”Peak Oil” RIP. Official Obit Frontpaged in the New York Times

Now that sustained high oil prices and environmental concerns have stimulated massive efforts to develop alternative fuel sources, the oil industry pooh-bahs are finally realizing they have overstepped themselves. For decades they have been frightening us into accepting ever higher prices with their postured concerns of the imminent demise of oil. Suddenly they and their allies in the media are rushing to inform us they have been wrong wrong wrong, for decades.

Oil is not scarce, nor are we about to run out of it!

On Monday March 5 in a first page right-hand column The New York Times’ oil specialist Jad Mouawad, following up on the recent commentary by Cambridge Energy Research analyst Daniel Yergin, two of the oligopoly’s most amenable parrots, have finally come round to the argument I have been making for years (see “Oil Is Not Scarce — The Oil Industry Continues to Play Us for Fools,” 5/24/06, not to speak of my book Over a Barrel: Breaking the Middle East Oil Cartel, pub date 08/05).

But why this sudden sea change? Mouawad unwittingly telegraphs the producers new strategy when he opines that OPEC’s clout will be reinforced in coming years” because the cartel “is poised to control more than 50 percent of the oil market”. The king of the thieves, Saudi Arabia, is now bandying about about a number for its potential reserves pegging them closer to 1 trillion barrels. You may remember when scarcity was the ploy the Saudis owned up to having only 260 billion barrels of oil (and not to overlook Matt Simmons who made millions trading by propagating his Halloween scenario in “Twilight in the Desert”, spooking us with predictions of the near term end of Saudi oil”). Now, suddenly having more oil not less is the game plan and that makes great good sense if the goal is to run alternative energy developers off the playing field. Mouawad, always ready to impart the oil patch pitch advised us the oil companies “see few alternatives to fossil fuels” (where did the Times find this guy). What else would those sitting on top of all the oil say, particularly if they wanted to scare away any competition.

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