Why everyone is now an amateur gardener during COVID-19

Whether it’s fear of an impending apocalypse, not being able to find what they want at the supermarket or simply having more time, an increasing number of Australians are turning their hands to growing their own fruits and vegetables. Landscaping and permaculture suppliers have reported an unprecedented demand over the past month from those with […]

This Is What The End Of The Oil Age Looks Like

The Oil Age has powered the world for well over a century. There have been two general schools of thought about how it will ultimately end. There were those who believed that oil production would peak and begin to decline in the face of high global demand. This is essentially the peak oil argument, which […]

Move over Peak Oil, now there’s too much of it

The world’s thirst for oil has evaporated. Highways are empty. Planes are grounded. Factories are dark. The unprecedented collapse in oil demand has sent crude crashing to 18-year lows. Supply, on the other hand, remains largely resilient amid a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. US producers don’t want to be the first to […]

Supplies Are Starting To Get Tight As Food Distribution Systems Break Down

All across America, store shelves are emptying and people are becoming increasingly frustrated because they can’t get their hands on needed supplies. Most Americans are blaming “hoarders” for the current mess, but it is actually much more complicated than that.  Normally, Americans get a lot of their food from restaurants.  In fact, during normal times 36 percent of all […]

Saudi Arabia Lets Prices Collapse

Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will raise its oil exports to a record 10.6 million barrels per day starting from May despite a global supply glut, escalating a price war with Russia. Oil prices are languishing at 17-year lows as the coronavirus pandemic threatens a painful global recession that could further sap demand. US […]

The Other Emergency Is Crashing Oil Prices

A barrel of Western Canadian Select diluted bitumen reached a record low of US$7.63 this week. Meanwhile a black market bottle of Purell hand sanitizer fetched $138 on the internet. There you have the frenzied volatility seizing global oil markets as the economy slows to a crawl around the world. One bottle of hand sanitizer is worth […]

The World Is Running Out of Oil. Here’s How to Be Prepared

Oil substantially impacts the products and activities that people become familiar with during their daily lives. Individuals immediately make a connection between oil and the fuel for vehicles. It serves that purpose, but oil also plays a role in the production of many plastics and chemicals, as well as asphalt and tar. It’s safe to […]

Oil Tumbles to 18-Year Low

Oil tumbled to an 18-year low as coronavirus lockdowns cascaded through the world’s largest economies, leaving the market overwhelmed by cratering demand and a ballooning surplus. Futures in London plunged by 9% to the lowest level since March 2002, while New York crude dipped below $20 a barrel before settling just above that level. While […]

COVID-19 Demonstrates the Importance of Plastics

Over the span of just a few weeks, the world’s priorities have shifted significantly. COVID-19 has made it abundantly clear that not only do we still need oil and natural gas, but the world would not be able to tackle this threat without products that are made possible by these resources, including plastic. Cities and […]

Covid-19 triggers 20% drop in oil demand

Early figures are suggesting that the outbreak of Covid-19 could have a significant impact on global oil demand, with Arij van Berkel, a director at US-based research firm Lux Research claiming that “early indications by traders suggest a 20% drop in demand.” “In a sense, the current demand decrease is a preview of demand projections […]

Oil Prices Won’t Go Negative, An Analysis Of Crude Storage Capability

Summary As investors get increasingly bearish, analysts start to talk about the potential for low or negative oil prices. However, that’s simply false. COVID-19 will cause a worst case 960 million barrels, but likely half of that, and we can assume all of that will be stored. Production will decline rapidly by 20-30% in the […]

The Impossible Challenges Created By Growing Population

In the period 1975 to 2019, world population increased at an average of 83 million per year. The 2019 increase was the difference between approximately 140 million births and 57 million deaths. The annual emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion, cement manufacture and deforestation are currently 40 billion metric tons, of which almost […]

Yergin: Oil crash has similarities to 1998, 1930s

The Permian Basin oil and gas industry is caught in the crossfire of two crises: a demand shock caused by the impact of the coronavirus, and a supply shock as Saudi Arabia and Russia flood the markets with crude as part of a price war. “Two crises have hit the oil market at the same […]

Why Preppers Weren’t Really Prepared For The Pandemic

Among the many lessons of the pandemic thus far is that the world was — and remains — woefully unprepared. But not everyone in the world. For one cohort, COVID-19 has presented the very crisis they’ve long awaited, what they sometimes call “The Big One.” They are preppers, also known as survivalists; they stockpile food, guns, and emergency equipment […]

Global Economic Consequences of COVID-19

The panic resulting from the events starting with the deaths in Wuhan keeps spreading globally faster than the spreading of the virus itself. Quite apart from the immediate health dangers, now a new economic danger looms large globally. We are facing the prospects of a deep and lasting global recession regardless of the health policy […]

Stock Markets Price in Doomsday Scenario for Oil

Holly Black: Welcome to the Morningstar Market Update. I’m Holly Black. With me is Allen Good. He is equity analyst at Morningstar in Amsterdam. Good afternoon. Allen Good: Good afternoon. Black: So, you’ve had a very busy sector to keep an eye on over the past couple of weeks. Can you tell us what’s been […]

