Fear and loving of hot commodities

The front page of the business section in a national Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail is a feature on commodities. Further into the article, peak oil is discussed:

Mr. Sprott has been tarred as one of the biggest bears on the Street. And while it’s true that he has a pessimistic view of the debt-bloated U.S. economy, the U.S. dollar and stock markets in general — hence his attraction to gold — he is wildly bullish about energy.

Two words explain why: Hubbert’s Peak.

After watching in amazement as crude began to climb sharply several years ago, Mr. Sprott began to study the influential theories of the late Marion King Hubbert, a geophysicist whose 1956 prediction that U.S. oil production would peak and start declining around 1970 was initially dismissed by critics but later proved to be remarkably accurate.

And of course there’s always the contrasting view:

Others say the Eric Sprotts of the world should get a grip.
“The world isn’t running out of petroleum.” Merrill Lynch analyst John Herrlin says in a recent note to clients, in which he questions whether crude will hold above $46 (U.S.) a barrel in 2005 and 2006. “The degree of groupthink on higher oil or natural gas prices we’ve not seen in our careers,” he says.

Fear and loving of hot commodities, Saturday March 19 2005, The Globe and Mail.