Jeff Rubin: Whatever happened to $200 oil?

Four years ago, when I was still chief economist at CIBC World Markets, I forecast that global economic growth was on pace to send oil prices  to $200 (U.S.) a barrel by 2012. In short, the argument was based on a supply-driven analysis that weighed the sources of future oil supply against the prices that […]

IAEA Reports Progress in Iran Nuclear Talks

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said he expects to sign a deal with Iran soon on investigating suspected weapons activities connected to the country’s nuclear programme. Amano also said that Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, had assured him that “the existing differences will not be an obstacle to the agreement”. The […]

The controversy over peak oil, oil prices & technological advances

            Much has been made in the past few years of the triumph over peak oil theorists, courtesy of the higher prices, which made the extraction of a higher proportion of oil in place possible, and also provided incentives for a robust unconventional petroleum industry to develop and flourish.  Canada’s oil sands projects have been […]

Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us

An interview with Maggie Koerth-Baker author of Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us. Maggie writes “Back in April, I got to go on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Bright Ideas” to talk about my book, Before the Lights Go Out. Now MPR has the entire hour-long interview up on video. […]

Easter Islanders killed virtually every fish

Geologically one of the youngest inhabited territories on Earth, Easter Island was, for most of its history, the most isolated. Its inhabitants, the Rapanui, have endured famines, epidemics of disease and cannibalism, civil war, slave raids, various colonial contacts, and have seen their population crash on more than one occasion. The ensuing cultural legacy has […]

Fukushima is falling apart: are you ready?

Thirteen months have passed since the Fukushima reactors exploded, and a U.S. Senator finally got off his ass and went to Japan to see what is going on over there. What he saw was horrific. And now he is saying that we are in big trouble. See the letter he sent to U.S. Ambassador to […]

Where the Shale Gas Revolution Came From

The ongoing shale gas boom has expanded domestic energy production, pushed wholesale electricity prices to record lows, and accelerated the closure of America’s aging coal plant fleet, lowering national power-sector carbon emissions. This revolution in natural gas — unleashed by a flood of recently accessible shale gas reserves, once thought to be unrecoverable — is […]

Opec’s Days Are Numbered

Discoveries of unconventional oil and gas reserves in the western hemisphere will not only reduce price and supply volatility, but will also bring the end of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Roger Altman wrote in the Financial Times. Technology has revolutionized energy supply with the result that the U.S. now has a 100-year supply […]

Ten ‘Do’s’ and ‘Don’t’ for New Doomers

(1)    Don’t put storage food, or any doomer supplies on a credit card. On second thought, don’t put anything on a credit card, if you can help it, and if you can’t, buy less stuff. Get out of debt is still one of the most useful bits of advice any Doomer can offer to another. […]

Saudi Arabia’s Bond With U.S. Goes Beyond Energy

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have a close relationship with a bond “that goes far beyond energy,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said. The minister told graduates during his commencement speech at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, that “We seek together a world of greater understanding, mutual tolerance, and respect for human dignity and personal […]

Highlighting the Role of Fertilizers, Crop Nutrition and Soil Health in Global Agriculture

Last week, the global fertilizer industry cooperating organizations announced the “Roots for Growth” campaign to highlight the important role that fertilizers play in addressing global food security responsibly, efficiently and sustainably. Much of the campaign highlights agricultural achievements through the use of processed fertilizers and the ambitious goals that must be met to feed a […]

IEA: Global oil demand growth accelerating

After posting near-zero annual growth in the fourth quarter of 2011, global oil demand growth will gradually accelerate throughout 2012, culminating in an increase of 1.2 million b/d by this year’s final quarter, the International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly oil market report. Global oil consumption is set to rise by 800,000 b/d […]

If We Only Had an Energy Policy

I often hear the comment — “If we only had an energy policy” — but what does that really mean? In this column I will provide three examples — originating with both Democrats and Republicans and impacting both renewable energy and fossil fuels — of how constantly shifting legislation makes it very difficult to plan […]

Want World Peace? Try Super-Smart Farming

A lot depends on the world’s ability to expand agricultural production over the next 30 years. As the grain price spikes and resulting food riots of 2008 and 2010 attest, nothing less than geopolitical stability is at stake. The world’s population, currently 7 billion, is expected to rise to 9 billion by 2050. Already a […]

Peak Oil Denial: More Almost-Truths

In his presentation to Montana Energy 2012, Michael Economides told Montanans, ‘You are already a superpower in oil production. You have already defied the trends and once again showed the can-do attitude of this industry, smashing the myth of the ‘peak oil’. ‘You have redefined and defied the trends suggesting strongly the future of energy […]

