Peak phosphorous: mankind’s latest threat

SOME believe that dwindling supplies of potable water is humanity’s great resource challenge; others think it is the imminent prospect of “peak oil”. But an equally important milestone in modern history will be an inevitable tightening of global supplies of phosphorus. Phosphorus has underpinned the leaps made in agricultural productivity since World War II, and […]

Oil Sands Could ‘Delay’ Peak Oil – Candice Beaumont

Light, sweet crude may get all the press, but increasingly, the energy markets have looked to heavy oil—or denser, less viscous crude than the current WTI standard—to stave off the impending peak oil supply crunch. In fact, crude from the oil sands and other “heavy oil” deposits could make all the difference, says Candice Beaumont, […]

Has the World Already Passed “Peak Oil”?

The year 2006 may be remembered for civil strife in Iraq, the nuclear weapon testing threat by North Korea, and the genocide in Darfur, but now it appears that another world event was occurring at the same time—without headlines, but with far-reaching consequence for all nations. That’s the year that the world’s conventional oil production […]

BP’s Alaska pipelines in danger of rupturing

The huge pipeline system that moves oil, gas and waste between BP’s operations in Alaska is plagued by severe corrosion, an internal maintenance report says. The document, obtained by the independent investigative journalism group ProPublica, shows that as of October 1, at least 148 BP pipelines on Alaska’s North Slope received an ”F-rank” from the […]

Oil and The Death of Globalization

Canadian Economist Jeff Rubin is known for his prescient calls in the oil markets over the past few decades. His most recent book, Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller, explains why continuously rising oil prices will mean the end of globalization. Jyskebank.tv caught up with Rubin at the Global Wealth […]

Egypt, Iraq to Enhance Cooperation in Fields of Oil, Gas

Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmy visited Iraq with a high-ranking delegation within the framework of cooperation between the two countries in the fields of oil and gas. The visit is meant to activate a strategic agreement signed between both countries’ oil ministers in May 2009. Fahmy met with outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki […]

When a Rig Moves In Next Door

IN the sparsely populated pastures of De Soto Parish in Louisiana, the ability to extract gas from shale — which can involve a process known as fracking — has been welcomed as an economic windfall. Some residents call it a gift from God. But 1,400 miles to the north, in Susquehanna County in Pennsylvania, shale […]

Current and Future Saudi and Russian Oil Production

One of the inexorable results of the developing shortage of oil is that prices will rise. It is a prospect that does not particularly concern the Saudi Arabian Administration, Minister Al-Naimi having recently inflated the acceptable range for crude up to $90 a barrel, and JP Morgan has recently predicted an imminent rise to $100, […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: The Leading Edge

Do you remember the furor over drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge a few years back? The whole country was up in arms. At various times some 50 to 60 percent of Americans favored drilling in the area as they were told this would result in lower gas prices. Last week the USGS lowered its estimate of the amount of oil […]

Peak oil: what dwindling oil supplies means for the world

Professor Kjell Aleklett, co-founder and president of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) and leader of the Global Energy Systems Group at Uppsala University Sweden is an internationally renowned peak oil expert who has advised the United States House of Representatives and the Australian Senate. President of ASPO since 2003, […]

Challenges will grow as reserves become harder to reach

Kamel Bennaceur, the chief economist of Schlumberger who will participate on Tuesday in an ADIPEC panel discussion on new frontier challenges, shares his views on the oil and gas industry The chief executive of Schlumberger has recently called for greater standardisation and streamlining of technologies used in oil exploration and production. Could you explain why […]

Trillions necessary to maintain Russia’s oil production

Keeping up Russia’s oil output will cost 9 trillion roubles ($292 billion), according to Vladimir Putin. The prime minister called for that level of investment over the next decade to maintain crude oil production levels at 500 million tons a year. And he admitted that tax regimes needed to be reformed before new reserves can […]

The great transition: Beyond carbon

If there is one thing that defines the 21st century, it is the end of oil. But not just oil. Over the coming decades, we face the prospect of terminal depletion of the world’s major mineral energy reserves, with major ramifications for the future of industrial civilization. A survey of about a hundred of the […]

What’s new in the shale gas revolution?

Maybe it says something when talk of unconventional gas being a game changer starts to seem like old hat. So many facets of the US shale gas revolution — the shift in LNG shipments to European markets, the contribution to a gas glut in key consumer markets — now get taken for granted. So what’s […]

Can shale gas be produced safely?

