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PeakOil is You

PeakOil is You

oil and the PIIGS

Discussions about the economic and financial ramifications of PEAK OIL

Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby sparky » Sat 17 Apr 2010, 20:57:12

.

I understand your healthy skepticism , worriers have been crying wolf for a long time
In the late 17th century England , there was peak charcoal ,
cutting down forests to make iron was restricted to the royal ordinance forges for making Royal Navy canons

instead the Darby's familly use of coke ( calcined coal , freed from its sulfur contend ) opened the use of coal for smelting and the industrial revolution , it saved forests too

mid 19th century , there was peak whales , whale oil was used for lighting and lubrication , the use of distillate of rock oil , pioneered by a Pole created a new market and lifted the limitations of supplies , It ( for a while ) saved the whales .

The fears on the continuous supply of a vital element must be as old as cavemen worrying about the increasing scarcity of easily accessible good flint nodules

In fact , there are paleolithic mining shafts in Normandy dug to access this commodity , complete with a caveman miner buried with his antler pick in a cave in ,
probably the first case of industrial accident , the flint blanks were traded all over western Europe too

Still , shortages are real enough , any life form exist on acquiring energy , any society main concerns are safety and supply .

to keep pumping 86 millions barrel a day is no joke , oil is now being searched for in increasingly difficult and costly environments

quite a lot of fields are depleted or past their prime , finding replacement is seriously lagging , especially for the giants and super giants category

Most industry observers accept Peak Oil as a concept , the only disagreement is the date .

IMHO , this decade will see a serious crisis
The ramping up of the Irak field is going to be a close thing
the only other underexploited province is in Iran ,
there is not a good prospect for an serious production increase on the ten years horizon .

meanwhile depletion take its toll and as you point out oil prices have been rising above the general trend

.
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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby shortonsense » Sat 17 Apr 2010, 22:08:07

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '.')

I understand your healthy skepticism , worriers have been crying wolf for a long time
In the late 17th century England , there was peak charcoal ,

mid 19th century , there was peak whales ,.

The fears on the continuous supply of a vital element must be as old as cavemen worrying about the increasing scarcity of easily accessible good flint nodules


A completely reasonable and amazingly clear statement, involving historical facts beyond reproach. Which is one reason why peakers almost never mention it, and second, it BEGS the next obvious question......"what makes THIS one special". I have often called for anyone to claim a single, non recycled thought on the topic, but to date, have been disappointed.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '
')to keep pumping 86 millions barrel a day is no joke , oil is now being searched for in increasingly difficult and costly environments


And this has been going on since the days wire rope was substituted for the manila on drilling rigs. Ghawar itself would have been "increasingly difficult and costly" (if not outright impossible) to those stalwart cable tool drillers of the 19th century. When the criteria used is mostly just an illusion of perspective, it isn't much of a criteria.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '
')quite a lot of fields are depleted or past their prime , finding replacement is seriously lagging , especially for the giants and super giants category


Its been happening since the peak of discovery happened in 1935. Which took place 8 years before Harold Ickes proclaimed that we were running out of oil. Which happened 67 years ago. And yet.....here we are....with trillions of barrels just floating around, already discovered, just waiting for the requisite price point to convert the next trillion barrels. And the amazing thing is, we've already begun the transition because of environmental concerns, the world has finally achieved a level of wealth and understanding that its begun migrating away from crude oil production, and instead is exponentially growing wind and solar and other energy sources. Go humans!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', ' ')
Most industry observers accept Peak Oil as a concept , the only disagreement is the date .


Everyone accepts peak oil, even JD and Lynch and CERA and EIA, everyone. Well, maybe not the abiotic crowd, but everyone else. The problem, as we've discussed in another thread, are that the hysterical hangers-on attach all these scenarios to the event and pretend that THAT is peak oil, when its just some hysterical scenario they dreamed up. So when anyone says "peak oil" it instantly gets lumped into the crackpot category rather than the serious issue category.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '
')IMHO , this decade will see a serious crisis
The ramping up of the Irak field is going to be a close thing
the only other underexploited province is in Iran ,
there is not a good prospect for an serious production increase on the ten years horizon.


There are 500 billion barrels laying around in Venezuela. If Chavez hadn't kicked out the experts, he could have as high an oil production rate as he is willing to invest in. Same sort of situation with Iran I agree, with Iraq having been in the same category until recently.

But it doesn't matter, peak demand has already been a much stronger force in the marketplace than supply, and as long as governments keep up the drive and incentive for other types of fuels and technologies, in particular natural gas, wind and PV's, needing more crude isn't really all that critical.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '
')meanwhile depletion take its toll and as you point out oil prices have been rising above the general trend
.


Depletion started taking its toll in August of 1859. The end of rock oil had already been trumpeted 4 years EARLIER. Now THAT is ridiculous enough to make modern peakers look normal.
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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby sparky » Sun 18 Apr 2010, 03:25:38

.

Shortonsense highlight a quite common quandary

how to make a point about a grave issue without ending up metaphorically walking around with a " the end is night "sign

hard fact say I , and hard science , that's the only way

on one hand the quite considerable hydrocarbon deposits of various grade and nature
on the other hand industrial societies ever increasing hunger for the stuff .

