Why Oil May Never Hit $100 per Barrel Again

The decline of the energy industry in the U.S. was swift in 2015 and for investors the losses were widespread. In addition, the pain spread to average Americans with an estimated 250,000 jobs lost in the oil & gas industry alone in 2015. Calls for a recovery in oil prices haven’t come to fruition and […]

Antifragile Food Systems

” The alpha person at a gathering of “high status” persons is usually the waiter. ” In the film, No Escape, Owen Wilson and Lake Bell’s characters play a stereotypical USAnian couple, Jack and Annie Dwyer, cast abroad like fishes out of water. He is a corporate engineer in charge of putting a water plant […]

Michael Lynch: Oil Markets 1986 Or 1998?

Oil markets have started with a bang or, more precisely, an implosion with prices hitting levels not seen since pre-peak oil days (i.e., 2003, especially if you ignore December 23, 2008) and causing havoc in not just the oil industry but commodity and equity markets and even some currency markets. For the youngsters, this probably […]

The Last Time Oil Was This Cheap, It Was Expensive

Oil prices have slumped to 12-year lows, shocking even the most bearish forecasters. But back in February 2004, the last time the U.S. benchmark settled below $33.50 a barrel, oil at these prices was considered pricey. In 2004, U.S. oil production was falling, and political conflict and instability in Venezuela and Nigeria had disrupted output in […]

Who Wins and Who Loses in a World of Cheap Oil

Stratfor looks at one of the big questions for 2016. Low oil prices will devastate those nations dependent on oil revenue and provide small benefits to those that consume oil. The destabilizing effect of the former will affect everybody, to vary degrees. Ten years ago people worried about running out of oil (see the comments […]

Depletion Of China’s Reserves Creating Concern And A Potential Derivative Nightmare In Oil

With continued uncertainty in global markets, today a legend in the business warned about the depletion of China’s massive reserves and a potential derivative nightmare in the crude oil market. Here is a portion of today’s note from Art Cashin:  How Fast Are China’s Reserves Shifting – China has a huge pool of foreign currency reserves but recent […]

Peak Oil Over The Horizon Or An Era Of Indefinite Prolonged Surplus?

First I like to thank Killian Kirk for helping me come up with the title to today’s blog. For last 60 years we have heard the rising drumbeat of ‘Peak Oil’, the belief that there was finite reserve of petroleum that was rapidly diminishing. You may remember reading often throughout the 80’s and 90’s that […]

A Look to 2016

No doubt a lot of people are happy to see 2015 in the rear view mirror: refugees, their ‘hosts’ in Europe, bond investors, frackers and Brazilians, it is likely that 2016 will bring more of the same, challenges and idiocy … and a ray of light! — Energy deflation to take hold in 2016 Figure […]

Saudi Aramco IPO Prospect Reflects Kingdom Looking Beyond Oil

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest petroleum exporter, is staring into a future in which its most valuable asset — the oil under its sands — is shrinking in value. That is not only because the price of oil has been plummeting over the last year, but also because the climate-conscious world has a diminishing appetite […]

Confessions of a Doomer

I need to tell you of a very special talent I have. I have the very unusual and rare ability to find, to ferret out if you will, the blatantly obvious. I mean if it is as plain as the nose on your face, I am going to figure it out. What shocks me is that this […]

Peak Oil And The Death Of Michael C. Ruppert

The brave investigative journalist/independent intelligence analyst, Michael C. Ruppert, did commit suicide, considering that he thought he had contributed as much as he could to the future of humanity. His final piece was a movie,”Collapse,” in which he outlined that we have reached peak oil, which he came to understand from the massive amount of […]

Islamic Radicalism: A Consequence Of Petro-Imperialism

Islamic radicalism, a consequence of Petro-imperialism: In its July 2013 report [1] the European Parliament identified the Wahhabi-Salafi roots of global terrorism, but the report conveniently absolved the Western powers of their culpability and chose to overlook the role played by the Western powers in nurturing Islamic extremism and jihadism during the Cold War against […]

Appetite for mergers in energy sector drying up

Despite some planned mega-mergers, market uncertainty meant few companies were willing to join forces in last year’s weakened energy economy, analysis finds. An emailed report from consultant firm IHS found the value of merger and acquisitions in the oil and gas sector declined 22 percent last year to $143 billion. That’s despite the planned $85 […]

A blistering report that claimed fracking was safe is now being disputed by its own scientists

A blistering report that claimed fracking was safe is now being disputed by its own scientists Martin Shkreli Secures Bail With $45 Million E*Trade Account, Demands Respect From Wu-Tang Clan “The Jihadists Will Attack Europe”: Leaked Phone Call Shows Gaddafi Warned Tony Blair Of Terror Attacks It’s Official: Bitcoin Was The Top Performing Currency Of […]

