The War on Coal and Plastic

We’re winning the war on coal as more and more coal-fired electrical generating plants close or switch to natural gas. At last count, since President Trump took office, a coal-fired electrical generating plant has closed roughly every 15 days. Of course, the President is very coal friendly, but basic economics have prevailed in spite of […]

Oil Supply Exceeds Demand in 1H

Oil supply exceeded demand by 0.9 million barrels per day (MMbpd) in the first half of 2019, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest oil market report. In a statement posted on the organization’s website on Friday, the IEA said its latest data shows a global surplus of 0.5MMbpd in the second quarter (2Q). […]

Why stimulus can’t fix our energy problems

Economists tell us that within the economy there is a lot of substitutability, and they are correct. However, there are a couple of not-so-minor details that they overlook: There is no substitute for energy. It is possible to harness energy from another source, or to make a particular object run more efficiently, but the laws […]

Peak Oil Demand Is Coming, Will Transform Exploration Sector

The global trend toward alternative energy sources and shifting stakeholder sentiments could mark the demise of the oil and gas exploration sector. It may also represent an opportunity to transform. This is according to a new report published by Wood Mackenzie, a global research firm that has been analyzing the oil and gas industry since […]

Chris Martenson: Extreme Frugality

We didn’t have a lot growing up, as my mom had to single-parent three kids. Most anything I wanted required disciplined frugality. I bought my first fly rod from Orvis at the age of 13, which took the better part of a year to save up for. I hand-tied the first flies drifted from its […]

Oil demand won’t peak until 2035

“At some point in the next 20 years, it’s likely we’re going to see oil demand peak. Our own view at Wood Mackenzie, is around 2035, 2036,” Wood Mackenzie chairman Simon Flowers said in an interview with CNN Business. The International Energy Agency, which monitors energy supply for the world’s richest countries, said earlier this […]

U.S. Oil Demand Was Scorching Hot Last Year

The U.S. economy burned through an average of 20.46 million barrels of crude oil and related liquids each day last year, according to BP‘s (NYSE:BP) latest annual Statistical Review of World Energy. That was about 500,000 barrels per day (BPD), or 2.5%, more than 2017’s total, and the largest demand increase in more than a […]

Some Snapshots of the Global Energy Situation

“Global primary energy grew by 2.9% in 2018 – the fastest growth seen since 2010. This occurred despite a backdrop of modest GDP growth and strengthening energy prices. At the same time, carbon emissions from energy use grew by 2.0%, again the fastest expansion for many years, with emissions increasing by around 0.6 gigatonnes. That’s roughly equivalent to […]

Why there is no ‘Peak Car’

Auto sales, particularly in the US, have been booming for years. Automakers have been positing healthy profits, but now concern has developed about “Peak Car,” the idea that worldwide auto sales growth has topped out. The auto industry isn’t meaningfully threatened by ride-hailing or new companies making electric vehicles. And although sales could decline in […]

Welcome To The Decade Of Slow Economic Growth

Summary In the last 100 years, multiple factors were in play to ensure economic growth. Those factors are disappearing quickly. Returns will be much smaller going forward. The world economy has grown tremendously in the last 100 years driven by multiple factors such as population growth, technological advancements and rapid urbanization, not to mention a […]

With Venezuela in collapse, towns slip into primitive isolation

At the once-busy beach resort of Patanemo, tourism has evaporated over the last two years as Venezuela’s economic crisis has deepened and deteriorating cellphone service left visitors too afraid of robbery to brave the isolated roads. A man weighs coffee beans, given as a means of payment, in a hardware store in Guarico, Venezuela April […]

Oil In Bear Market; Is Now The Time To Buy?

Reasons For the Oil Sell-Off The sell-off in the oil prices has been mainly due to two main factors: Oil glut building up Trade war impacting the demand equation Even though we had many negative headlines on oil prices in the past few days, the gains for the WTI and Brent are standing tall. The […]

US crude oil falls into bear market

  Prices pressured as US inventories of crude rise to highest level since July 2017 Mamta Badkar in New York and Anjli Raval in London June 5, 2019 Print this page US crude oil settled in a bear market on Wednesday and Brent lurched to a six-month low after stockpiles of US crude unexpectedly jumped […]

Forget “Money” – What Will Matter Are Water, Energy, Soil, & Food… And A Shared National Purpose

If you want to identify tomorrow’s superpowers, overlay maps of fresh water, energy, grain/cereal surpluses and arable land. The status quo measures wealth with “money,” but “money” is not what’s valuable. “Money” (in quotes because the global economy operates on intrinsically valueless fiat currencies being “money”) is wealth only if it can purchase what’s actually valuable. […]

The Silver Lining Of An Oil Price Crash

It has been a dismal week for oil prices despite a slight recovery on Friday morning, but there may be a silver lining to the most recent price crash. (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) (Click to enlarge) Oil rebounded […]