Oil Demand To Plunge By 10 Million Barrels Per Day

As major economies go into lockdown, oil demand continues to fall off a cliff. On Monday, WTI fell into the $20s. “The additional quarantine measures imposed in France, Spain and elsewhere over the weekend has spurred a ‘world championship’ in demand loss forecasting this morning,” Bjoernar Tonhaugen, Rystad Energy’s head of Oil Markets, said in […]

Kunstler: Things Have Changed

At least in wartime, the bars stay open. That’s how you know this is a different thing altogether from whatever else you’ve seen in your lifetime. Even those of us who signed up for this trip — that is, who expected a long emergency — may be a little bit in cosmic awe at just […]

Is it time to freak out?

Toilet paper? Have people lost their minds? Of course, I have wondered that many times even without the coronavirus scare, but it’s toilet paper that people are panic buying? I seriously don’t get that, but there is a real threat from Covid-19. The most pressing and important long-term effect beyond the deaths that will occur […]

Saudi Prince MBS Gambles on Oil Markets

Saudi Arabia is now flooding the international market with cheap oil, a move that could hurt Russia’s dominance in the industry and derail its 2020 economic plans. Russia has repeatedly failed or refused to abide by OPEC agreements, prompting the Saudi leadership to crank up oil supplies to unprecedented levels. The current oil supply war […]

A Millenial’s Eye View of the Collapse of Industrial Civilization

A discussion held this week with a true Millenial Generation (Born 1998, Age 21) young man from northern Ontario Canada, who recently became aware the Civilization he lives in is undergoing Collapse. He joined our intrepid Clan of Kollapsniks on the Doomstead Diner after becoming “Collapse Aware” in September of 2019 and happening on George […]

Oil: Blood In The Streets

Arguably one of the wildest months in oil history, it’s hard to imagine that less than a month ago oil prices were almost $55 / barrel Brent, and that less than a year ago, they were approaching $70 / barrel Brent. That drop in stock prices has shattered oil companies. Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) has […]

Iraqi economic crisis looms as oil prices collapse

Crashing oil prices are likely to put a massive strain on Iraq’s economy, including a severe budget shortfall that could further undermine the government’s ability to respond to myriad crises. If Brent crude remains near $30 per barrel, due to a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the economic fallout from the spread […]

Get Ready For Your Lifestyle To Change Indefinitely Because Of This Coronavirus Pandemic

Fear of the coronavirus is causing shutdowns on a global scale like we have never seen before.  Just about every major sporting event that you can think of has been either canceled or postponed, schools and universities are keeping students away, global tourism is absolutely collapsing, churches are being shuttered, conferences and festivals are being […]

How Saudi Arabia started a global crude price war

Oil prices crashed by as much as 30 per cent after Saudi Arabia fired the first shots in a price war, in crude’s biggest one-day fall since the early 1990s Gulf war. Riyadh’s threat to discount its crude and raise production prompted the price of Brent crude, the international oil marker, to fall to as […]

Prepping for Coronavirus

How the Well-Dressed Diner preps up for a trip to the Food Superstore.

A tipping point for the global economy

The conflict over oil production between Saudi Arabia and Russia this weekend has sent oil prices plummeting and comes on the heels of growing worries about the spread of coronavirus. This marks the first time the global economy has been buffeted by simultaneous supply shocks. The two are related. The conflict among oil producers was […]

US natural gas consumption sets new record

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Monthly Note: Other includes lease and plant fuel consumption, pipeline and distribution use, and vehicle fuel consumption. U.S. natural gas consumption increased by 3% in 2019, reaching a record of 85.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) recently released Natural […]

Huge Red Flag For Oil: Global Economic Growth Could Be Cut In Half

A prolonged and wide-ranging coronavirus outbreak could cut global economic growth to just 1.5 percent this year, half the growth rate expected before the outbreak, and send Japan and the euro area into recession, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Monday. A significant drop in global economic growth is very bad […]

Oil Falls to a 3-Year Low on Ongoing OPEC+ Cut Indecision

Brent crude settled below $50 a barrel for the first time since July 2017, as uncertainty loomed over whether Russia would agree to OPEC’s proposal for a large production cut. Futures in London fell 2.2% as OPEC ministers extended their initial proposal for a 1.5 million-barrel-a-day supply reduction to year-end, according to delegates. The reduction […]

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LATEST NEWS HEADLINES

• Keiser Report | Supply Chains: The Last Mile  
• Why everyone is now an amateur gardener during COVID-19
• This Is What The End Of The Oil Age Looks Like
• Kunstler: Boomer Elegy
• China to Start Buying Oil for State Reserves After Crash

• Richard Heinberg: How Does Pandemic Change the Big Picture?
• Kunstler interviews Gail Tverberg of Our Finite World  
• Covid-19 triggers 20% drop in oil demand
• Countries Are Starting to Hoard Food, Threatening Global Trade
• Oil Prices Won’t Go Negative, An Analysis Of Crude Storage Capability
• The Impossible Challenges Created By Growing Population