How the fracking mess is about to make the mortgage mess worse

One fact ought to tell you all you need to know about the risks faced by homeowners signing leases for natural gas drilling on their property: Wells Fargo & Company, both the largest home mortgage lender in the United States and a major lender to the country’s second largest producer of natural gas, Chesapeake Energy […]

The end of fish

Want to see how severely we humans are scouring the oceans for fish? Check out this striking map from the World Wildlife Fund’s 2012 “Living Planet Report.” The red areas are the most intensively fished (and, in many cases, overfished) parts of the ocean — and they’ve expanded dramatically since 1950: To measure how intensively […]

Peak Oil and Economic Contraction Report Card

How prepared are you for Peak Oil?…… Let’s find out! The link below is a spreadsheet with several questions regarding preparedness for peak oil and its implications. Whilst this is a fairly arbitrary set of questions with no monopoly on the right or wrong way of gearing up for transition, it may serve as a useful […]

Green Energy Technology Suppression At The DoE

After getting my posts at various blogs deleted or hacked and being ridiculed or smeared or called called a “nut” or “disgruntled former employee” by others, I come here to let intelligent people decide for yourself if I am either or both. I have no other way to get my story out to you – […]

Is Russian Oil Production Plummeting?

According to a recent Bloomberg story Saudi Arabia displaced Russia as the world’s largest oil producer, producing just about three thousand barrels a day more in March of 2012: Saudi Arabia boosted crude production close to a 31-year high in March, overtaking Russia as the world’s largest oil producer for the first time in six years, according […]

More New Quakes Shake Fukushima

Earthquake Information Japan Meteorological Agency 17:50 JST 20 May 2012 17:42 JST 20 May 2012 Sanriku Oki M5.1 2 17:27 JST 20 May 2012 17:21 JST 20 May 2012 Sanriku Oki M5.4 2 16:54 JST 20 May 2012 16:49 JST 20 May 2012 Ibaraki-ken Hokubu M3.3 1 16:38 JST 20 May 2012 16:28 JST 20 […]

Iran Finds First Caspian Sea Oilfield in 104 Years

Iran has discovered its first oilfield in the Caspian Sea for more than a century, the state-run Fars news agency reported today. The deposit was found at a depth of 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) during drilling on a natural-gas field and may contain 10 billion barrels of crude, according to the National Iranian Oil Co., […]

E15 Could Put Some Engines at Risk

More on the potential risk to America’s car and truck fleet posed by E15 – gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol that has EPA approval: Just-released research indicates that more than 5 million existing cars and light trucks, which EPA says are OK for E15 use, could develop engine problems as a result. Why this discrepancy?  […]

Degrowth (De-growth), Natural Resources, Population Growth, and Economic Collapse

We have seen how oil shortages can wreak havoc on the global economy and result in dramatic shifts in the global balance of power. Many people are now starting to realize that the dream of unlimited growth and economic expansion is coming to an end. The Depletion Wall argues that the age of consumerism will […]

Are you scared yet?

Perhaps it’s just me, but over the last couple of weeks I thought I could distinctly hear the sound of pennies dropping as an ever growing tiny minority of people began to realise just how godawful our situation has become. It could have begun last week Sir Mervyn King, the chief economist at the Bank […]

Saudis Pass Russia as Largest Oil Producer

Saudi Arabia boosted crude production close to a 31-year high in March, overtaking Russia as the world’s largest oil producer for the first time in six years, according to the Joint Organization Data Initiative. Saudi crude exports rose 3 percent in March, reaching the highest level in five years as Iran cut shipments, according to […]

Israel becomes lab for electric car network

Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi has begun rolling out the world’s first nationwide electric car network. Now, will the drivers come? After more than $400 million in outlays and months behind schedule, dozens of electric cars have hit the road in Israel, the test site Agassi chose for his Better Place venture. Four stations where the […]

G8 to call on IEA for “action” on oil

Group of Eight leaders agreed on Saturday to call on the International Energy Agency to take “appropriate action” if there are further disruptions to the oil market in the coming months, sources familiar with the G8 draft communique said. “There have been increasing disruptions in the supply of oil to the global market over the […]

Proposal to turn Kuwait into world’s oil capital – State’s energy consumption up 66%

The concept of ‘Kuwait as the world’s oil capital’ will see the light after being studied comprehensively, said, Fadhel Safar Minister of Public Works and Planning and Development revealed on Thursday. On the sidelines of a preparatory meeting for the country’s second mid-term development plan, Safar told KUNA that the idea of turning Kuwait into […]

The age of extreme oil: ‘This used to be a forest?’

One grey Thursday at the end of April, a plane touched down in Fort McMurray, Alta., carrying four Achuar Indians from the Peruvian Amazon. They had flown 8,000 kilometres from the rain forest to beseech Talisman Energy Inc., the Calgary-based oil and gas conglomerate, to stop drilling in their territory. Talisman’s annual general meeting was […]

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