Pitching Seaweed Straws

“Kelp-based straws will beat the price of paper straw competitors later this year and could under-price plastic straws by the end of 2020.“     The young woman strode past the three judges and spoke directly to the Standing Room Only audience of more than 1000. “I am Chelsea Briganti, my company is LOLIWARE, and […]

Sustainability is a balancing act

EVERYONE now wants to champion sustainability. This is good, and we need to get everyone on board to contribute to sustainability. Schools and universities provide an excellent platform to garner support for the sustainability agenda. In fact, the government should allocate a special budget to raise awareness about sustainability. This would be a worthwhile investment […]

Rural America Is On The Verge Of Collapse

The Economic Innovation Group’s (EIG) Distressed Communities Index (DCI) shows a significant economic transformation (from two distinct periods: 2007-2011 and 2012-2016) that occurred since the financial crisis. The shift of human capital, job creation, and business formation to metropolitan areas reveals that rural America is teetering on the edge of collapse. Since the crisis, the […]

IEA cuts oil-demand forecast, but sees market tightening on Iran

Global oil demand will grow more slowly than previously thought following an economic lull in Asia, the International Energy Agency said, while warning that supplies stand to tighten due to U.S. sanctions on Iran. Disappointing fuel consumption in China, Japan and Brazil meant 2019 started with a “tough quarter,” the agency said, lowering its global […]

Saudi Arabia wants to buy tons of American natural gas

Saudi Arabia has placed a huge bet on American natural gas. In a sign of shifting energy fortunes, Saudi Aramco announced a mega preliminary agreement on Wednesday to buy 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year from a Port Arthur, Texas export project that’s under development. If completed, the purchase from San Diego-based […]

Undeterred By Peak Oil, Saudis Look To Become World’s Largest Oil Trader

Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Aramco says that it doesn’t believe all the ‘peak oil demand hype’ and expects that its crude oil will be in high demand for decades to come. While the Kingdom says that it’s working on the Vision 2030 strategy to diversify its economy away from oil, the Saudis and their […]

Why Resources Aren’t ‘Natural’ and Will Never Run Out

Last week, the World Wildlife Fund proclaimed May 10 to be Europe’s “Overshoot Day,” the day that Europe consumed its portion of Earth’s resources for the year. The WWF, the United Nations, and universities continue to warn that modern society is rapidly depleting our natural resources. But instead, trends show that for all practical purposes, […]

IEA Cuts Oil Demand Growth Forecast

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cut its oil demand growth forecast for 2019 to 1.3 million barrels per day (MMbpd) in its latest oil market report. The alteration marks the first change to the IEA’s 2019 demand outlook for several months. Prior to the cut, the IEA’s oil demand growth forecast for 2019 stood […]

Europe Bailed Out by Cheap LNG

In the Netherlands, once Europe’s largest natural gas supplier, one of the big questions is how to deal with declining production and increasing reliance on imports. For hundreds of energy traders, utility executives and analysts gathering in Amsterdam this week for the Flame Conference, the Netherlands epitomizes the European energy security situation. Whether through pipelines […]

A Food Crisis Is Here: Trouble For Farmers In The Corn Belt

Trouble is brewing for farmers in the United States located in the “corn belt.”  Corn is fed to the animals much of the country consumes, so without it, we are staring a food crisis right in the face. Corn planting is already behind on schedule. The weather in the United States has made farming difficult […]

Why Your Gasoline Won’t Take You As Far As it Used To

Over the weekend, I saw a passing reference on Twitter to the declining energy content of gasoline. Intuitively I know this to be correct for reasons I discuss below. But the poster linked to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that I hadn’t previously seen. The EIA doesn’t directly tabulate the energy content of gasoline. […]

Michael Lynch: How Two Nobel Prize-Winning Economists Got Oil Wrong

My recent book details the numerous mistakes made by many experts—real and apparent—about the oil market and oil prices, and this post will point to two in particular (the latter of which did not appear in the book).  Robert Solow and Paul Krugman are both M.I.T. professors of economics (Krugman only for a time) and […]

What Happens to Abandoned Malls?

Interior of the abandoned Wayne Hills Mall in Wayne, New Jersey John Arehart / Shutterstock In a report last week from Fort Wayne, Indiana, I noted what I considered the mid-century tragedy of big, sprawling, “modern” shopping malls displacing historic downtowns, only to become bankrupt eyesores after the malls’ few decades of fashionability had passed. […]

IPCC Demands Peak Oil Now

Guest hyperbole by David Middleton Definition of Hyperbole Hyperbole, derived from a Greek word meaning “over-casting,” is a figure of speech that involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis. Literary Devices IPCC demands Peak Oil now = hyperbole… Or does it? Article / April 23, 2019 OVEREXPOSED The IPCC’s report on 1.5°C and the risks of […]

Russian Oil to Parts of Europe Suspended

Russian oil flows to parts of Europe were halted after customers complained of unusual impurities in the crude, adding another disruption to the global oil market and pushing prices in London above $75 a barrel. Poland, which receives oil through a northern section of the giant Druzhba pipeline, stopped Russian imports, saying shipments have become […]

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