An “Extremist” in the United States

We are the Mainstream, Who Are You? A view of the US Republican debate. Credit: CNN screengrab I am a mild-mannered (a polite term for “boring”) white Christian man, born and raised in North Dakota, a state of the United States known for being mild-mannered. I teach university courses on freedom of expression and the […]

2016: Oil Limits and the End of the Debt Supercycle

What is ahead for 2016? Most people don’t realize how tightly the following are linked: Growth in debt Growth in the economy Growth in cheap-to-extract energy supplies Inflation in the cost of producing commodities Growth in asset prices, such as the price of shares of stock and of farmland Growth in wages of non-elite workers […]

Libya oil storage tanks ablaze after assault by IS

Shelling by so-called Islamic State (IS) on an oil terminal in Libya has started fires that have spread to giant storage tanks, officials say. The fires are reported to be raging in Sidra, on the coast between Sirte and Benghazi. Officials said at least 10 guards had been killed since IS attacked the neighbouring ports […]

Why Oil Prices Will Rebound in 2016

The plummeting prices of oil and gas roiled markets and affected businesses, investors and drivers in 2015. Whether prices rebound or not is bound to have a similar impact this year. Prices shot up briefly on Monday as investors worried about a potential supply disruption as a result of heightened tensions between oil producers Saudi […]

US struggles to explain allegiance to Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration on Monday confronted the fundamental contradiction in its increasingly tense relationship with Saudi Arabia. It could not bring itself, at least in public, to condemn the execution of a dissident cleric who challenged the royal family, for fear of undermining the fragile Saudi leadership that it desperately needs in fighting the […]

Saudis weigh IPO for Aramco

The deep plunge in oil prices has led to the prospect that Saudi Arabia might list shares in Saudi Aramco, the presently state-owned oil giant, that could make it the world’s most valuable public company. Muhammad bin Salman, the kingdom’s deputy crown prince, tells The Economist that the idea of an initial public offering is […]

The Rule Of Law No Longer Exists In Western Civilization

My work documenting how the law was lost began about a quarter of a century ago. A close friend and distinguished attorney, Dean Booth, first brought to my attention the erosion of the legal principles on which rests the rule of law in the United States. My columns on the subject got the attention of […]

Saudi Arabia Says It Shot Down Missile Fired From Yemen

Saudi Arabia says it has shot down a missile fired into the kingdom from nearby Yemen, which is engulfed in a civil war. The Saudi military says it intercepted the missile Thursday morning in Jizan province and later attacked and destroyed the platform that launched the missile in Yemen. It made the announcement in a […]

Automation of Oilfield Operations to Double by 2020

IDC Energy Insights, a market provider of intelligence for the global technology industry, forecasts that the top 50 percent of oil and gas companies will double down on oilfield operation automation to double the productivity of those operations by 2020. The digital oilfield initiatives of the last decade spawned an investment in greater instrumentation and […]

Down the Ratholes of the Future

The new year now upon us has brought out the usual quota of predictions about what 2016 has in store, and I propose as usual to make my own contribution to that theme.  I’ve noted more than once in the past that people who make predictions about the future really ought to glance back at […]

Where Actually is that Much-hyped Global Oil Glut?

The media is full with news that there is a global oil glut. There are now more than 3bn barrels of excess oil in the world 13/11/2015 Record oil glut stands at 3bn barrels 13/11/2015 It was parroted by the Australian public broadcaster ABC TV, using this (unsuitable) opportunity to take a swipe at peak oil: Peak […]

The energy sector changed forever in 2015

Two massive and permanent shifts in energy took place in 2015. The first was the beginning of the end of the oil age as Saudi Arabia’s led OPEC on a mission to destroy long-term competition and preserve market share. The second was the fortification of a move toward alternative energy as 196 nations agreed to […]

Could this be the year for oil takeovers?

Low oil prices could spur further mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across the oil and gas sector in 2016, analysts told CNBC. Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, Karri Vuori, head of M&A at Panmure Gordon said that alongside healthcare and advertising technology, oil and gas is one of the top sectors to watch in terms of […]

Gas, Oil Production Boomed During Obama Administration

The nation’s biggest fossil-fuel trade group delivered its annual state-of-the-industry report Tuesday. True to form, it included a whack at President Barack Obama’s policies — even though oil and gas have flourished on his watch. Bloomberg’s Jennifer Dloughy reports on “Bloomberg Markets.”

Fork the Economy

I’ve given up on fixing the economy. The economy is not broken. It’s simply unjust. There’s a difference. We have to stop looking at our economy as a broken system, but one that is working absolutely true to its original design. It’s time to be progressive — and this means initiating systemic changes. For example, […]

Finally, a ship loaded with U.S. crude leaves port

In December, Congress lifted a ban on the export of U.S. crude oil, and the first shipment of crude — fracked from the oilfields of South Texas — is sailing out of Corpus Christi. But for now, many analysts don’t expect a large amount of American crude to be exported. The Brent selling price overseas […]

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