In northwest Pennsylvania, the epicenter of one of the biggest energy developments in a generation, there’s a battle underway to win hearts and minds. Throughout the countryside, billboards tout the benefits of natural gas drilling: It’s clean. It’s domestic. It provides jobs. The campaign is being waged by the gas companies, who know that not […]

Saudi Arabia: Sorry To Disappoint The Peak Oil Crowd, But The Era Of Cheap Oil Is Far From Over

Peak oil believers can keep on dreaming, according to Saudi Arabia’s oil minister. He’s interestingly talking down long-term oil prices, and shocking analysts with his reserve estimates: Hellenic Shipping News: Mr Al Naimi said at a conference held in the Saudi capital to celebrate the 50th birthday of OPEC that “I am sorry to disappoint […]

Can Canada afford the oil sands?

The Chinese government has urged greater efforts to consolidate coal mines to reduce the number of outdated small mines, the General Office of the State Council, China’s cabinet, said Thursday citing a statement from the nation’s top economic planner. The National Development and Reform Commission ordered coal firms in major coal producing regions, including Shanxi, […]

Saudi Arabia says easy oil is not over

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said on Monday the age of easy oil was not over as the kingdom still holds at least 88 billion barrels of oil in its largest oilfield. “I am sorry to disappoint people, easy oil is not over,” Ali Al-Naimi told reporters in Riyadh on the occasion of OPEC’s 50th anniversary. […]

Canada-US pipeline on hold amid oil’s recent woes

The steel is staged, and crews are waiting to lay the last and most expensive leg of TransCanada Corp.’s multibillion-dollar pipeline network that would carry Canadian oil to refineries along the Gulf Coast. Yet final U.S. government approval for the massive project, once assumed to be on a fast track, is now delayed indefinitely, with […]

Russia and Middle East control 63% of world oil and gas reserves and 39% of world oil and gas production

Russia and Middle East energy businesses are embarking on new partnerships that will see joint investment projects in each other’s core energy activities. Badr Jafar, Executive Director of the Crescent Group of Companies, explains the active role being played by Crescent in this pioneering initiative. Despite being the world’s two resource giants, with a combined […]

Strikes force shutdown of All French Refineries

All 12 refineries are now on strike in France or being shut down gradually by the companies for safety reasons. Total SA started shutting down its six refineries early this week and other refineries are following suit. Esso SAF’s refinery at Port Jerome also is now on strike and its Fos unit is paralyzed due […]

OPEC Members Seek $100 Oil to Counter Dollar Weakness

The 13 percent decline in the Dollar Index since June has led some OPEC members to call for oil to rise to $100 a barrel. The U.S. currency’s weakness means the “real price” of oil is about $20 less than current levels, Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said after yesterday’s meeting of the […]

OPEC signals it will keep output targets unchanged

Comments from OPEC oil ministers indicate the organization will leave output targets unchanged as it tries to reassure energy-dependent nations just starting to emerge from recession. Rather than change quotas, the 12-nation production group will likely call on members to stop producing over their assigned limits. Most OPEC nations overproduce, meaning that the group puts […]

Wikileaks Wish for Oil Data

If you could get any data about OPEC oil, what data would you most like to get? I started wondering about this question when I was reading the new thriller Garden of Betrayal by Lee Vance, a retired former partner at Goldman Sachs who was head of their energy trading for a number of years. […]

Cuba’s offshore oil could be ‘game changer’

Cuba’s anticipated development of its offshore oil resources would profoundly affect its national economy, but have more political impacts on relations with the US, experts generally agreed at a forum on Oct. 8. “What we’re seeing could be a potential game changer,” said Kirby Jones, president of the Alamar Associates consulting firm. “For the first […]

Australia: Running on empty?

The most influential progressive think tank in Australia, The Australia Institute based in Canberra, recently published a paper on peak oil and its importance for the government. Summary of the content and conclusions: Like climate change, the possibility of peak oil poses an uncomfortable challenge to citizens and governments alike in the 21st century. ‘Peak […]

Dave Summers: The ASPO-USA Conference – First Afternoon

One of the speakers commented, just at the beginning of the ASPO 2010 Peak Oil Conference, that we would be subject to enough information that it would seem that we were standing under a fire hose. Well the Conference has had its first day, or at least afternoon, our first fire alarm (we got to […]

Fossil fuel will be civilization’s engine for long

There are voices, and influential ones, emphasizing on absolute independence and moving away from the Middle Eastern oil. There are others talking of environmental considerations and the necessity of switching away from fossil fuel to alternatives. At the same time, the echo of ‘Peak Oil’ fails to die down. This all is despite the fact […]

The growing fallout of the shale revolution

Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert said this week that Alaskan natural gas would likely flow through the province ahead of gas from the Mackenzie Delta. Not so long ago, such a statement would have been regarded as treasonable. Now it appears merely common economic sense. In fact, the real issue is whether either source of […]

Has Texas passed the Peak?

I have already described my arrival in Houston and it is now time to summarise two days in the heart of the oil state Texas. My conviction that one cannot survive here without a car has been strengthened. While driving around I discovered that, certainly, there is a tram line that runs from north to […]

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