Can growth continue?

gave a five-minute talk talk for Ignite Long Now 2022. It’s a simplified and very condensed treatment of a complex topic: Below is a transcript with selected visuals and added links. Humanity has had a pretty good run so far. In the last two hundred years, world GDP per capita has increased by almost fourteen […]

Gulf of Mexico update

Through 2021 the federal waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico (OCS) have cumulative production of 23.4 Bbo and 193 Tcf.  The deepwater (water depths > 1000’ as defined by BOEM) has produced 10.2 Bbo and 23.5 Tcf while the shelf has produced 13.2 Bbo and 169.5 Tcf.  From a BOE standpoint, the GOM has […]

The impending economic crash

For as Alexander Hamilton pointed out in the Federalist Papers nearly two centuries ago, A power over a man’s subsistence amounts to a power over his will.” — Henry Hazlitt This week, Donald Trump’s favorite Latino food supplier, Bob Unanue, CEO of Goya Foods, spoke of an impending food shortage that we should all start […]

Iran confirms seizure of 2 Greek oil tankers in Persian Gulf

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized two Greek oil tankers Friday in helicopter-launched raids in the Persian Gulf, officials said. The action appeared to be retaliation for Athens’ assistance in the U.S. seizure of crude oil from an Iranian-flagged tanker this week in the Mediterranean Sea over violating Washington’s crushing sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The […]

Asking for oil is simply wrong

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said two senior US officials visited Saudi Arabia this week to “review engagement” on “energy security,” and not to ask for an increase in oil exports. “Asking for oil is simply wrong. That’s the way that we see it and a misunderstanding of both the complexity of that issue […]

Hunger games: World food crisis and G7 hypocrisy

Last week India banned the export of wheat. Almost predictably, rich nations, branded as G7, “expressed disappointment” and condemned the decision. The response was steeped in factual ignorance, contextual illiteracy and political hypocrisy of the kind which has led to the aggravation of the global food crisis. Facts are eloquent messengers. India runs not one but […]

Russian Oil Producers Start Using Tankers the World Did Not Want

Russian oil producers are starting to book up an increasing number of tankers owned by the nation’s state tanker company, boosting demand for a fleet that fell from international favor after the invasion of Ukraine. Rosneft PJSC and Gazprom Neft PJSC, two state-run oil producers, both booked large numbers of tankers owned by Sovcomflot PJSC […]

Russia cuts off natural gas supply to Finland

Russia cut off its natural gas supply to Finland’s state-owned energy firm, Gasum, the company announced Saturday. “Natural gas supplies to Finland under Gasum’s supply contract have been cut off,” Gasum said in a statement. The energy firm added that it will instead use other sources for its filling stations. Gasum warned Friday that Russia […]

Five Warning Signs The End Of Dollar Hegemony Is Near

It’s no secret that China and Russia have been stashing away as much gold as possible for many years. China is the world’s largest producer and buyer of gold. Russia is number two. Most of that gold finds its way into the Russian and Chinese governments’ treasuries. Russia has over 2,300 tonnes—or nearly 74 million […]

California To Spend $5.2 Billion On Electricity Reserve To Avoid Blackouts

California has proposed spending $5.2 billion on creating a “strategic electricity reliability reserve” that would help the state avoid blackouts when its electric grid is stressed, a 2022-2023 budget revision document showed on Friday according to Bloomberg. California has weathered a fair amount of criticism over its electric grid, which contributed to rolling blackouts as […]

Saudi Aramco net profit soars 82%

State-owned oil producer Saudi Aramco on Sunday reported an almost 82% rise in first-quarter net profit, broadly in line with analyst forecasts, helped by strong oil prices. Aramco, which is at par with Apple Inc as the world’s most valuable companies, reported a net income of $39.5 billion for the quarter to March 31 from […]

Amplification Loops on Fault Lines

“We have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology — E.O. Wilson”     Last week I began untangling a string about how we as a species have evolved in the past two centuries into behaviors that run counter to our own survival. I described how modern public relations magicians had been able to capture […]

