by baldwincng » Fri 05 Aug 2005, 06:34:29
An article in today's FT (page 9) "Big Oil warns of coming energy crunch"
By Carola Hoyos in London" says:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')nternational oil companies have begun advertising campaigns warning that the world is running out of oil and calling on the public to help the industry do something about it.
The world's five largest energy groups generally maintain that oil projects are viable with the price at $20-$25 a barrel. But their advertising and some of their own statistics appear to tell a different story.
The full article is for subscribers only but cites ExxonMobil's Outlook for Energy 2030 (non Opec peak in 5 years), Chevron's advertising campaign, Total, Shell, BP.....lots of evidence which adds up to "Houston, we have a problem". On the same page in the FT is an article titled
Simulation shows US held over a barrel by oil supply interruption$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')errorists yesterday struck oil facilities in the US and Saudi Arabia, pushing oil prices to a record $120 a barrel and doubling to $5,214 the expected annual petrol bill for the average US household. Economists warned of the imminent collapse of the US's economic recovery and a loss of more than 2m jobs, the largest drop since 1945.
While none of this is true, the scenario is thoroughly plausible, according to high-ranking former government, military and intelligence officials who made up the US cabinet in a simulation exercise that is gaining increasing attention from members of Congress, the White House and oil executives
Exciting times, thank goodness we can do with natural gas everything (apart from fuel planes) we can do with oil and there's loads of it about. Once oil is >$100/bbl it will spur a bit of action, natural gas buys some time to build windmills and nuclear power stations and insultae the loft etc