Graham Palmer, an industrial engineer from Melbourne, discusses energy use and needs. He predicts that the declining energy surplus of fossil fuels will be one of the defining features of energy systems in the twenty first century. ABC Name (required) Email Address (required) Website
As U.S. and EU policymakers have imposed targeted sanctions on Russian individuals and firms in response to the crisis in Ukraine, Western companies have sought to insulate their own projects from the political imbroglio and continue developing the country’s vast oil and gas resources. Exxon Mobil and Shell have joint ventures with Rosneft and Gazprom respectively to explore and produce shale oil and gas from beneath the swampy plains of Western Siberia and both want to be allowed to continue operating there. It’s easy to see why. The West Siberian basin is the largest petroleum basin in the world, covering 2.2 million square kilometres between the Ural Mountains and Yenisei River, extending from Kazakhstan in the south to under parts of the Kara Sea in the north. The region contains dozens of super-giant and giant oilfields, including Samotlor with 28 billion barrels of oil originally in place, and Urengoy […]
Love it or hate it, British multinational oil and gas company BP ( NYSE:BP ) is one the world’s top institutional experts on energy. Besides being a business leader in its industry — the sixth largest integrated oil company (IOC) by market cap in 2013 — the supermajor is at the forefront of the semi-commercial, semi-academic conversation about the future of energy use at large. Since 1952, BP has offered a share of its two cents in the form of an annual statistical review , the aim of which is to share data and insight about current energy markets and where the world could be heading. The report proper is somewhat dense and is generally only partially digested, if at all, by the media, but the 2013 review contained a few salient points that were thrust into the spotlight. First, and most broadly, was this insight: Demand growth for […]
They should be magicians. Successful magic depends on the artist being able to distract the viewers from the sleight-of-hand performed. Keep them preoccupied with one topic or one item and it’s then much simpler to create the illusion of magic. Peak oil deniers are a lot like that. Toss out some carefully massaged facts bearing the imprint of near-truths but without context (just to be safe), engage in a pattern of irrelevancies to help muddy the waters, toss in some meaningless numbers while carefully shielding the important ones from the discussion, and presto! No more peak oil theories. But as with magic, the show must end. We walk back out into the light and back into reality, where some of us still believe that facts matter. Perhaps not today while the Happy Talk keeps everyone entertained, but soon enough that show will end as well, and then the realities—good […]
The story of America’s new energy abundance has been accepted uncritically by too many people. A closer look at the realities of today and the last decade, coupled with a better understanding of our energy and oil systems, reveals risks that must be discussed and included in planning for the years ahead. This brief paper presents key information on the role of oil in the economy, the fact that world oil production has not increased meaningfully since 2005, the failure of high prices to create new supplies, the nature and limits of the oil being produced through fracking, the global challenges to oil supplies, and the likelihood that the United States will never be a net oil exporter again or truly “energy independent.” People who are part of the energy or economic debate – whether as policy makers, […]
In 2013, the nation’s demand for gasoline rose for the first time since 2007, and the trend is continuing in 2014, dampening hopes that the world’s largest oil guzzler is reining in its appetite for crude. Credit: Charles Minshew/KOMU U.S. oil demand reversed course in dramatic fashion in 2013, as the nation’s growth in crude consumption outpaced perennial leader China for the first time since 1999, according to oil company BP’s annual compendium of world energy statistics . The U.S. increase follows two years of declines, and dampens hopes that the world’s largest oil guzzler was permanently reining in its appetite for crude. The nation’s oil use rose by 400,000 barrels per day to a daily draw of 18.9 million barrels; China’s oil consumption grew by 390,000 barrels a day, to 10.8 million barrels a day, according to the BP figures released last month. "Are these data points a […]
In 2013, the nation’s demand for gasoline rose for the first time since 2007, and the trend is continuing in 2014, dampening hopes that the world’s largest oil guzzler is reining in its appetite for crude. Credit: Charles Minshew/KOMU U.S. oil demand reversed course in dramatic fashion in 2013, as the nation’s growth in crude consumption outpaced perennial leader China for the first time since 1999, according to oil company BP’s annual compendium of world energy statistics . The U.S. increase follows two years of declines, and dampens hopes that the world’s largest oil guzzler was permanently reining in its appetite for crude. The nation’s oil use rose by 400,000 barrels per day to a daily draw of 18.9 million barrels; China’s oil consumption grew by 390,000 barrels a day, to 10.8 million barrels a day, according to the BP figures released last month. "Are these data points a […]
General Ideas This week no energy relevant developments came out of Iraq. The Islamic State seems to be still consolidating its territories, facing scant opposition from the Baghdad government. But the spectacular advances seem to be done with, at least for now. Few western media outlets are able to properly report the situation, with gory news now focusing on Israel and Gaza. The news meat-grinder has recently been profuse in news regarding the breakaway of the BRICS from the IMF and other OECD controlled institutions. This was a setting trend but that has been accelerated by the backlash of the US spying programme and, more importantly, by the intervention of NATO in Ukraine. In the midst of all this comes almost unnoticed what is probably the most important energy news of 2014: Petroleum extraction in Russia has definitely peaked. Russian authorities are openly bracing for the ensuing decline in […]
For many years, a number of industry experts have been sounding the alarm that America, and the world, are about to run out of oil. This is nothing new. In 1914, the Bureau of Mines said that U.S. oil reserves would be exhausted by 1924. The Interior Department said global reserves would last 13 years… and that was in 1939. In 1956, Shell Oil geoscientist Marion King Hubbert advanced his peak oil theory, which said that world oil production had peaked and would begin to decline until all of the oil was gone. Every expert who’s predicted “the end of oil” has been wrong in the past. But with global energy consumption at an all-time high, and much of the world’s economy dependent on oil, the question needs to be asked: Are we about to run out of oil?… The Peak Oil Theory Hubbert, whose […]
The Return of the Bad Old Days of Oil Shocks And we thought the bad old days of oil shocks were over. Embargoes, price spikes, gasoline lines in America, a sweater-bedecked president ordering the end of hot water in many facilities, collapsing retail sales as high gasoline and energy prices hit stores as much as a big tax increase would, economic stagflation, or worse. Well, it just might be that we were wrong to believe that danger to our continued prosperity has been removed with the death of theories about “Peak oil.” Certainly, the takeover of part of Iraq by ISIS forces, variously called “militants,” “terrorists,” “gangsters,” and in White House circles thought to be disaffected Sunnis aching to participate in the government of a democratic Iraq, has set nerves jangling among energy planners. True, most of Iraq’s oil production, at around 3 million barrels per day the second […]
