Peak Oil Is Near Not Because of Dwindling Supply, But Disappearing Demand

Given the stagnation in household incomes across the wealthier global economies, oil is facing pressure as never before to remain competitive given the plethora of cheaper – and more reputationally acceptable – alternatives. JL Amory Lovins comments in Medium: Demand is going away — not incrementally but fundamentally. Like whale oil in the 1850s, oil is becoming […]

The War Against Change

Last week’s post explored the way that the Democratic party over the last four decades has abandoned any claim to offer voters a better future, and has settled for offering them a future that’s not quite as bad as the one the Republicans have in mind. That momentous shift can be described in many ways, […]

IEA Sees Oil Glut Persisting Despite Soaring Demand

World oil demand is expanding at its fastest pace in five years thanks to rebounding economic growth and low prices, but global oversupply will last through 2016, the West’s energy watchdog said on Wednesday. The International Energy Agency said in a monthly report that it was steeply raising its demand growth outlook for this year […]

Humans Have Used Up A Year’s Worth Of The Earth’s Resources In 8 Months

Less than eight months into 2015, humans have already consumed a year’s worth of the Earth’s resources. Ecological Debt Day, or Earth Overshoot Day, falls on Thursday and marks the point in the year when “humanity’s annual demand for the goods and services that our land and seas can provide — fruits and vegetables, meat, […]

The Oil Price: How Low Is Low?

With West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent close to their January 2015 lows some readers are wondering how these lows compare with historic lows when the oil price is adjusted for inflation (deflated). BP just happen to provide an oil price series that is adjusted for inflation (Figure 1). The data are annual averages and […]

Oil wars: OPEC is winning

OPEC’s strategy to pump like crazy despite collapsing oil prices seems to be finally paying off: The U.S. oil industry is showing cracks. Oil supply from non-OPEC countries is set to slow dramatically next year and slip into its first contraction since 2008, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday in its monthly oil market report. […]

Peak Oilers Shut Up Forever Please

Princeton University geologist Ken Deffeyes predicted that global oil production would peak on Thanksgiving Day, 2005. In 2005, daily global oil production averaged 85 million barrels per day. Daily petroleum liquids production in July was 96 million barrels per day. For the past six months global oil prices have been falling steeply. Today West Texas […]

The Saudi Oil Price War Is Backfiring

Saudi Arabia has long enjoyed the status of being the top crude oil exporter in the world. With record production of 10.564 million barrels per day in June 2015, Saudi Arabia has been one of the major driving forces behind the current oil price slump.  The Saudis have kept their production levels high since last […]

Are the chickens coming home to roost?

Forget quantitative easing and low base rates, the REAL great global stimulus—tumbling prices in commodities and, most importantly, oil— continues and it’s hard to see what’s going to change any time soon. This huge transfer of wealth from commodity producers to consumers has shown little sign of abating despite a brief spring rally off the […]

How Economic Growth Fails

We all know generally how today’s economy works: Our economy is a networked system. I have illustrated it as being similar to a child’s building toy. Ever-larger structures can be built by adding more businesses and consumers, and by using resources of various kinds to produce an increasing quantity of goods and services. There is […]

The Game of Chicken Behind Low Oil Prices

Oil prices are now near a six-year low, moving down earlier today to about $44 a barrel. Friday’s decline came on the back of an upbeat jobs report, which strengthened the dollar, lowering oil prices. The fall has been precipitous: Only a year ago, crude oil was more than $100 a barrel. Two major indicators […]

Why Oil Will Never Be Replaced

Summary With an ongoing oil glut, it seems that many people believe that the oil industry is at the start of a long term downturn, due to oil eventually being replaced. Many believe that technological improvements in drilling, newly discovered oil reserves outpacing consumption, and reduced consumption due to electric vehicles will eventually kill the […]

Reshuffling Eurasia’s energy deck — Iran, China and Pipelineistan

Pipelineistan – the prime Eurasian energy chessboard — never sleeps. Recently, it’s Russia that has scored big on all fronts; two monster gas deals sealed with China last year; the launch of Turk Stream replacing South Stream; and the doubling of Nord Stream to Germany. Now, with the possibility of sanctions on Iran finally vanishing by […]

$1 Natural Gas: Crazy Town?