Limits to Growth: Where We Stand Today

Sometime in the 1960’s a group of prominent businessmen in Europe decided it was time to face up to the contra di ction that l ies at the heart of mode rn capitalism: it is a system based on infinite growth in a world with finite limits to growth: in input (resources, including food), throughput (population), output (pollution), and a likely collapse if any […]

India bans wheat exports

India banned wheat exports on Saturday — days after saying it was targeting record shipments this year — as a scorching heat wave curtailed output and domestic prices hit a record high. The government said it would still allow exports backed by already issued letters of credit and to countries that request supplies “to meet […]

Kunstler: That Sinking Feeling

You might ask yourself: Why is it “important” that we spend thirty, forty, fifty billion dollars pounding sand down the rat hole that is post-Maidan Ukraine, grift central for the sketchy nexus of US politicians and their sponsors in the warcraft industry? Answer: Aside from one final magnificent payday, they are producing a grand opera […]

The world has a major crude oil problem; expect conflict ahead

Media outlets tend to make it sound as if all our economic problems are temporary problems, related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, world crude oil production has been falling behind needed levels since 2019. This problem, by itself, encourages the world economy to contract in unexpected ways, including in the form of economic […]

Biden Scraps Offshore Oil Auctions

The Biden administration is scrapping planned auctions of drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Cook Inlet — a move that deepens uncertainty over the future of the US government’s offshore oil leasing program. The Interior Department said in an emailed statement it “will not move forward” with two Gulf lease auctions that […]

EIA Predicts $103 Crude

Brent crude oil prices are on track to average $107/bbl in the second quarter and $103 in the second half of this year, with low inventories creating the potential for “significant price volatility,” according to the latest projections from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Brent spot prices averaged $105 in April, a $13 sequential decrease, […]

California Energy Officials Warn of Blackouts This Summer

California energy officials on Friday issued a sober forecast for the state’s electrical grid, saying it lacks sufficient capacity to keep the lights on this summer and beyond if heatwaves, wildfires or other extreme events take their toll. The update from leaders from three state agencies and the office of Governor Gavin Newsom comes in […]

Decline and fall of the West

History tells us that civilisations and empires are ephemeral. Like the Egyptian civilisation, they may last for thousands of years or, like the extensive Mongol Empire, be gone in less than 200 years. Douglas Murray’s latest book The War on the West details the decline of our civilisation which found its origin in Greece, a […]

Edward Bernays’ Red Pill

“Instead of knowledge, universal access has given the common man a rubber stamp inked with advertising slogans.”   The terms “red pill” and “blue pill” refer to a choice between the willingness to learn a potentially unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the red pill or remaining in contented ignorance with the blue pill. The […]

G7 announces plans to ban imports of Russian oil

G7 governments have announced plans to ban the import of Russian oil to punish Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine. The group – which includes the United States – made the announcement Sunday. It appeared as part of a list of new sanctions, and said: ‘First, we commit to phase out our dependency on Russian energy, […]

Flying insect numbers have plunged by 60% since 2004, GB survey finds

The number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004, according to a survey that counted splats on car registration plates. The scientists behind the survey said the drop was “terrifying”, as life on Earth depends on insects. The results from many thousands of journeys by members of the public […]

Russia Is Returning To The Gold Standard And China Is Going To Be Next

No sooner was it that I wrote an article talking about how Russia was going to back the ruble with gold than “one of the Russia’s most powerful security/intelligence officers and a close ally of Putin” has admitted the country’s intentions to do just that. And I’m predicting that no sooner will the gravity of […]

LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Is It Time To Abandon the Idea of Phasing Out Oil and Gas?
• More than 20% of global refining capacity at risk of closure
• Charles Hugh Smith Blog: Fire, Then Ice Our Deflationary Future
• Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser says energy transition strategy ‘visibly failing’
• 100 million-degree ‘artificial sun’ sets new records in hunt for energy’s ‘Holy Grail’

• China’s peak oil demand bombshell eviscerates Danielle Smith’s energy strategy
• US seeks to buy up to 3 million bbls of oil for Strategic Petroleum Reserve
• Desertification: the world is losing healthy land at an astonishing rate
• US oil production will keep booming in 2024, setting up a possible showdown with Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabia piles pressure on UAE to shift COP28 focus away from oil and gas
• US Warship, Commercial Ships Under Attack In Red Sea