Peak oil doomsayers ignore human ingenuity

Oil is running out and it won’t be affordable for much longer, advocates of “peak oil” theory argue. But with new technology revolutionising the way energy is generated, are fears of an unaffordable energy crunch now being overplayed? The theory behind peak oil was described by American Marion King Hubbert, a former geophysicist with Shell […]

Iraq’s March Crude Exports Rise to 2.317 Million Barrels a Day

Iraq’s crude oil exports and revenue rose in March to their highest levels in the nine years since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled former President Saddam Hussein, the head of the State Oil Marketing Organization said. Exports of crude averaged 2.32 million barrels a day, generating monthly sales of $8.4 billion, Falah al-Amri said today […]

Chinese Firm Surpasses Exxon in Oil Production

A big shift is happening in Big Oil: An American giant now ranks behind a Chinese upstart. Exxon Mobil is no longer the world’s biggest publicly traded producer of oil. For the first time, that distinction belongs to a 13-year-old Chinese company called Petro-China. The Beijing company was created by the Chinese government to secure […]

Saudi Arabia: Paper Tiger?

Ali Naimi is not fond of extremes. The Saudi Arabian petroleum minister is so worried by high oil prices — Brent crude commands about $123 a barrel — he felt compelled to pen an Op-Ed in today’s Financial Times. The last time he took to the newspapers, according to a search of Factiva, was back […]

Daniel Yergin Says the Global Supply of Oil and Gas is Higher Now Than 20 Years Ago

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dan Yergin says the global supply of oil and gas has risen …

Iran helps Syria ship oil to China

Iran is helping its ally Syria defy Western sanctions by providing a vessel to ship Syrian oil to a state-run company in China, potentially giving the government of President Bashar al-Assad a financial boost worth an estimated $80 million. Iran, itself a target of Western sanctions, is among Syria’s closest allies and has promised to […]

The Composition of US Oil Production

The above graphs shows US liquid fuel production, 1980-2011, broken out into its major components: Crude plus condensate (actual oil coming out of the ground) Natural Gas Processing Liquids (ethane, propane, butane, etc extracted from natural gas production). Other liquids (mainly biofuels – almost all corn ethanol) Volume changes from cracking heavy oil in US […]

US Might Have More Oil Resources Than Saudi Arabia, But…

The Difference Between Oil Shale and Oil-Bearing Shale People are often confused about the overall extent of U.S. oil reserves. Some claim that the U.S. has hundreds of billions or even trillions of barrels of oil waiting to be produced if bureaucrats will simply stop blocking development. In fact, in a recent debate between Republican candidates contending […]

The Non OECD Supply Impact on Oil Prices

The Non-OPEC supply as a share of the World production now at 25% has been steadily decreasing since 2000 and is near its lowest point since the late 70s: Figure 1. World share of total liquid production . Sources: BP and EIA. An interesting correlation, the Non-OPEC supply as a share of the World production is […]

Latest Iranian and Saudi Oil Production

The above shows the latest estimates of Saudi and Iranian oil production, which currently go through February.  Iranian production is the red line and is on the right scale.  Saudi is blue and refers to the left scale.  Neither is zero-scaled but the two scales are comparable so that identical changes (in absolute terms) look […]

UK oil output in 2011 falls to lowest since 1970s

UK oil production fell more than 17 percent to average 1.04 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2011, government figures released on Thursday showed, underlining the difficulty in slowing down a decade-long fall in output. Output fell 17.4 percent compared with 2010 to average 52 million tonnes (381.2 million barrels), the Department of Energy and […]

Saudi Arabia resorts to Jedi mindtricks

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali Naimi penned a sharply worded piece in the Financial Times on Thursday declaring that high prices are unjustified because “there is no lack of supply.” But what does resorting to an op-ed in the Financial Times actually tell us about the kingdom’s position? Could it be that the Saudis have […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: Our Natural Gas Glut

With global warming driving down the demand for natural gas as a home heating fuel and natural gas drillers producing record amounts, an oversupply situation has developed quickly. Stocks of natural gas are rising. As a result natural gas prices have fallen way below profitability and drillers are scrambling to cut back production. The natural […]

Oil sands profitable and promising

Oil sands projects remain highly profitable for operators and governments and highly promising as a source of oil supply, according to an annual study by the Canadian Energy Research Institute. The study estimated the constant-dollar oil price needed to recover all capital expenditures, royalties, and taxes calculated at a real discount rate of 10%/year, which […]

Saudi Oil Supply Claim Unlikely, Hofmeister Says

John Hofmeister discussing Saudi oil supply, or lack of it!!! march 2012

Global oil risks in the early 21st Century

The Deepwater Horizon incident demonstrated that most of the oil left is deep offshore or in other difficult to reach locations. Moreover, obtaining the oil remaining in currently producing reservoirs requires additional equipment and technology that comes at a higher price in both capital and energy. In this regard, the physical limitations on producing ever-increasing […]

WSJ: Did We Find Too Much Natural Gas?