If you take a look at natural gas pricing in the Northeast not every price metric is depressed. We ask Bloomberg Intelligence energy expert Vincent Piazza to talk us through the pricing. “When you think of the Appalachian area,” Vince says, “Think of the Northeast Marcellus and then the Southwestern section of the Marcellus.” There is some imbalance between […]

How Driverless Cars Could Turn Parking Lots into City Parks

Traffic jams aren’t exactly Zen. People are anxious about getting somewhere else instead of being happy about where they are. To make matters more frustrating: In many cases, the cars clogging roadways are often already at their destination—and just circling the blocks looking for parking. There’s plenty of research showing that a surprisingly large number […]

The Link Between Oil Reserves and Oil Prices

Last December the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest estimate of U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves. Although natural gas reserves rose, the real story was crude oil reserves. The EIA reported that U.S. proved reserves of crude oil and lease condensate had increased for the fifth year in a row, and had […]

The Oil Low Is Coming So Prepare To Buy Cheap

The market doesn’t like slumping stocks. Shares that fall become unpopular with investors who bailed at a loss and holders hoping for the day when the price will return to the level they bought in at, so they can sell without taking a hit. Investors and traders are normally sore losers, so once a stock […]

US poised to become leading exporter of natural gas

The U.S. is on the verge of becoming one of the world’s largest suppliers of liquefied natural gas, but it still faces stiff competition from rivals in the $120 billion LNG export business, including Qatar, Australia and rising markets in East Africa. Tim Boersma, acting director of the Foreign Policy Energy Security and Climate Initiative […]

The future of rail travel isn’t the Hyperloop

As the world’s population becomes increasingly urbanised, it is estimated that the number of journeys measured in passenger-kilometres will triple by 2050. Roads simply can’t absorb this increase. Railways, with their greater capacity for carrying more people, quickly and with greater energy efficiency, are the best bet to become our mobility backbone. Of course, engineers’ […]

The End of the Car Industry As We Know It?

Bloomberg’s Scarlet Fu reports on pollution its impact on the car industry. She speaks on “Bloomberg Markets.

Natural Gas Pipeline from Iran to Iraq could be Ready in 20 Days

Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company says pipeline could be ready before the end of August Managing Director of the Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company Alireza Gharibi said the company finished testing 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) of pipeline that will run from Iran to neighboring Iraq. Gharibi said the company hopes to export […]

U.S. Natural Gas Exports to Mexico Taking Off

Just as Space X rockets may be taking off from the beaches at Boca Chica near Brownsville, natural gas exports to Mexico look to also sky rocket in the coming years. Due to changes in Mexican law in 2013 opening the electricity market to private investment, billions of dollars in contracts have been let to […]

Saudi energy consumption is highest in MENA

The widely reported fall in Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports in May — the first time in five months — led many to assume that this may counter the fall in crude oil prices. This is not the case. To start with, the fall in Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports was reported by Saudi Arabia […]

Waste Less, Share More

Food waste is big news at the moment, as well it should be. According to a recent World Resources Institute report, approximately a third of all food produced for human consumption never gets eaten. Efforts to reduce this figure often focus on waste generated by supermarkets, shops and restaurants. In France, for example, legislation has […]

Energy, the repressed: Paging Dr. Freud

Jeremy Rifkin announced the end of work in a book by that title in 1995. Today, we are once again being told that the end of work is nigh. The Atlantic Monthly tells us so in a piece entitled, “A World Without Work.” Automation and computer technology will bring unimaginable change and prosperity–and result in […]

Oil to hit low $30s by the end of 2015

The prospect of oil prices falling below $40 receded earlier this year amid a crude rally, but with futures sliding again, investors shouldn’t rule out a three-handle, Again Capital founding partner John Kilduff said Thursday. “Christmas time we’ll probably be rebounding off new lows off of the mid to low 30s,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk […]

Oil storage becomes big business

Commercial crude stocks across the United States rose by 105 million barrels early this year to peak at 490 million barrels, the highest level in eight decades. Despite some draw downs in recent weeks, which have reduced inventories to 460 million barrels, stocks are still 92 million barrels higher than this time last year. And […]

Saudi Arabia Racing to Move Beyond Oil Dependency

Saudi Arabia relies on oil exports for around half its revenues, but as low oil prices raise the country’s deficit, non-oil economic growth has been slowing too. Bloomberg’s Willem Marx reports on efforts by some Saudis to diversify the Kingdom’s economy.

Oil Heads for Biggest Monthly Drop This Year

Oil headed for its biggest monthly drop this year on speculation that increased OPEC supplies and threats to demand in China will prolong a global glut. Futures slid as much as 2.4 percent in New York, extending their drop to 20 percent this month. U.S. crude stockpiles are almost 100 million barrels above the five-year […]

Cheap natural gas spurs more chemical investment

Buoyed by a continued flood of cheap natural gas, the U.S. chemical industry continues chugging forward with billions worth of new plants and expansions along the Texas Gulf Coast even as the rest of the energy sector struggles under a global crude collapse. This week, chemical giant LyondellBasell announced the completion of a $200 million […]

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