Peak Oil Theorists Gush Obfuscation!

I know its too much to expect that determined peak oil theorists like APSO co-founder Steve Andrews will suddenly admit they’re wrong-no matter how many times their predictions of doomsday come and go without the world coming to an end. Sometimes all you can do is to shake your head at the stubborn denial. But Mr. Andrew’s rejoinder here on the Huffington Post, to my “Peak Oil is Snake Oil!” piece of 6/25/07 requires some untangling to get at the pertinent facts.


The first thing that happens is that APSO simply changes the text of their argumentation, whereby reference to flawed geological studies by the likes of Hubbert and Coleman are conveniently bolstered by geopolitical observations that have little or nothing to do with the purported “science” of peak oil. To quote Andrews, “Roughly two-thirds of the world’s oil lies in the Middle East- a cauldron for geopolitical, religious, cultural and military conflict”; or “Over 90% of the world’s oil is owned by government controlled companies”. These are truisms abundantly clear to anyone focused on this issue. They do not require an MIT degree to either fathom or postulate. And they have nothing to do with the purported “science” of peak oil. And yes, within their own parameters they have a decided impact on the price of oil, but they are separate issues altogether. To wrap them up into the “science” of peak oil is a digression and a deliberate obfuscation underlining the spuriousness of peak oil theology.

Huffington Post