Peak Oil is You
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Page added on January 4, 2016
Peak Oil? What Peak Oil?
It is unbelievable how many times I’ve heard people telling me “the US has become self-sufficient in oil production,” a group that includes some respectable members of the EU parliament. This is probably due to the confusion that the media have made on the fact that the US production has recently surpassed the US imports of oil. It is true, but that tells you nothing of how much oil the US still imports. And that is, actually, much more than it was at the time of the oil crisis and domestic consumption is on the increase (as you see in the figure above, from Art Berman’s blog)
This misperception on the actual dependence of the US on imports is probably one of the reasons that led to the recent lifting of the ban on US exports, that dated from the time of the great oil crisis of the 1970s
Art Berman clarifies the situation and wonders why “consumption has increased by one-third and imports have doubled but we no longer need to think strategically about oil supply because production is a little higher?” Here is an excerpt from his post.
Cassandra’s legacy by Ugo Bardi
4 Comments on "Peak Oil? What Peak Oil?"
Dredd on Mon, 4th Jan 2016 1:44 pm
Sea level too (Zone In On Sea Level Change).
rockman on Tue, 5th Jan 2016 4:27 pm
And again: there has been no effective ban on exporting USA oil production
HARM on Wed, 6th Jan 2016 7:49 pm
Consumption = production + net imports. Not exactly advanced Calculus.
Nonetheless, still too difficult for average Uhmurikans to grasp. And the perception that Peak Oil has been called off is too tempting a meme for pandering politicians not to use. Politicians get elected on hopium and cornucopian wishes, not doom and harsh reality.
Boat on Wed, 6th Jan 2016 8:28 pm
Harm,
Peak oil has to happen at some point. The reason why oil peaks is up for serious debate. Lack of oil? Not anytime soon. Price of oil? The world make it six years with high prices and didn’t collapse. It will do much better with lower oil and nat gas prices. Looking out a couple of decades it might be the electric/nat gas car/semi that steals market share and cuts oil demand. For now it’s just BAU and see what happens. Technology will eventually be the oil killer. Long before we run low enough on oil to drive up prices to an unusable amount