Central Petroleum plans to tap world’s biggest coal field

An Australian company says a coal field discovered in the Simpson Desert could be the biggest in the world. Central Petroleum Limited says it recently discovered the field in the south-east of the Northern Territory, about 300 kilometres from Alice Springs. It says the coal seam stretches across 400 kilometres. The company has signed an […]

Philippines to seek more oil in South China Sea

The government said Wednesday it would grant more permits to private firms to search for oil and natural gas in the South China Sea, where it has a simmering territorial dispute with China. A total of 15 exploration contracts would be offered Thursday for mostly offshore prospects off the western island of Palawan, the energy […]

Peak Oil is not Synchronous

This morning, I took the oil consumption page of the BP spreadsheet, and applied a mechanical test to each country: was 2010 the highest year of consumption over the range 1990-2010?  If this is true, let’s call the country an “advancer”, and if not, let’s call it a “decliner”.  Here are all the advancers: On […]

Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush

Natural gas companies have been placing enormous bets on the wells they are drilling, saying they will deliver big profits and provide a vast new source of energy for the United States. But the gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as the companies are saying, according […]

China eyes Canada oil, US’s energy nest egg

In the northern reaches of Alberta lies a vast reserve of oil that the U.S. views as a pillar of its future energy needs. China, with a growing appetite for oil that may one day surpass that of the U.S., is ready to spend the dollars for a big piece of it. The oil sands […]

Cracking the Permian to provide oil supplies for future

While oil patches from the Bakken shale to the Eagle Ford have been getting a lot of attention in recent years, the oil industry is focussed increasingly on one of the oldest and richest basins in the country – the Permian Basin. Permian formations have long trapped hydrocarbons in shale and other tight sands and rock in what […]

Playing Cat and Mouse with Global Oil

Oil markets took another dose of global geopolitics this week when the International Energy Agency (IEA) unexpectedly announced that it would be releasing 60 million barrels of oil from strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) around the globe. Thursday’s surprise announcement gave oil prices a 4.5 percent hair cut and oil prices closed Friday at $91.25, down […]

Highlights of BP’s 2011 Statistical Review of World Energy

Global Energy Growth BP recently released their highly respected annual Statistical Review of World Energy for 2011. Most of the news stories on the report have focused on the exceptionally strong growth in global energy consumption. While that is without a doubt a major story that I will discuss here, I also want to highlight […]

Gasoline Gangsters Episode 25: Peak Gold & Peak Oil

Many people know about peak oil but how about peak gold? In this episode I explore global gold production information from the US Geological Survey and notice that gold production appears to peak every 30 years but continues to increase about a decade later. Is there a lag between price and production? Is 2001 the […]

Peak Oil – the clear and present danger

Global oil production (crude oil plus condensate) has been on a plateau / in decline for 7 years resulting in high energy prices that are feeding inflation, eroding family budgets and crippling the World economy. It is time for the international political community to awaken to the risks posed by Peak Oil. A British Government […]

Director Nicole Torre on “Houston We Have a Problem”

“Houston We Have a Problem” steps inside the US oil industry to hear the truth about oil, straight from the hearts of Texas oilmen themselves. Decades of American presidents have warned against dependence on foreign oil and US energy policy has always been a strategy of defense, not offense. Today, we’re in the midst of […]

Saudi Arabia Is Probably Producing More Oil, IEA’s Fyfe Says

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is probably boosting its output of the commodity, according to the International Energy Agency. “There are indications that Saudi production is increasing,” David Fyfe, head of the IEA’s oil industry and markets division, told reporters in Washington today. “At the same time, it takes time for that oil […]

Just How Safe Is ‘Fracking’ of Natural Gas?

New technologies for freeing natural gas from underground shale formations have led to a hydraulic fracturing boom across the U.S. that is now spreading to other countries. Depending on your point of view, hydraulic fracturing of natural gas is either a blessing that will help provide new sources of energy for the coming century, or […]

DECC Report on the risks and impacts of a potential future decline in oil production

A DECC report summarising the main outputs of an internal project undertaken in 2007 by then BERR officials on the issues surrounding peak oil. ASPO Ireland

Jim Jackson on Peak Oil

Jim Jackson, Adjunct Professor in the Geology Department at Portland State University, gives a slide presentation on Peak Oil, at the Yachats Commons, April 22 2011. Sponsored by the Yachats Academy of Arts and Sciences.

“Human-free drilling” — is it possible or even desirable?

