$40 Oil Isn’t Enough For Saudi Arabia

Despite the recommendation of the OPEC+ JMMC to ease the oil output cuts by 2 million bbl/d, oil markets maintained their bullish sentiment over the past week as Brent was trading above $43 while WTI was trading above $40. A surge in COVID-19 cases in several counties including the US, Spain, and Australia capped oil […]

Did Global Oil Demand Peak in 2019?

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent shockwaves through the oil and gas industry, with some analysts warning the outbreak may have triggered an early peak in demand. According to Norway-based energy consultancy DNV GL, both global oil demand and carbon dioxide emissions likely climaxed in 2019 and will not exceed these levels moving forward. As a […]

The Great Pause Week 18: Midwinter Down Under

“Our objectives are low-tech, anti-fragile, and human-centered. By using tools of permaculture design, we place humans within a new context that will regenerate and sustain natural ecosystems.“   As difficult as coming to terms with living through an all-out global pandemic is, the looming near-term human extinction event that is rapid climate change has not […]

Russian Scientists Create New Non-Freezing Arctic Diesel Fuel

Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) have discovered a way to produce Arctic diesel fuel from winter-grade fuel, and winter fuel from inter-season grade fuel. The effect has been achieved by using a heavy diesel fraction and a cold flow improver. The authors of the study believe that the new fuel recipes will be of […]

Driving may never fully bounce back

Increased working from home and use of e-commerce will be “powerful and enduring” in the U.S. — potentially enough to reduce auto miles traveled by up to 9% going forward, according to a new KPMG analysis. Why it matters: The behavioral changes that stick around once the coronavirus crisis passes will affect power use, driving levels […]

The World Is Going To Need More Oil Very Soon

OPEC’s Joint Technical Committee is trying to thread the oil needle by increasing oil production but not crash the global oil market price. While some fear that any production increase in global output will end the most significant oil price recovery on record, the reality is data shows that very soon, the world is going […]

After Decades of Wrong Predictions, Oil May Finally Be Peaking

After one of the most dramatic stretches in its history, the oil industry is slowly recovering. March and April saw the toxic combination of depressed demand, excessive supply, limited storage capacity, and intense financial speculation that turned prices on one index negative. Although concerns about a second wave of coronavirus infections remain high, demand is […]

Peak oil in Asia Update June 2020

Fig 1: Asian oil consumption is around 5 times higher than production The production decline after the peak in 2015 is very modest. The size of the gap between consumption and production is mainly determined by consumption growth rather than by production decline. Will the Corona virus stop the gap growing? Let’s have a look […]

Will Oil Ever Recover To Pre-COVID Levels?

Last May, Bernard Looney, the CEO of BP, said that “the coronavirus hit to crude consumption was likely to endure beyond the pandemic- and may have even ushered in “peak oil” demand (See FT, 13/5/2020). A few weeks later Rystad Energy’s 2020 annual review of world oil resources revealed that the Covid-19 downturn will expedite […]

IEA raises 2020 oil demand estimate

The global economy bounced back from the worst of pandemic lockdowns faster than expected in the second quarter but a second wave of COVID-19 infections could still derail the strong recovery so far, the International Energy Agency said July 10. In its latest monthly oil market report, the Paris-based agency raised its estimate for global […]

In 2019, the United States produced and consumed record volumes of natural gas

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review Note: Click for full U.S. natural gas flow 2019 diagram. Natural gas is one of the main sources of energy in the United States. In 2019, U.S. production of dry natural gas increased to almost 34 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and consumption increased to 31 Tcf—both values […]

Is population growth risking our food security?

In 1830, the world population was only 1 billion. It took 100 years for this number to double. But within a span of only 30 years, in 1960, global population reached 3 billion. Since then, the world population estimate started to spike exponentially, and it took hardly 15 years to reach the 4 billion mark, […]

Saudis Raise Oil Pricing to US and Asia

Saudi Arabia raised pricing for August oil shipments to Asia, the U.S. and northern Europe amid signs that energy demand is continuing to recover from its coronavirus-triggered collapse. The move comes as the world’s biggest crude exporter pushes other major producers to join it in cutting supply to re-balance the market. State producer Saudi Aramco […]

‘The crisis is far from over.’ World economy faces an uphill climb

The world economy is entering the second half of 2020 still deeply weighed down by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a full recovery now ruled out for this year and even a 2021 comeback dependent on a lot going right. It’s a scenario few if any predicted at the start of the year when most economists […]

How the Pandemic Is Changing the Outlook for Peak Oil

One big question emerging from the pandemic is whether it will speed up the global shift away from oil. Life under lockdown gave a taste of a world that burns less petroleum, with consumption down by about a quarter and city dwellers from Los Angeles to New Delhi relishing the cleaner air. As restrictions eased, […]

