Peak oil and the fall of the Soviet Union: lessons on the 20th anniversary of the collapse

The causes of the fall of the Soviet Union are thought to be inefficiency and the Soviet response to the Reagan Administration’s military buildup of the early 1980s. However, a more plausible explanation is the decline in Soviet oil production caused by peak oil. This gives the world an example of a modern economy confronted […]

CFTC vs. Arcadia et al.: a government agency roils the oil market with a big action

This is one of the biggest actions the CFTC has taken in the crude market in recent years. When traders dismiss these allegations as nothing more than normal trading activity, they’re ignoring a simple fact: the CFTC apparently doesn’t think so. Based on the defiant media statement that Arcadia released after the suit was filed, […]

Peak Oil and the Great Recession

When in the late 1990s it was recognized that world oil production was likely to start declining early in the twenty-first century, petroleum geologists and other industry observers started talking and writing about the economic damage this event would cause. Serious economic consequences were a virtual certainty because, since the beginning of the industrial age, […]

Past Peak Oil – Why Time Is Now Short

The only thing that could prevent another oil shock from happening before the end of 2012 would be another major economic contraction.  The emerging oil data continues to tell a tale of ever-tightening supplies that will soon be exceeded by rising global demand.  This time, we will not be able to blame speculators for the […]

Global Oil Exports/Imports

Yesterday, I posted some UNCTAD shipping data which suggested that the global oil tanker fleet was expanding rapidly post 2005: The most obvious interpretation would be that the global oil trade was expanding, which is a little counterintuitive, given that global oil production has been more-or-less on a plateau since 2005 and oil exporters have […]

Energy Myths of the Left

From confused “peak oil” theorists to confused Congressmen, it’s all but impossible to hear a discussion of US energy policy without hearing the left’s tired refrain: “The United States currently uses 25% of the world oil production but has only 2% of world reserves.” The left uses this misinformation to argue against domestic oil drilling, […]

PEMEX’s big new natural gas discovery

First in was Brazil, with PETROBRAS discovering vast offshore oil fields in the Santos Basin in the waters of the South Atlantic. Now it appears to be Mexico’s turn to strike it rich. Last week, Mexican oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) announced the discoveryof an area with natural gas production potential in deep waters in […]

Representative Bartlett talks about US Deficit and Peak Oil

Starts at 07:54 Watched this last night on CSPAN live and was very encouraged that Represenative Bartlett (Republican) talks about peak oil and the U.S. debt

Michael C. Ruppert at Green Life Eco Fest 2011

Michael C. Ruppert and Dmitry Orlov recently delivered powerful and insightful speeches at the Green Life Eco Fest in Grass Valley, CA. To listen to Mike’s speech, follow this link…

Dr Fatih Birol (IEA) : Peak Oil was in 2006

Dr. Fatih Birol is Chief Economist and Head of the Economic Analysis Division of the Paris-based International Energy Agency. He is organiser and director of the World Energy Outlook series, the IEA’s flagship publication. He is also responsible for providing regular briefing to the Executive Director and Governing Board of the IEA on the economic […]

Ten Thousand Holes in Fuku Dai-ichi

I read the news today (…) and it seems that there are a growing number of holes at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear facility. Although nobody has actually seen them, much less counted them all, holes from 3cm to perhaps 7cm in diameter are believed to exist in the primary containment vessels for at least two […]

Peak Cars, more people discover bicycles

Mass motoring has had it day. Mass cycling is around the corner. Peak Cars is as real as Peak Oil. Some sceptics believe Peak Oil is little more than a theory. However, last month, Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “We think that crude oil production […]

A Skeptical Look at 3 Wild Fusion-Energy Schemes

When it comes to radical energy solutions, an extreme long shot is a nuclear power scheme that would combine fusion and fission. Existing nuclear plants all run on fission, the splitting of heavy nuclei such as uranium, to produce power—not to mention tons of hazardous waste. Fusion joins together light nuclei, as occurs in stars […]

Facing Up to End of ‘Easy Oil’

The Arabian Peninsula has fueled the global economy with oil for five decades. How long it can continue to do so hinges on projects like one unfolding here in the desert sands along the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait border. On the Arabian peninsula, U.S. oil giant Chevron has launched a $340-million pilot project to extract heavy oil […]

Solar May Be Cheaper Than Fossil, Nuclear Power in Five Years, GE Says

Solar power may be cheaper than electricity generated by fossil fuels and nuclear reactors within three to five years because of innovations, said Mark M. Little, the global research director for General Electric Co. (GE) “If we can get solar at 15 cents a kilowatt-hour or lower, which I’m hopeful that we will do, you’re […]