This point is easy to prove , any increase in a country standard of living has been shadowed with a corresponding increase in energy consumption with oil preeminent as an item

for those of an historical bend ( I am a lover of Clio )
oil has been a major concern for quite a few leaders
To prosecute a large scale mechanized warfare ,
access and denial of oil was deemed worth the death of hundred of thousands of men .

the Suez crisis (1956) created a severe shortage of oil and a sharp financial crisis

the Arab embargo following the Yom Kippur war of 1973 saw the world dive into recession ,
the grovelling toward any country willing to sell was quite sickening .

the greater economic growth was around 1997 when oil price dropped to 15$ a barrel .

the present depression happened with an ever rising oil price in the background ,

the present recession should see the oil price dropping ,
it doesn't .

There is glowing prospects , Irak of course ,Brazil in ten years , Iran eventually and a pretty solid push to get an international agreement on the Arctic without the UN or NGO busybodies

You point out depletion kicked in the day colonel Drake breached oil in Titusville , true , true

but depletion is like gravity , one can temporarily overcome it temporarily with resources and cleverness but never cancel it ,

it's always here , in the background ....waiting , unrelenting

Peak Oil is about when Willie Coyote look down

.

.
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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby shortonsense » Sun 18 Apr 2010, 09:18:14

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '.')
the present recession should see the oil price dropping ,
it doesn't .


Sure it did. We're nowhere near the 2008 peak price because ....the oil price dropped immediately afterward.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '
')You point out depletion kicked in the day colonel Drake breached oil in Titusville , true , true

but depletion is like gravity , one can temporarily overcome it temporarily with resources and cleverness but never cancel it ,

it's always here , in the background ....waiting , unrelenting


Depletion isn't waiting for everything, and it cannot be even temporarily overcome. Use 1 barrel, you have created 1 barrels worth of depletion. The only way you stop oil depletion is you stop using oil. You can't hide depletion, the production of even a single barrel gives you away. You can do it slower, or faster, but you don't stop it until you stop using it.

Perhaps you are referring to decline rather than depletion? It seems that the terms are often confused.
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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby davep » Sun 18 Apr 2010, 15:55:35

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('shortonsense', 'P')erhaps you are referring to decline rather than depletion? It seems that the terms are often confused.


Can I assume by that you mean production decline?
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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby shortonsense » Sun 18 Apr 2010, 20:28:39

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('shortonsense', 'P')erhaps you are referring to decline rather than depletion? It seems that the terms are often confused.


Can I assume by that you mean production decline?


Hell, I'm not even sure I know any more, when people start confusing depletion with declines and then pretend maybe this is all a well issue ( a problem that extends right into the peak oil wiki) but maybe its only a field level aggregation when someone talks about "decline", I'm not sure anyone can know for sure unless we all agree to standard industry jargon, and we still might need someone to define that for us.

When is a production decline not a production decline? Easy...when the choke size is changed to compensate for dropping reservoir pressure so that the production rate can remain stable. This stuff could go on FOREVER.
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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby sparky » Mon 19 Apr 2010, 05:57:14

.

Yes I was being unclear , I was referring to proven reserves
they are being depleted while new proven ressources are replenishing them

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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby shortonsense » Mon 19 Apr 2010, 14:52:42

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '.')

Yes I was being unclear , I was referring to proven reserves
they are being depleted while new proven ressources are replenishing them

.


I see. So your fear is that the current trillion+ barrels or so of reserves, which were perhaps 600 billion barrels back in like 1980, cannot continue the trend they have been exhibiting over the past 30 years?
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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby davep » Mon 19 Apr 2010, 17:02:15

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('shortonsense', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '.')

Yes I was being unclear , I was referring to proven reserves
they are being depleted while new proven ressources are replenishing them

.


I see. So your fear is that the current trillion+ barrels or so of reserves, which were perhaps 600 billion barrels back in like 1980, cannot continue the trend they have been exhibiting over the past 30 years?


Do you really think that reserves of a finite resource can continue growing indefinitely? Of course not. So when do you think they will start diminishing?

And more importantly, when do you think extraction rates will start diminishing?
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Re: oil and the PIIGS

Unread postby shortonsense » Mon 19 Apr 2010, 17:41:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('shortonsense', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sparky', '.')

Yes I was being unclear , I was referring to proven reserves
they are being depleted while new proven ressources are replenishing them

.


So your fear is that the current trillion+ barrels or so of reserves, which were perhaps 600 billion barrels back in like 1980, cannot continue the trend they have been exhibiting over the past 30 years?


Do you really think that reserves of a finite resource can continue growing indefinitely? Of course not. So when do you think they will start diminishing?


Of course they can't increase forever, and of course one day they be forced by geologic reality to decline. If the USA, and obviously only for oil, can be used as an operative example, they will begin to decline at about the same point in time as peak oil itself happened. Under that scenario, if global oil production peaked in 2005, global reserves should have stopped growing already.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', '
')
And more importantly, when do you think extraction rates will start diminishing?


Again, in line with when peak oil happened, that should already be a done deal, just not particularly visible yet.
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