In an age of extreme safety-consciousness following the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, minimizing hazards is a top industry priority. Accordingly, the International Association of Drilling Contractors’ World Drilling 2011 conference prominently featured a segment on its first day of the two-day annual gathering on what it called “human-free drilling”: automation of as many […]

Shale Gas: Not a ‘Game Changer’ After All

Newly accessible natural gas from deep shale deposits around the world has been touted as a solution to everything from oil dependence to climate change. But our actual experience with shale gas extraction is telling another story. The natural gas industry would like you to believe that newly accessible gas previously locked away in deep […]

The Oil Production Story: Pre- and Post-Peak Nations

The world oil production data below tell a story about:   1) nations that are past peak (see “Peak Year,” turquoise fill), because of geologic limits (e.g., US, Norway, etc.) or other reasons; and  2) nations that have yet to peak (see “na” under “Peak Year;” Saudi Arabia, UAE, China), or if they have peaked it […]

Fracking is wrong road in pursuit of energy

America is waking up to the slowly unfolding disaster of fracking, and not a second too soon. The controversial drilling practice, which has transformed gas drilling, is used to extract natural gas from rock formations by injecting huge amounts of water mixed with toxic and carcinogenic chemicals at such high pressures that it actually cracks […]

Saudi Arabia to Produce 10mbd in July?

At the end of April, I noted this WSJ quote: Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said Sunday that oil production from the kingdom was 8.292 million barrels per day in March, down about 800,000 barrels a day from 9.125 million barrels per day in February. Most estimates, including the monthly report of OPEC—which relies on […]

Libya: Rebels aim to restart oil production

Forces opposed to the rule of Libya’s leader Moammar Gadhafi said they hope to restart oil production from the war-torn North African nation in an effort to increase revenues. Rebel Oil and Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni, without specifying a timeline, said the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC) hoped to “soon” resume oil production of as […]

OPEC says oil supply gap looms later this year

OPEC followed this week’s failure to reach an output deal with a forecast world oil supplies would begin to fall short later this year, draining inventories just when demand is expected to hit a seasonal peak. In its monthly report published Friday, OPEC said world demand for its oil would average 30.7 million barrels per […]

TOTAL’s view on future oil production

Since 2006, the international oil company TOTAL has consistently voiced warnings about the future inability of the oil industry to meet continued oil demand growth. In 2006, then CEO Thierry Desmarest stated that maximum oil production lies between 100 to 110 million b/d, reached potentially by 2020. Only a year later the new CEO Christophe […]

Is OPEC facing the beginning of its end?

The worst meeting OPEC ever had may prove to best meeting for the global economy. OPEC came apart at the seams and a new cold war within the cartel spells a new era of insignificance for the players where greed and corruption is normally encouraged. Some may believe this is just about oil but to […]

Natural Gas — the Coming Shale Gale

“The oil and natural gas we rely on for 75 percent of our energy are running out,” warned the President in a televised speech on energy policy. And because we are running out, “we must prepare quickly” for a transition “to strict conservation and to the use of coal and permanent renewable energy sources, like […]

Oil Supply: Peak Oil and Microbes

In 2005 when very few oil people believed in Peak Oil, or more simply stated – few people believed that oil supply could no longer keep up with oil demand, or oil production had reached its maximum level of production, or, if you prefer, more than half of the world’s original oil supply has been […]

The OPEC meeting – How much will production really increase?

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will meet today June 8 in Vienna to talk about increasing oil production. Preliminary news reports are hinting at Kuwait and Saudi Arabia pushing for a 1.5 million barrels per day increase in production to cool off oil prices. West Texas Intermediate oil is currently a little […]

‘Peak oil? No, but mind the output gap’

Peak oil theorists may have found themselves at home in some unusual company today as the oil and gas industry gathered for its biggest annual conference, which is being held in Asia. Those who believe the world has reached the point of maximum oil production, or will soon, would have found themselves nodding in agreement […]

The US Crude Production Peak is not Symmetrical

People that worry about the peaking of global oil supplies often use symmetrical curves as simple models for how production will peak and then decline, with logistics and Gaussians being popular choices.  This goes back to M. King Hubbert (and I’ve done some of this myself).  The United States is the poster child for this […]

Iraq sees oil output at 3 mln bpd by year-end

Additional 500,000-1 mln bpd forecast in 2012 * Shahristani satisfied with Rumaila field development * Iraq backs OPEC output increase if this to meet demand Iraq expects its oil output to rise to 3 million barrels per day by the end of this year and sees it growing an additional 500,000 to 1 million bpd […]

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