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$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he potential consequences [of oil shortages] are so serious that governments are drawing up emergency plans to cope should the worst happen. According to one analyst who took part in a simulation of just such a crisis, the situation most experts fear is what they call a "psychological avalanche".
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OIL THE FINAL WARNING
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OIL THE FINAL WARNING
by roccman » Thu 31 Jul 2008, 23:45:55
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '*')**Expensive fuel at the pumps is just the start. These battles over the price of oil could be the harbinger of something even scarier. There is a growing realisation that we are teetering on the edge of an economic catastrophe which could be triggered next time there is a glitch in the world's oil supply.***
***A number of converging forces are making such an event more likely than ever before.***
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '*')**Here's what happens. A small, distant country one day finds it can no longer import enough oil because of a spike in prices or problems with local supply. The news media whip this up into a story suggesting an oil shock is on the way, and the resulting panic buying by the public degenerates into a global grab for oil.***
*****Most industrialised countries keep an emergency reserve as a first line of defence, but in the face of worldwide panic buying this may not be enough. Countries in which the oil runs out face transport meltdown, wreaking havoc with international trade and domestic necessities such as food distribution, emergency services and daily commerce. Without oil everything stops.*****
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '*')**The IEA, which advises 27 countries on oil emergencies, requires its members to hold at least 90 days' worth of fuel, which can be pooled and released onto the market if a crisis looms. The system last swung into action in 2005 when hurricane Katrina caused the shutdown of more than 23 per cent of the US's oil production capacity. A few days after Katrina struck, the IEA ordered the release of 2 million barrels a day from reserve stocks for a month, the first time reserves had been released since the Gulf war in 1991.***
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '*')**A fleet of 4000 tankers plying six main routes delivers more than 43 million barrels of oil every day. Many of these routes pass through narrow "choke points", and if any of these were to become impassable, even temporarily, the effect on oil supplies could be dramatic.***
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '*')**One scenario being suggested is that hijackers might commandeer a liquid natural gas tanker plying one of these shipping routes, load it with explosives and use it to ram an oil tanker. If this floating bomb produced a burning oil slick, it could render the passage impassable for months, tipping the global economy into crisis as alternative routes would fail to make up the lost supplies.***
***Another key element in the global oil infrastructure is Abqaiq, an enormous processing facility in Saudi Arabia, which removes sulphur from two-thirds of the country's crude. The CIA estimates that seven months after a large-scale attack, output would still be only 40 per cent of its full capacity.***
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '*')****"It is hardly conceivable that the world could function without oil"*****
Nothing new - the ramming tanker thing is cool...we could watch it unfold like a hurricane...3 days out...2 days...1 day...
Or maybe not...maybe we could scramble jets to sink it...naw...we don't do the scramble thing any more...(ref:911).
![[smilie=BangHead.gif]](https://udev.peakoil.com/forums/images/smilies/BangHead.gif "BangHead")
Then stop driving to work, duh..... 