Oil demand to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022

Analysts at Goldman Sachs expect global oil demand to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022, citing a pick-up in commuting, a shift to private transportation and higher infrastructure spending. In a research note published Thursday, analysts at the U.S. investment bank estimated global oil demand would decline by 8% in 2020, rebound by 6% in […]

An Open Letter to the Permaculture and Transition Movements

Back in 2008, around the same time I was beginning my work as an intern with Transition Boulder County, the first official Transition Initiative in North America, I completed a 10-day Permaculture Design Certification Course at the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute in Basalt, Colorado. I had recently read The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency […]

Why BP bailed on the oil industry’s one “bright spot”

Plastics were supposed to be a lifeline for Big Oil. Even before the coronavirus pandemic bottomed out demand for gasoline and jet fuel, the global transition toward climate-friendly energy and electric vehicles had hobbled their long-term outlook. Keen to diversify, Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Saudi Aramco, and other oil majors have been collectively spending $40 billion a […]

The Great Staycation

In the Northern hemisphere, summer is arriving and many families are deciding what to do for their holidays; trying to balance concerns about their finances and their fear of Covid-19, with their desire for fun and relaxation. With airlines mostly still grounded, and many facing fundamental questions over their futures, the pandemic may instead be […]

Demand for fossil fuels may not ever return to 2019 peak levels

New Analysis by Boston Consulting Group Reveals That the COVID-19 Crisis May Have Brought Forward an Expected Decline in Demand for Fossil Fuels by More Than a Decade, Making a Return to the 2019 Peak Unlikely While the short-term economic fallout of the global COVID-19 pandemic has already become visible, the crisis may have a […]

Oil Is Back to $40 What Does That Signal?

After dipping into negative territory crude is back ato $40. What does that mean? Oil analyst Phil Flynn says Oil’s Road Back to $40 Signals Economic and Job Snap Back. The road back to $40-a-barrel oil was fraught with fear and uncertainty, but eclipsing that benchmark indicates the beginning of a strong recovery from the […]

Coronavirus: a wake-up call to strengthen the global food system

Global food production is incredibly efficient, and the world’s farmers produce enough to feed the global population. Despite this abundance, a quarter of the global population do not have regular access to sufficient and nutritious food. A growing and more affluent population will further increase the global demand for food and create stresses on land, […]

Jevons Paradox

The Jevons paradox is that efficiency enables growth. New technologies that can produce more goods from a given amount of resources allow the economy as a whole to produce more. More resources get used overall. This is the magic of industrial capitalism and the secret of growth. Economists have known it for a long time. […]

Global oil demand could hit record growth rate next year, IEA warns

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, forecasts that the world’s daily oil demand will climb by 5.7m barrels next year. Photograph: Altaf Hussain/Reuters   The world’s oil demand could climb at its fastest rate in the history of the market next year, and may reach pre-crisis levels within years, unless new green […]

Oil Demand Isn’t Roaring Back Yet

It was too good to be true. Last weekend’s OPEC+ meeting took a decision in record time to extend deep output cuts that had halted a dramatic slide in prices — and members even agreed to abide by them. The timing was perfect. The deal would keep oil from flooding the market, allowing time for demand […]

It’s The Oil Demand, Stupid!

For oil markets the 2020 story is not as much about supply as it is about demand, or rather its lack. To be sure the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia rocked the markets. But soon it became clear that there is not enough demand for the additional volumes that either country wanted […]

From environmental villain to pandemic hero — plastic is back

During the height of the Flint water crisis, CNN introduced us to Gina Luster, her 7-year-old daughter, and 13-year-old niece. The network’s in-depth profile described the family’s physical devastation from the city’s lead-contaminated water and their daily lifeline: bottled water. By CNN’s count, this family of three depended on 151 bottles of water a day […]

Responding to Collapse, Shortages of Money, Part 2

A high water level, wind, big waves and temperatures below freezing combine to create ice sculptures along Lake Huron.   I am writing this in late March of 2020 and it seems that hardly anyone else is writing anything that doesn’t focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. A few posts back I said that shortages of […]

IEA: Oil Demand to Soon Exceed Pre-Lockdown Level

Alternate Title: Peak Oil Foiled Again Guest “too fracking funny for words” by David Middleton IEA chief says low oil prices will take demand beyond pre-crisis highs By JAVIER BLAS on 5/25/2020 LONDON (Bloomberg) –Global oil consumption hasn’t peaked, the head of the International Energy Agency warned, throwing cold water on hopes the coronavirus will […]

Will Covid-19 Delay Peak Oil?

With global demand having fallen by about 29 million barrels per day from a year ago, it seems like this pandemic might delay peak oil production while the pandemic and consequent depression lasts, since so much less oil is being consumed. On top of that, storage is getting full, so many oil producers are being […]

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