A future of cheap oil

An ongoing price slump is rattling the industry and weakening petrostates. How will low prices change the world? Here’s everything you need to know: How cheap is oil? Prices have hovered between $40 and $50 a barrel for the past year — far below the pre-collapse high of $147 a barrel in 2008. The U.S. […]

‘Oil is not forever’

While presiding over the monthly meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Stockholm, Sweden, in December, 1986, Shiek Ahmed Zaki Yamani, oil minister of Saudi Arabia, then the cartel’s president, told the stunned oil-consuming world: “Oil is not forever. You have just seen the end of cheap oil.” Three days after that ominous […]

Chris Martenson: Signs Of Distress

The world is edging closer to the final moments after which everything will be forever changed. Grand delusions, perpetuated over decades, will finally hit the limits of reality and collapse in on themselves. We’re over-budget and have eaten deeply into the principal balances of all of our main trust accounts. We are ecologically overdrawn, financially […]

Oil Prices Up Amidst Higher Global Demand, Nigeria Instability

Oil prices rose slightly on Friday in volatile trading as the market weighed lower U.S. crude stocks, Nigerian instability and strong global demand growth against a persistently slow rebalancing. Brent crude settled up 20 cents or 0.39 percent to $52.10 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 23 cents or 0.47 percent to […]

Oil’s Most Likely Direction Is Down

Oil’s recent rally has run out of steam, and the path of least resistance continues to be lower for the beleaguered market. U.S. oil futures have encountered resistance at the $50-a-barrel level, and face a deluge of challenges in breaking above the current range. While bullish storage signals have lifted prices more than 14% since […]

The Arrival Of Peak Oil Demand And The Final Days For Oil

Summary There are greater threats to the outlook for oil than growing OPEC or U.S. shale oil production. Peak demand growth for oil will arrive faster than commonly considered. Renewable sources of energy and electric vehicles are advancing at a rapid rate aided by significant leaps in technology. Known oil reserves are destined to become […]

The Anatomy Of An Oil Market Evolution, Its Sustainability, And Consequences

Summary Oil price manipulation looks to be elusive, based on failing abilities to constrict supply. For decades, the oil market was based on oil supplies not meeting increases in demand, and prices sustained at high levels. U.S. oil production changed expectations by producing supply that exceeded demand. Technology transformed the oil market in ways unforeseen […]

Peak Demand? No, A New Gasoline Demand Record

Given all the media hype about peak oil demand — which is supposed to come about largely as a result of the explosive growth of electric vehicles (EVs) — you might be forgiven for missing the news that U.S. gasoline demand just hit a new all-time high. This new demand record comes despite EV sales […]

Saudi Arabia Builds Cities in the Sand to Move Beyond Oil

After relying on oil to fuel its economy for more than half a century, Saudi Arabia is turning to its other abundant natural resource to take it beyond the oil age — desert. The kingdom is converting thousands of square kilometers of sand into new cities as it seeks to diversify away from crude, create […]

Among States, Texas Consumes the Most Energy, Vermont the Least

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, State Energy Data System. EIA’s State Energy Data System (SEDS) recently released 2015 data estimates for all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The estimates include data on both total energy consumption and energy consumption per capita, which is calculated by dividing total consumption by population. In 2015, Texas consumed a total of 13 […]

The Five Forces of Fragmentation: A Global System in Breakdown?

Wayne Visser Copyright How do we know when value to society is being destroyed by economic activities? Taking a systems science perspective, the answer is: whenever it causes fragmentation, or disintegration. This is consistent with the idea that the tendency towards greater integration in nature and society is a fundamental principle of evolution (Smuts, 2013; […]

Is The EIA Exaggerating U.S. Oil Production?

Oil is back at $50 per barrel, restoring some semblance of confidence in the market. But that is just about as much as we can expect in terms of a rally, according to most analysts, with momentum likely to dissipate from here. But not everyone agrees. Many are worried that oil prices will crash again […]

What’s Really Driving the Global Economic Crisis is Net Energy Decline

As argued in more detail by Ted Trainer in this symposium the best hope for transition to a ‘post carbon’ — or, better, a sustainable society (a much broader goal) — lies in a process of radical societal reconstruction, focused on the building, in the here and now, of self-governing and self-reliant settlements, starting at the micro-local level. The ‘Simpler Way’ vision we […]

Forbes Says Self-Reliant Homesteaders Are “Delusional” and “Mooching” Off “Civil Society”

It’s always interesting reading when someone smug and sanctimonious writes a clueless diatribe about another group of people being smug and sanctimonious. So when I saw that an economist for Moody’s and Forbes had written an op-ed calling self-reliant homesteaders “delusional,” I knew I’d be in for some misinformed hilarity. The article, entitled, “Dear Homesteaders, […]

Is This The End Of The Oil Glut

In recent weeks, the crude oil market has finally started to show signs that it could be heading toward rebalancing—the stated goal of OPEC’s cuts and the favorite buzzword of analysts and officials this year. Saudi Arabia is cutting crude oil exports, notably to the U.S., in a renewed effort to influence the oil market […]

A New Twist on “Peak Oil”

In mid-2000, the world feared it was running out of oil. Speculators, in turn, became feverishly bullish on oil’s price. A 78% crash soon followed. Now, the phrase “peak oil” has been re-introduced, but in a different way.

