IEA Oil Market Forecast: Optimistic Assumptions And An Economy Unable To Grow Out Of Its Problems

The International Energy Authority (IEA) forecasts a yearly increase of 1.3% in global oil demand during the period 2013-2019. This contrasts with the assumption of global economic growth rising from 3.6% in 2014 to around 4% thereafter[1]. How does a 1.3% increase in oil usage support economic growth of about three times that amount? The […]

The Changing Face of World Oil Markets

Here’s the introduction to a new paper I just finished: This year the oil industry celebrated its 155th birthday, continuing a rich history of booms, busts and dramatic technological changes. Many old hands in the oil patch may view recent developments as a continuation of the same old story, wondering if the high prices of […]

High-Efficiency Planet

When most people think of energy efficiency, they think of modern amenities, like their squiggly compact fluorescent light bulbs. But according to one of the world’s experts on the history of energy, lighting has become more efficient for 700 years — and much cheaper as a result. “Over the last 700 years, there has been a 10,000-fold […]

Suburbia Is Over: Why US Oil Dependence is Futureless

James Howard Kunstler, author of Too Much Magic, warns that lifestyle of suburban communities in the U.S. are unsustainable, and he asserts that suburbia will have to cut its dependence on cars and oil. Full video is available at: http://fora.tv/2013/04/20/James_Kunst…

Peak Oil: Abundance? Not Really

It’s certainly understandable and indeed common practice in probably every sales conversation in every profession known to man that putting the best spin on the story told is a given. Most buyers/consumers would be surprised at the very least if a presenter offered up her or his best but then immediately discounted that version with […]

Peak Oil – Oil Addicted America

Peak Oil – Oil Addicted America

Are insects the future of food?

Download podcast As global populations continue to rise around the world, concerns grow over how people will be able to feed themselves in the decades to come. VoR’s Simon Parker hosts a discussion on the future of feeding a growing global population. And what we eat – and what we can produce – is central […]

Indian Power crisis looms as coal stocks run low

India is staring at a major power crisis in the coming months as 50% of the country’s thermal power plants are running on very low coal stock of less than four days or even lesser. India uses coal to generate more than half of its electricity. The northern states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Jammu […]

Analyst skeptical whether natural gas supplies will be ample for winter

Natural gas futures prices for 2015 have declined, but the drop might not be consistent with the supply, according to investment firm Sterne Agee. Writing in advance of the Energy Information Administration’s natural gas weekly update Thursday, analyst Tim Rezvan said the amount of gas in storage now is already low. And assuming the amount […]

If This Keeps Up, They Will Have To Start Putting Armed Guards On Food Trucks

The basic necessities in life just keep getting more expensive.  On Tuesday, Hershey announced that the price of all of their chocolate bars is going to go up by about 8 percent.  That is particularly distressing to me, because I am known to love chocolate.  But if it was just chocolate that was becoming significantly […]

Clean Natural Gas Powers Our Economy

With domestic natural gas production “at an all-time high” – driven by the Marcellus Shale – this clean-burning, homegrown fuel is creating broad-based benefits for us all. In fact, Dr. Daniel Yergin – a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and leading expert on global energy trends – said this week that without hydraulic fracturing, the United States […]

Researchers Address Economic Dangers of ‘Peak Oil’ in USA

Researchers from the ICTA-UAB and the University of Maryland (UMD) demonstrate in a new study which sectors could put the entire U.S. economy at risk when global oil production peaks (‘Peak Oil”). This multi-disciplinary team recommends immediate action by government, private and commercial sectors to reduce the vulnerability of these sectors. References Christian Kerschner, Christina […]

What Does a Post-Growth Economy Look Like?

No respectable person in American politics dares to question the virtue of economic growth even though it is increasingly clear that life on Earth will collapse if current patterns of extraction and consumption continue.  So what is the responsible path forward? It was exciting that the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. decided to […]

Focusing on Food Miles is a Mistake

In The Energy Basis of Food Security I note how tightly linked food prices are to energy prices, pointing out that the primary reason for this link is that food production is incredibly energy intensive. A series of recent posts have explored the energy intensity of different modes of food transport within food systems, and these have […]

Fuel Economy Improvements Show Diminishing Returns in Fuel Savings

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2014 Note: Calculations in graphic assume a fuel price of $3.50 per gallon and annual travel of 12,000 miles per vehicle. Fuel costs, which depend on vehicle fuel economy, miles driven, and fuel price, are an important factor in vehicle purchasing decisions. However, fuel economy improvement exhibits […]

150 Years Of “Real” Oil Prices

In real terms, the price of crude oil has not been more expensive since the Pennsylvania Boom over 150 years ago…   Source: BP ZeroHedge

Put 53 Years on the Clock: The End of Easy Oil Is Within Sight

Love it or hate it, British multinational oil and gas company BP (NYSE:BP) is one the world’s top institutional experts on energy. Besides being a business leader in its industry — the sixth largest integrated oil company (IOC) by market cap in 2013 — the supermajor is at the forefront of the semi-commercial, semi-academic conversation […]

What Is Power Consumption Telling Us About The US Economy?

