Is the World at ‘Peak Gold’?

This week, Chuck Jeannes told The Wall Street Journal that either this year or next, miners will have reached “peak gold.” Peak gold means that the amount of gold being pulled out of the earth will begin to shrink every year, rather than increase, which has been the case since the 1970s. Jeannes is the chief executive of the […]

Heinberg: Why Peak Oil Refuses to Die

Perhaps you’ve seen one of the recent barrage of articles claiming that fears of an imminent peak and decline in world oil production have either been dispelled (because we actually have plenty of oil) or are misplaced (because climate change is the only environmental problem we should be concerned with). I’m not buying either argument. […]

Who’s Got Liquids? plus Further to the Bakken

This is another Guest Post by David Archibald Who’s Got Liquids? An article by Canadian consultant Mike Priaro in the 7th July, 2014 edition of Oil andGas Journal, “Grosmont carbonate formation increases Alberta’s bitumen reserves”, included the following tables: Mr Priaro’s estimate of Canada’s recoverable bitumen is 818 billion barrels. Almost all of that is in […]

10B Barrels of Undeveloped Resources on Norwegian Continental Shelf

Norway has 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent of discovered hydrocarbons that are yet to be developed, according to new analysis released Tuesday at Stavanger’s ONS 2014 conference by Wood Mackenzie. Wood Mackenzie said that, despite being at different stages of evaluation, facing intense investor scrutiny and considerable technical and commercial challenges, more than 60 […]

Bakken Oil Peak by Jean Laherrère

The problem of forecasting future Bakken production is that estimating reserves of shale oil is harder than for conventional oil and is very unreliable because many confuse reserves and resources, and shale oil reserves depend more from economy than from technology. Many estimate the amount of hydrocarbons generated by the source-rock and believe that a […]

Scotland Oil stock depletion ‘felt by 2030’

Depleting oil and gas production will begin to be felt by 2030 and will have serious implications for the economy, jobs and balance of payments in an independent Scotland, according to Sir Ian Wood. Sir Ian, an authority on the sector, has warned that an independent Scotland without new hydrocarbon regions being discovered will have […]

Israeli Billionaire Finds 3B Barrel Oil Reserve In Congo

An oil company owned by Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler said on Thursday it had discovered around 3 billion barrels of oil in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an amount similar to the proven reserves of oil producers Britain and South Sudan. The crude was discovered around Lake Albert on Congo’s eastern border with Uganda, Oil […]

Natural Fracking: How Long Did It Take?

Hydraulic fracturing is in the news because more natural gas has meant substantially fewer carbon emissions – and it has also been implicated in a variety of environmental issues. Man is doing what nature has always done, albeit on a different time scale. A new GSA BULLETIN study  examines how long it takes natural Earth processes […]

Michael Lynch: The Urban Legend Of Inadequate Discoveries

In my first piece on peak oil, I included a graph showing discoveries and production, and some commented that this seemed to invalidate my arguments since discoveries have not been replacing production for decades. This is another example of the ignorance of many who comment on the peak oil issue, and I will clarify. The […]

The Middle East holds 43.2% of world’s natural gas

The Middle East, with 80.3 trillion cu/m, is home to 43.2 percent of the total natural gas deposit in the world, according to a new report. A BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2014 report said Qatar currently contains the highest deposit of natural gas with 24.7 trillion cu/m with Saudi Arabia next in […]

Peak Oil: How Soon? How Serious?

Petroleum Geologist Jeffrey J. Brown provides an overview of the global energy picture, focused on oil supply and demand and the impact of peak oil exports. Is the world at or near the maximum of oil production? Can new finds make up for increasing consumption? How might net exporters alter supply? Series: Humanitas [9/2008] [Public […]

Colin Campbell – Calculating the Peak of Oil Production

Colin Campbell – Calculating the Peak of Oil Production

Mineral depletion: the trouble with gold

The main point that I am making with my latest book, “Extracted” is that mineral depletion is one of the major sources of our present economic and environmental troubles. Explaining this point is not easy: most people still seem to believe that depletion means “running out” of something. But that’s not the case. Depletion is […]

Robert Rapier: The US and Russia are Gas Giants

This is the 2nd installment in a series that examines data from the recently released Statistical Review of World Energy 2014. The previous post – World Sets New Oil Production and Consumption Records – delved into world oil production and consumption figures. Today’s post looks at the global natural gas picture. In 2013 global natural gas production advanced 1.1% […]

Shell: Few limits offshore

Shell says it’s working well in post-gulf spill culture Oil companies have yet to reach the point that technology is limiting access to offshore reserves, a Shell official in charge of deep American waters said.Shell announced a discovery in the Rydberg area of the Norphlet play in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico […]