Oil tycoon promises his next car will be electric

Yes, you heard that right, the boss in charge of Europe’s biggest oil company says his next car will be electric. Does this revelation from the CEO at Shell say a lot about the future of fossil fuels? It seems so, with Ben Van Beurden, 59, saying the demand for oil could peak within the […]

What is the worst product ever marketed?

    The worst product ever marketed: the disposable propane lighter. Wasteful, expensive, non-recyclable, using non-renewable materials, having benign alternatives (matches). In short, evil. And yet, it was hugely successful. Image from Wikipedia.     Greens often exaggerate in inviting people to save energy and be happier by staying in the dark and eating insects. However, it […]

Peak Oil Demand in 10 Years?

Venezuela is sliding closer and closer toward the brink, and things look as if they’ll get worse, unfortunately, before they improve. A country that boasts the largest proven oilfield in the world should not be facing such dire food and medicine shortages, not to mention rampant protests and violence in the streets. But that’s what […]

The Elites Are Jumping Ship As The Financial Collapse Draws Near

It’s easy to think of the political and financial elites who run our world as lofty and all powerful. They command dangerous governments that can wield devastating weapons, central banks that treat our economy like a rigged casino, media conglomerates that pacify the minds of the public, and unbelievably wealthy corporations that have concentrated wealth […]

So how on earth are we going to power nine million electric cars

Earlier this year, car buyers were encouraged to take advantage of the Government’s new environmentally friendly decision to exempt from road tax all electric cars with zero carbon emissions that cost less than £40,000. Intrigued to see the choices that might be available, I visited a Mitsubishi dealer. The hottest model on the forecourt in […]

Oil Prices: Forget Lower for Longer, Shell Says Get Set for “Lower Forever”

Depending on Royal Dutch Shell‘s influence in the crude market, the new mantra ‘lower for longer’ – a reference to dealing with lower oil prices – could be short-lived: Ben van Beurden, the company’s chief executive officer, says he and his colleagues are gearing up for a world of “lower forever” prices. That’s because Shell […]

Oil barons face a slow death by electrification

Opec, Russia and Big Oil thought they had half a century to prepare for the end of the internal combustion engine. At best they have a decade before the threat turns deadly serious. The twin announcement by France and Britain – within two weeks of each other – to ban sales of petrol and diesel […]

Peak Oil Demand Could Hit In 2024: Goldman Sachs

Global oil demand could peak as early as 2024 if there are more efficiency gains in vehicles, greater market penetration by electric cars, lower economic growth and higher fuel prices, Goldman Sachs said Monday. Economic expansion in emerging markets — led by India — may stave off reaching a peak until 2030, although demand growth […]

Electric Vehicles Will Decimate Oil

The electric vehicle revolution is speeding up. Year over year, electric vehicles sales are up 45% and the Tesla Model 3 hasn’t even gotten into the fray yet. If electric vehicles continue as these rapid growth rates, they represent a 10% market share before 2025. But what exactly will that mean for oil? Well, it’s […]

Chinese appetite for LNG increasing

The Chinese appetite for liquefied natural gas increased more than 30 percent from last year, according to the latest government data. The Chinese General Administration of Customs reported LNG imports to China increased dramatically as the country looks to rely less on coal for its energy needs. First half demand was up 38.3 percent from […]

Prepare Now for the Next Financial Crisis

The Asian financial crisis started 20 years ago and the global financial crisis and recession 9 years back. When a new global financial crisis strikes, the developing countries will be more damaged than in the last crisis as they have become less resilient and more vulnerable.  They thus need to prepare from being overwhelmed. A debate […]

Future Energy Prices: The Big Picture – Part II

Summary Much has changed in the energy sector and we are only at the beginning. Looking at the future supply picture for oil and natural gas. One area that will benefit investors for the foreseeable future. Back to Part I Part I provided an overview of the factors that affect energy commodities, what is changing […]

Farming Beyond Drought

The Caribbean accounts for seven of the world’s top 36 water-stressed countries and Barbados is in the top ten. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) defines countries like Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis as water-scarce with less than 1000 m3 freshwater resources per capita. With droughts becoming more seasonal in nature […]

On a Finite Planet Nothing Grows Forever

Richard Heinberg joins Juliet Jacobs at BFM radio to discuss realistic avenues for transitioning to renewable energy, the environmental implications of economic growth, and how we can build more resiliency into the sustainability movement.  BFM Malaysia

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