We track US power consumption on a weekly basis as reported by Barron’s, as we believe this information provides insightful – albeit sometimes “noisy” and seasonally unadjusted – clues about the performance of the economy over time. The expectation is that a more robust economic environment requires more power, although factors like colder winters and […]

America’s Oil Consumption Is Rising, Not Falling, Outpacing China’s

U.S. oil demand reversed course in dramatic fashion in 2013, as the nation’s growth in crude consumption outpaced perennial leader China for the first time since 1999, according to oil company BP’s annual compendium of world energy statistics. The U.S. increase follows two years of declines, and dampens hopes that the world’s largest oil guzzler […]

Thailand gas demand growth plunges

Thailand is cutting natural gas imports as consumption growth has sagged to two-decade lows. The cutbacks threaten to idle costly fuel import facilities and force suppliers such as Myanmar to turn to rival buyers such as China. Growth in gas use has stalled as the economy has taken a hit from months of political turmoil, […]

Rising global oil demand driven by US

Global demand for oil will pick up next year as U.S. consumption reverses a four-year decline, and the United States will produce an increasing share of the world’s supply, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said Thursday. As the world economy continues to recover, oil demand will grow by 1.2 million barrels per day […]

Oil Demand Rising Fastest Since 2010

Global oil demand will rise at the fastest pace in five years in 2015 as China leads gains in emerging economies, the International Energy Agency said. World oil consumption will increase next year by 1.4 million barrels a day, the agency said in its first monthly report to assess 2015. The rate of growth will […]

Shale Seen Shifting Flows at America’s Biggest Oil Port

For more than 30 years, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port LLC has been a symbol of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, pumping Nigerian and Saudi Arabian crude from the world’s biggest supertankers into underground storage caverns beneath the marshes of southern Louisiana. Now, with domestic production at a 28-year high, LOOP’s managers are thinking the […]

World Sets New Oil Production and Consumption Records

Last month BP (NYSE: BP) released the Statistical Review of World Energy 2014. This report is one of the most comprehensive sources of global and country level statistics on production and consumption of oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear power and renewables. Right after the release of the report, I wrote a short post discussing the highlights. Today […]

Why China’s Energy Consumption Will Keep Rising

In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was signed. This was to usher in an era where the planet was to tackle climate change, and we were to see an energy transition from dirty, polluting fossil fuels to their low-carbon alternatives. Instead, here is what happened. Global coal consumption grew more in the last ten years than […]

Italy: adapting to collapse

  The new San Lorenzo mall in Florence, Italy. An American style food court designed mainly with international tourism in mind. It is an example of the attempt of the Italian economy to adapt to the ongoing collapse of its traditional manufacturing sectors, trying to exploit new sources of revenue. So far, this brand new […]

Jeff Rubin On Peak Oil: Supply or Demand?

Jeff Rubin waxes philosophical on the need for a major paradigm shift in our attitudes, and suggests that we can have the world we want if we are willing to let go of the world we have.

Towards an Energy Standard of ‘Local’

A couple Saturdays back a favorite vendor was selling strawberries at my local farmers’ market, and knowing they represented the tail end of the season I indulged in a pint. I polished off the sweet berries while wandering by other booths, checking in with a few farmer friends before buying eggs from one who pasture raises his hens with the […]

Natural gas boom’s future may be in China

China is expected to double its demand for natural gas in the next five years, representing an irresistible market for Western companies attempting to export America’s energy bonanza as well as to exploit China’s own vast reserves. Chinese cities are choking in smog, and its government is intent on moving the country away from coal […]

Chile to import US shale gas in 2015

Chile’s state oil company ENAP has signed long-term deal with British Gas to import shale gas from the United States at the end of next year, local media reported. Shipments will leave from a U.S. port, Chilean Energy Minister Maximo Pacheco was quoted as saying on Monday in newspaper La Tercera’s Tuesday edition. “Among the […]

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