John Pinkerton, Chairman and CEO, Range Resources at WSJ’s 2012 ECO:nomics Conference says due to the abundance of natural gas, he expects natural gas prices to remain low for the foreseeable future.

Tech Talk – Saudi Arabian oil production part 2

There is some debate in the main-stream press about the relative causes and impacts of the rising gasoline price on the overall economy. (I paid $4.40 per gallon in Silicon Valley on Sunday, though only $3.67 in mid-Missouri today). As noted in my previous post, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is unique in its potential […]

The New York Times exaggerates the significance of shale oil

In a number of articles The New York Times has shown that it is not concerned about Peak Oil. On 23 March it headed page 1 with the article, “U.S. Inches Toward Goal of Energy Independence” (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/business/energy-environment/inching-to…). The article reminds us that since Nixon’s time every president has had the same goal of giving the […]

Iran oil exports fall as sanctions take toll

Iranian oil exports have fallen significantly in March, industry sources said on Friday, as some buyers stop or scale back purchases to abide by Western sanctions aimed at slowing Tehran’s nuclear program. Crude exports from Iran appear to have fallen this month by around 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 14 percent, according to estimates […]

UK: The Dash for Gas Isn’t Over Yet

Over the weekend the UK Secretary for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey, announced plans to secure a continuing role for natural gas in the UK power generation sector. Mr Davey noted; “Gas will continue to play a vital role in a low-carbon economy. Modern gas-fired power stations are relatively quick to build and twice […]

The Peak Oil Crisis: Parsing the Bakken

There is a lot of talk recently that “tight oil” as found in North Dakota’s Bakken and other shales in the Southwest will save America from stagnant global oil production and increasing gasoline prices. The current glut of natural gas which has brought prices to a 10-year low has forced companies drilling for gas to […]

Latest EIA Fuel Breakdown

Recall that the recent history of total liquid production looks like this (not zero scaled): There was a sharp jump in total production last fall – October and Novermber particularly – but then it tentatively looks like it’s been rather flat since December (subject to confirmation by further data and revisions).  However, overall the world […]

UAE to build LNG terminal that bypasses Strait of Hormuz

An energy company in the United Arab Emirates said Tuesday it is developing a terminal to receive liquefied natural gas supplies on the country’s eastern coast, bypassing the strategically sensitive Strait of Hormuz. The new terminal will be located in the port city of Fujairah, which unlike most of the country faces the Gulf of […]

Saudi Arabia Can Raise Output 25%, Naimi Says

Saudi Arabia (OPCRSAUD) can increase crude production by as much as 25 percent immediately if needed, the country’s oil minister said, seeking to allay the concern over supplies that has driven prices to the highest in three years. Brent crude has gained 15 percent in London this year to about $124 a barrel. Iran has […]

What Are We Going to Do With All This Gas?

Now that we know we can successfully produce gas from U.S. shale gas plays, the question remains: What do we do with all this supply? Price differentials between the low U.S. natural gas prices versus diesel, gasoline and propane are providing incentives for fuel-switching in other demand areas aside from the electric power and industrial […]

Tech Talk – going back to the first look at Saudi Arabian oil production

The United States Government has just asked the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to raise the levels of its oil production this summer. Oil production is otherwise anticipated to be at some 9.8 mbd this summer, with fluctuations of around 200 kbd about that number. (There are rumors it has just hit 10 mbd.) It […]

Drilling to Begin Soon from 1st Russian Arctic Platform

Drilling is scheduled to begin this month from the first permanent offshore platform in the Russian Arctic, the Barents Observer reports. Over 500 workers are currently preparing the platform for drilling. The platform was towed from Murmansk in August of last year. Original plans called for drilling to begin last September but were postponed. The […]

Peak Oil: The Race for What’s Left

Michael T. Klare, one of the great resource writers, outlines the “death wish” we are involved in, as we mine and drill the planet in a desperate attempt to maintain our unsustainable lifestyles. It’s more than possible that we will change the planet beyond recognition, in even attempting to do so. Read Michael’s full article […]

Global Fuel Supply Flattening?

This is interesting.  In the OPEC MOMR released a few days ago, they have sharply revised down the level of liquid fuel supply for the past few months (by the best part of 1mbd).  That in turn has given a shape to the average production curve (above) of flattening off in recent months (after the […]

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