysis of Well Completion Data for Bakken Oil Wells

The following analysis uses “well completion information” contained in a newspaper called the Bakken Weekly, a paper covering western North Dakota.  The Bakken Weekly started providing well completion information for North Dakota counties in the Bakken region in early 2012.  The analysis below is for 2012/2013 from the week of April 1, 2012 through the […]

Peak Oil, Not

Do you remember the many predictions in past years that oil production has peaked world-wide and we will soon deplete this natural resource? M. King Hubbert, a petroleum engineer with the Shell Research Lab, developed his theory of Peak Oil  in 1956, predicting U.S. production of oil would peak between 1965 and 1970 and thereafter […]

Approximation of ERoEI for nuclear energy in the US

The importance of the ratio of Energy Returned over Energy Invested cannot be overstated; however, different researchers have included different items in the energy invested term. This may be satisfactory depending upon the use to which the concept is to placed; but, only the method recommended on this blog results in a ratio that can […]

More from less: how tight oil changes supply

Tight oil is now the main source of new supply – eclipsing the contribution from mega-projects favoured by the major oil companies. Despite spending billions of dollars, the majors have failed to boost their collective production, as rising costs, management constraints and technical challenges have delayed start-ups. Without smaller‐scale investment in thousands of tight oil […]

Is “antifragile” better than “resilient”?

Antifragile” is a word you can’t find in the dictionary. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author and student of probability and risk, coined the word because, after looking at languages across the world, he could not find a word which describes the ability to improve with stress rather than merely resist it as the word “resilient” implies. […]

Iran Nuclear Deal Done (-20% Uranium Production For $6-7bn Lifted Sanctions)

UPDATE: Details of the deal are emerging including $4.2bn in FX Despite earlier denials from Iran’s Deputy FinMin, EU, Iran, and US officials have confirmed: *IRAN NUCLEAR ACCORD WITH WORLD POWERS ENDS 10-YEAR DEADLOCK *IRAN WILL HALT 20% ENRICHMENT FOR 6 MONTHS, FARS REPORTS *IRAN AGREEMENT DOESN’T FORMALLY RECOGNIZE RIGHT TO ENRICH *IRAN AGREEMENT WILL […]

Nuclear Agreement May Result in Israel and Saudi Arabia Attacking Iran

Israel and Saudi Arabia may cooperate in an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities following the announcement of a six-month interim agreement between the P5+1 and Iran on Sunday in Geneva. Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, characterized the agreement as a major success. He said Iran will cooperate with the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency […]

Iran invites India, China to join gas pipeline

An Iranian deputy oil minister called on India to join an under-construction pipeline projected to carry natural gas from Iran to Pakistan. Ali Majedi, who is a deputy minister for international and commercial affairs, said Iran expects India to overcome its doubts and join the pipeline, previously known as Peace Pipeline, reported FARS news agency. […]

Syrian Rebels Seize Control of Oil Field From Assad

A group of Syrian rebel brigades, including an affiliate of Al Qaeda, seized a large oil and gas field from government forces on Saturday, opposition activists said, further depriving the government of President Bashar al-Assad of the resources it needs to remain solvent. Videos posted online showed scores of black-clad rebels walking through a large […]

Why The U.S. Remains The World’s Unchallenged Superpower

The frequent chatter about the inevitable decline of the United States has become almost an unchallenged shibboleth. Every week more bad news about the United States seems to confirm this notion. The country seems ungovernable with a hyper-partisanized Congress, a 16-day government shutdown, the weak economic recovery and the vast NSA spy scandal. In an […]

Solar Energy Is Dominated by Waste

The numbers are in and the verdict is out: Much of the money that governments spend subsidizing solar energy is wasted. So argues author and Copenhagen Consensus Center director Dr. Bjorn Lomborg in the pages of The Wall Street Journal earlier this week. He points out that Spain, for example, spent more money subsidizing its […]

The Sky Is Falling: Chicken Little Was Right All Along

My obsession with sustainability dates back to 1969, the year I started my doctoral dissertation on human carrying capacity.  I became aware that there was real danger of overshooting that capacity and that if we consumed enough of our ecological capital, we risked a population crash and even possible human extinction.  In the meantime, I […]

Peak Oil responds, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

Peak Oil responds, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” A recent post entitled The Welcome Death of Peak Oil by George Koch on the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada website begins with the following optimistic comment: “Improved technology and more efficiency mean North America could eventually become an oil exporter.” [i]   The […]

Western powers reach deal with Iran over its nuclear program

Secretary of State John Kerry and leaders from five other world powers early Sunday reached a nuclear deal with Iran, following intense negotiations that took place over several days in Geneva. The deal represents a historic breakthrough in the world’s decade-long nuclear standoff with Iran, and in the 35-year-long diplomatic freeze between Iran and the […]

Iran planning to build 2 new nuclear power plants

Fars news agency quotes Tehran’s deputy nuclear chief as saying two nuclear reactors being planned in addition to Bushehr core. Interior of Bushehr nuclear plant Photo: REUTERS/Stringer Iran Iran is planning to construct two new nuclear power plants in the near future, the Fars News Agency quoted a senior Iranian nuclear official as saying Saturday. […]

Limitations of Unreliable Energy Sources, aka ‘Renewables’

As part of the discussions stimulated by their airing of Pandora’s Promise, CNN hosted a debate between Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute and Dale Bryk of the Natural Resources Defense Council. That debate included some commentary that I thought was worth promoting to the front page. A commenter named Fred, a tech who has […]

Chinese official: Oil trade with Iran ‘transparent, open, reasonable’

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China’s crude oil imports from Iran are in line with sanctions targeting the Iranian energy sector. “Our cooperation with Iran on crude oil is transparent, open, reasonable and commercial in nature. It does not run counter to U.N. resolutions or damage third-party interests,” Hong said in a report […]

Iran oil, energy investment sanctions still in force

The nuclear deal signed on Sunday will not allow any more Iranian oil into the market, or let western energy investors into the country, but it does freeze U.S. plans for deeper cuts to Iranian crude exports, Washington says. Iran and six world powers reached a breakthrough deal early on Sunday to curb Tehran’s nuclear […]

Energy Collapse – Peak Oil, Painful Withdrawal

Features Richard Heinberg, Matthew Simmons, Roscoe Bartlett & David Goodstein Oil is the primary fuel of the global economy. 98% of cars and trucks,…

When Will World Oil Production Peak?

World Crude + Condensate production reached a new high in July, at least according to the EIA. C+C production was 76,531,000 barrels per day or 416,000 bp/d higher than the previous high in February 2012. But keep in mind that June production was revised down by 459,000 barrels per day so those July numbers will […]

A New One Child Policy

When China’s Communist Party announced it will loosen its one child policy to help its economy continue to grow, I thought it was a wise move. But not for the economy. Or for growth. In fact, I believe one child is the ideal number of children to have and that it is vital to lower […]

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