News from November 2004

Michael C. Ruppert: Peak Oil and the Big Picture

Oil and natural gas are indispensable to our way of life. The world consumes ten calories of hydro-carbon energy for every calorie of food that is eaten. All commercial fertilizers are made from natural gas. All pesticides are made from petroleum. All irrigation, plowing, harvesting and transport is accomplished by either oil-powered machinery or oil- [...]

When the oil runs out

Oil is expected to peak by the end of this decade, and finish somewhere between 2030-50. As we slide down the curve, the oil will become gradually hard to extract causing the world to go through times of distress.

Yemen Times

Soaring oil ‘hits world economy’

The soaring cost of oil has hit global economic growth, although world’s major economies should weather the storm of price rises, according to the OECD.

In its latest bi-annual report, the OECD cut its growth predictions for the world’s main industrialised regions.

BBC

Under All That Ice, Maybe Oil

The ice-cloaked Arctic Ocean was once apparently a warm, biologically brewing basin so rich in sinking organic material that some scientists examining fresh evidence pulled from a submerged ridge near the North Pole say the seabed may now hold significant oil and gas deposits.

NY Times

Iraq Oil Infrastructure Losing Billions

Between August and October, Iraq lost $7 billion dollars in potential revenues due to sabotage against the country’s oil infrastructure, according to Assem Jihad, spokesman of the Oil Ministry.

An estimated 20 oil wells and pipelines were bombed or set ablaze this month in northern Iraq alone, according to an official of the Northern Company. Iraq has oilfields in the north around Kirkuk and in the south near Basra.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_oil_under_attack

Saudis to Soothe Oil Fears with 37% Production Boost

The current oil price boom is “significantly” different from the politically driven price spikes of the 1970s, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said in London yesterday. In comments seen as calming fears over a repeat of an oil-recession, Ali al-Naimi unveiled plans to increase Saudi production capacity by as much as 37 per cent. He played [...]

Australian Economy to benefit from rising oil prices

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Higher-oil-prices-could-boost-economys/2004/11/30/1101577474073.html High oil prices could actually boost the Australian economy, a leading economic commentator said. Mark Crosby, from the Melbourne Institute, said there were signs that Australia would sail through higher oil prices and actually benefit from the surge. He said as a net exporter of energy, Australia benefited from higher energy prices – including [...]

Canada needs higher fuel prices to bridge the gap to renewables

By William Rees Canadians enjoy one of the most energy-intensive economies on Earth.(1) Much of the country depends, directly or indirectly, on fossil fuel for heat in winter and for air conditioning in summer. The Canadian way of life feeds on mainly fossil-fuelled transportation that moves everything people need over vast distances within the country [...]

Saudi Arabia says high oil prices pose no threat to world economic growth

Saudi Arabia says high oil prices pose no threat to world economic growth LONDON : Red-hot oil prices during 2004, stoked by a surge in global demand and worries about disruptions to supplies, are not harming world economic growth, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Nuaimi insisted. His bold statement on behalf of the world’s largest [...]

When the wells run dry

Anjorni writes: For the past century, the modern world has run on oil. But geologists now warn that the supply may soon begin to dwindle. Should we be preparing for the end of the Age of Oil? the week