GE Builds A High-Tech Fossil Fuel Power Plant For The Renewable Energy Age

General Electric on Wednesday unveiled a new type of high-efficiency natural gas power plant that can be fired up and ramped down rapidly in response to fluctuations in solar and wind energy production. As renewable energy sources begin to supply a greater portion of electricity demand, utilities face the challenge of keeping the lights on […]

Venezuela threatens to interrupt US oil supply

Venezuela‘s foreign minister warned late Tuesday that it could no longer guarantee regular oil shipments to the United States after Washington placed sanctions on the Venezuelan state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), this week. The spat underscores long-running tensions over what Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez sees as America’s disproportionate, unjust exercise of power […]

How much energy is there in a barrel of oil?

Q: With oil prices around $100 a barrel and gasoline at $4 a gallon, is it really worth that much? How much energy is in a barrel of oil anyhow? A: First, oil barrels are not the same size as the 55-gallon drums that are in common use today. An oil barrel is only about […]

Japan: Three meltdowns and now cracks in containment vessel

The operator of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says data analyses suggest damage to its reactors may have caused cracks and openings in the reactor containment vessels equivalent to a 10-centimeter hole. Reactors 1 through 3 at the plant suffered nuclear fuel meltdowns after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. This is likely to […]

Are China’s factories running out of power?

Why has Global Sticks, a manufacturer of wooden ice cream sticks, moving from Dalian, China, to Thunder Bay, Ontario? It’s the kind of low margin manufacturing that is never supposed to come back after it leaves North America for cheaper labour abroad. But wage costs are no longer everything they were cracked up to be. […]

Tom Whipple: Why Won’t Americans Face Reality?

Short answer: Because they’re in denial. Slightly longer answer explained by Mr. Whipple.

Global renewable energy sector to grow

More solar power and wind power installations are likely to be built over the coming years as investment levels in the renewable energy sector increase over the next decade, a United Nations report has said. Investment in global renewable energy is likely to increase from $1.4 trillion in 2010 to $5.1tn in 2020, the report […]

Google invests $55 million in Mojave Desert wind farm

Google Inc. is investing $55 million in a large Mojave Desert wind farm, pumping fresh air into California’s struggling wind power industry. The Internet search giant made the announcement in Anaheim at the industry’s largest gathering, where wind farm developers and turbine makers said the investment could be a key step in California’s efforts to […]

T. Boone Pickens and Charles Koch Spar Over U.S. Natural-Gas Subsidies

Investor T. Boone Pickens has a vision of American highways in which trucks are powered by natural gas—and nudged along by government subsidies. Charles Koch, one of the richest men in the country, is gunning hard to block taxpayer money from boosting his fellow billionaire’s dream. The oil-patch titans are brawling over a congressional bill […]

Venezuela to Study How Sanctions Will Affect Oil Exports

Venezuela will study how sanctions imposed by the U.S. today will affect its oil dispatches and may not be able to guarantee exports to some U.S. clients in the future, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said today. South America’s biggest oil producer will provide an “adequate” response in the next few days after evaluating how the […]

Jason Bradford an Evolutionary Biologist on Peak Oil

Jason Bradford an Evolutionary Biologist speaks about seeing the problem of over consumption and Peak Oil, and not being heard in the midst of a sea of conformity.

English Project on Peak OiL

I rip off some shirts and explain Peak Oil

TEPCO Confirms Partial Meltdown of No.2 and No.3 Reactors

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says findings show that fuel meltdowns may have occurred at the No.2 and No.3 reactors within days of the March 11th earthquake. But it says both reactors are now stable at relatively low temperatures. Tokyo Electric Power Company said earlier this month that fuel rods at […]

Gasoline Gangsters 21: Peak Oil, Gas & Coal in Europe

Europe is facing an awful financial crisis. Most economists believe this mess is due to bad loans made to second rate European powers like Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece & Spain. But in reality Europe\’s oil and gas supplies will be almost completely depleted by 2025. In the near future it will be fully dependent on […]

The Deepwater China Era Begins

China’s first deepwater oil rig launched yesterday in Shanghai. The CNOOC981, which cost $6 billion to develop, can drill in depths up to 12,000 meters — potentially the deepest oil well in history. This is a huge increase for China, which was previously limited to 500-meter-deep seas. The Global Times has more on the geopolitical […]

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