Peak Oil By Any Other Name

This week, the National Petroleum Council (NPC) finally coughed up a report that we’ve been awaiting for two years, ever since U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman asked them to determine “what the future holds for global oil and gas supply” and whether “incremental supplies can be brought on-line, on-time and at a reasonable price that does not jeopardize economic growth.”

Translation: the Energy Secretary was wise to peak oil, and asked the oil industry to tell him where we really stand. After all, if it goes down on his watch, he’s going to have one of the worst jobs on earth.

If he has any idea at all what the truth about global oil supply really is at this point, then I think he’ll be as disappointed in the result as the rest of us “walking worried” are.

The report was titled “Facing the Hard Truths about Energy,” but it could just as easily have been called “Dodging the Hard Truths about Energy.”

ASPO’s Randy Udall hit the nail on the head: “Charging the NPC with analyzing oil and gas is akin to asking the tobacco industry to forecast lung cancer.”

Energy and Capital