by GoIllini » Thu 20 Oct 2011, 12:34:21
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I')'d say the bottom line is supply can't grow enough to meet demand.
But you're right the economic conditions aren't unprecedented, however unlike the 70's and early '80s the oil price is not being manipulated, at least not in the massive way it was by the Arab producers did after the US peak (I guess that keeps my post on topic ;^) ). That's not the whole story of the crash but it's a big part of the non-recovery.
Really? I agree with you on 1973/74, but when Iran got taken off the market in '79, the West was in deep trouble. Nobody was manipulating oil prices back then. Today we are seeing similar revolutions in Libya, Egypt, and unrest in many other oil-producing countries. It is not a stretch to say that there are many geopolitical issues still going on. Some of them today are about the economics of millions of poor people in those states; some of the unrest back in the '70s was also about millions of hungry poor people.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') agree too that we've past peak conventional oil, something lost on many who poo-poo PO but it's a big deal. In fact the end of cheap oil is such a big deal, it's the thing peak oil worriers worried about since they started worrying. Yet the poo-pooers act as though a slight uptick in supply at $100+ is a refutation of the whole idea of limits.
"Cheap oil" also ended in '73. The economy adapted and became more efficient. I agree with you that things are more difficult this time around- we did not have China back in the '70s and the technology requires much bigger and riskier projects in a very risk-averse market. I also think the secular bull we'll see when we come out of this will be weaker than it was in the 80s and 90s unless we get some new technology like E-Cat or ITER makes fusion economical.