US Approves Plan To Open Atlantic To Oil Reserve Surveys

The Obama administration on Friday approved a plan that would allow companies to assess oil resources off the Atlantic Coast, angering environmental groups that worried the plan will harm marine life and open the door to offshore drilling. First outlined by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in February, the plan lays out the mitigation […]

The Big One – Russia’s Bazhenov Shale

As U.S. and EU policymakers have imposed targeted sanctions on Russian individuals and firms in response to the crisis in Ukraine, Western companies have sought to insulate their own projects from the political imbroglio and continue developing the country’s vast oil and gas resources. Exxon Mobil and Shell have joint ventures with Rosneft and Gazprom […]

Peak Oil – The Man & Mind Behind The Theory

“Our ignorance is not so vast as our own failure to use what we know…” -M. King Hubbert It’s not a question of if, but of when the earth’s hydrocarbon resources will be depleted. They are nonrenewable, finite, and one day Peak Oil Theory will be vindicated- but that day will be far into the future […]

IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven on peak oil

With the introduction of unconventional oil sources, predicting peak oil has become almost impossible, the executive argues “The global energy map is quickly being redrawn,” says Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency. “What we are seeing is an oil boom that shows no sign of slowing” she adds. For […]

Putin pledges to help revive Cuba’s offshore oil exploration

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to help revive Cuba’s struggling offshore oil exploration on Friday at the start of a six-day tour of Latin America as Russia aims to reassert its influence on the communist-ruled island. Putin was joined in Havana by close ally and so-called Russian oil czar Igor Sechin, the chairman of state […]

Global oil exploration nears $1 trillion – where are the finds?

* New oilfield development drop to lowest since 1999 * Global reserve replacement ratio falls steeply * Enhanced oil recovery from mature field is partial solution Two years ago Total (NYSE: TOT – news) ‘s chief Christophe de Margerie launched a “high risk, high reward” oil exploration strategy, betting he could hit a bonanza, even […]

Oil Reserves Estimate in the Middle East by Bahrain Oil and Gas Minister

Peak-Oil Theory: Oil Reserves Estimate in the Middle East by Bahrain Oil and Gas Minister

Michael Lynch: The Urban Legend Of Inadequate Discoveries

In my first piece on peak oil, I included a graph showing discoveries and production, and some commented that this seemed to invalidate my arguments since discoveries have not been replacing production for decades. This is another example of the ignorance of many who comment on the peak oil issue, and I will clarify. The […]

Dr. Kenneth Deffeyes on Peak Oil

20 minute talk from Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett’s 2005 Energy Conference. Dr. Deffeyes is an author and Princeton University professor emeritus. He joined the Shell research lab when M. King Hubbert had recently issued his controversial predictions that U.S. oil production would peak during the ’70s. After reworking Hubbert’s numbers, Dr. Deffeyes sought other employment. […]

UK’s complex geology will pose fracking challenge

The UK’s complex geology will pose challenges for fracking companies wanting to avoid water contamination in some parts of the country, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS). New maps of underground Britain released by BGS and the Environment Agency show that almost half the area of England and Wales where major drinking water aquifers […]

Why is it Called Unconventional Gas?

In terms of their chemical composition (primarily methane), these resources are identical to conventional natural gas. We call them “unconventional” because of their atypical geological locations. Unconventional gas is found in highly compact rock or coalbeds and requires a specific set of production techniques. Three sources of unconventional gas Tight gas, shale gas and coal […]

Oil Field Models, Decline Rates and Convolution

The eventual peak and decline of light tight oil (LTO) output in the Bakken/ Three Forks play of North Dakota and Montana and the Eagle Ford play of Texas are topics of much conversation at the Peak Oil Barrel and elsewhere. The decline rates of individual wells are very steep, especially early in the life […]

World Energy 2014-2050 (Part 1)

World Energy 2014-2050: An Informal Annual Report  “Political Economist” June 2014 The purpose of this informal report is to provide an analytical framework to track the development of world energy supply and demand as well as their impacts on the global economy. The report projects world supply of oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, wind, […]

Repsol Makes Russia’s Biggest Discovery in 2 Years

Repsol makes two new hydrocarbon discoveries in western Siberia that, combined, make for Russia’s largest hydrocarbon find for two years. Spain’s Repsol reported Monday that it has made two new hydrocarbon discoveries in the Karabashsky 1 and 2 blocks in western Siberia, Russia. Repsol said that the finds could add 240 million barrels of oil […]

Only 53 years’ worth of oil left

BP analysts predict that global reserves of oil and gas have only a few more decades to last. According to the experts, who aired their prognosis at the recent World Petroleum Conference in Moscow, shale oil offers a viable alternative to the country, predicting that by 2035 Russia will be producing 800,000 barrels daily. Global […]

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