by Pops » Tue 26 Apr 2011, 18:59:26
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', 'I')'ll try this question because it's an easy one:
Oh please, you're gonna lecture me on peak oil?
By "peak" I thought I was fairly plain, this fixation that everything is Hubbert or it's nothing, i.e. a nice smooth rise to a peak and a nice smooth decline.
Peak oil was 2008 it's just gotta be!!This new monthly peak tweaks exactly the same nerve. Just like Ps reaction to the possibility of speculation adding to the oil price. Instead of seeing that it isn't an argument against peak cheap oil, that in fact it only adds validity to the idea, he'll stick his fingers in his ears and continue hollering that peak was in 2005 because somehow in his mind, the very thought of speculation affecting prices diminishes the
idea of peak oil.
So,
Production in the late 80's - 90's was barely profitable after the shocks of the 70' caused a drilling boom -
Subsequently exploration and development languished due to low prices-
Since 99 the price has steadily increased -
Previously unprofitable oil is now available.
After increasing production capability and a fast drop in demand in '08, in '11 there is enough slack to make another peak
with oil prices at close to a adjusted high.Does any of that indicate to you that I think oil supply will continue to increase forever?
That I think demand creates oil?
That I think the economy can operate as usual on expensive energy?
No?
So I'll ask again, and you can address any part you want, or not:
why is it surprising a 7-800% increase in price would bring a few hundred k/b/d of oil to market when the going price had been barely above lifting costs for 20 years?
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)