Tag Archives: Peak Oil

Peak Oil – Anyone Buying?

peak oil

Peak oil.  A fascinating concept.  Motley used to scare children into thinking that the planet will die and we’ll freeze due to lack of usable fuels.

Or starve because the economy will tank as oil prices continue to rise and all goods and services become too expensive for the common man to afford.

Technically it means, at least I think it means, the moment when new discovers of oil are fewer than the increasing demand for oil.  We begin to see supply diminish and demand increase.

However, there is a small catch.  The oil that is counted as “discovered” is only that oil that is economically feasible to obtain.  Oil on the moon?  No good, too expensive.  Oil 25 miles deep?  Same thing.

However, technology is catching up and pushing the concept of peak oil further and further into the future:

Rising U.S. shale oil production will help meet most of the world’s new oil demand in the next five years, even if the global economy picks up steam, leaving little room for OPEC to lift output without risking lower prices, the West’s energy agency said.

The prediction by the International Energy Agency (IEA) came in its closely watched semi-annual report, which analyses mid-term global oil supply and demand trends.

“North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world,” IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said on Tuesday.

It might take a new President to obtain access to all the oil though.

 

Peak Oil

Indeed:

The Jubilee Field in Ghana is estimated to contain 1.8 billion barrels of crude. Tullow Oil discovered the field in 2007 and is now working to develop its potential. In 2011 it produced 66,000 barrels a day.

The Chicontepec Basin in Mexico is estimated to contain 10 billion barrels of crude.

The Kashagan Field in Kazakhstan is estimated to contain 11 billion barrels of crude.

The unnamed fields in the southwest of Iraq are estimated to contain 45-100 billion barrels of crude oil.

The Santos and Campos Basins in Brazil are estimated to contain 123 billion barrels of crude.

The Orinoco Belt in Venezuela is estimated to contain 513 billion barrels of oil.

Peak Oil? We’ll Never Burn Our Last Drop Of Oil

Long before we get to the very last drop of oil, we;ll have identified another form of fuel for our society.  It may be another form of fossil fuel, it may be solar or it may be wave.  In any event, the idea that the work will run out of oil and the implication that our society will wither and fade away is ridiculous.

As people who make money on oil begin to realize that were close to running out of oil, they’ll raise the price of said oil.  And when THAT happens, that new fuel will be found.

Fortunately, we may already have taken a step in that direction:

Sanford, N.C. — Geologists have wrapped up research on natural gas deposits in central North Carolina and are awaiting an assessment from the U.S. Geological Survey in July.

North Carolina Geological Survey chief Kenneth Taylor says his assessment shows that Lee, Chatham and Moore counties could produce enough natural gas to power the whole state for 40 years.

40 years.

Of power.

No oil.

What could prevent this awesome resource from being utilized?

Government:

But state law would have to change to allow horizontal drilling and a process known as fracturing that uses chemicals and water to force natural gas from shale.

Figures.

Peak Oil Myth

We’ve heard about it since we known about it.  The idea that somehow, someway, the world is gonna run oughta oil.

And when we do, well, the end of the world as we know it will commence.  The illustration to the right just shows a tip of the hysteria that folks are spreading.

End of oil?  Beginning of anarchy.

And so they demand that we do something about it.

And we did.

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We'll Never Run Out of Oil

Wanna really quick proof?

We still haven’t run out of trees or whales.

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