Posts Tagged ‘peak oil’

Why a potential role for the US as oil production king needs an asterisk

By John Kingston | December 11, 2012 04:01 PM Comments (5)

The peak oil folks have been saying it for years, but now a Wall Street house is sending out a caution flag as well.

One of the arguments long made by followers of peak oil is that organizations such as the International Energy Agency count crude and natural gas liquids equally.So the world market of 89 million b/d of liquids contains mostly energy-intensive versatile hydrocarbons such as crude oil–versatile in the sense that they can be processed to make products that do everything from propelling cars to making carbon black–and a lesser amount of NGLs with a far more limited use.

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A peak oil follower despairs of his movement’s future

By John Kingston | June 12, 2012 10:53 AM Comments (0)

When OPEC officials meeting in Vienna are talking about “tremendous” surpluses of oil in the world, and US crude production has risen above 6 million b/d, it’s tough to be a disciple to the peak oil school of the future.

Ask Luis de Sousa. This Portugese member of the the Association for the Study of Peak Oil has just returned from the recent ASPO meeting in Vienna, and he is not optimistic that the movement has a great deal of energy left in it.

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Oil from shale will take US back to the ’70s

By Gary Taylor | November 30, 2011 10:35 AM Comments (0)

Just a couple of years ago, this prediction for US oil production would have sounded preposterous. But Tudor Pickering Holt’s chief energy strategist now thinks the number could grow from the current level of 5.7 million b/d to more than 7 million b/d in the near future.  He actually said it out loud recently in an interview with Platts Oilgram News.

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A cautious take on the good fortune of shale

By Meghan Gordon | October 20, 2011 10:43 PM Comments (0)

Fracking exists thanks to decades of technological improvements of old-school drilling practices. But did it also depend on a dose of luck?

Economist James Hamilton argues it probably did. In a paper out this week (PDF), he urges the US to keep that in mind before moving on with shale extraction and consumption like everything has changed.

If the shale boon amounts to hitting the lottery for domestic supply, what if we blow the winnings before finding the next golden ticket?

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Notes from The Oil Council assembly: rebalancing, soaring land prices and candles

By John Kingston | October 5, 2011 07:16 PM Comments (0)

A few notes from this year’s Americas Assembly of The Oil Council in New York.

(Unfortunately, no media breakfast this year; the prior two were interesting affairs that you can read about here and here.)

(With contributions from Platts staff members Sheela Tobben and Leslie Moore Mira.)

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Peak oil intrigue, at your bookstores now

By Jeff Mower | November 16, 2010 02:18 PM Comments (0)

The peak oil debate has spurred a tremendous amount of debate. Now it’s spurred a book.

The author, Kurt Cobb, is described by his publisher this way: Kurt Cobb is an author and columnist who speaks and writes frequently on energy and the environment. His column appears on the Paris-based science news site Scitizen, and his work has been featured on Energy Bulletin, 321energy, Le Monde Diplomatique, The Oil Drum, Common Dreams, EV World, and many other sites. He is a founding member of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas–USA, and he serves on the board of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions. He maintains a blog called Resource Insights.

Finding their inner square at the annual peak oil meeting

By Vandana Hari | October 11, 2010 07:31 PM Comments (1)

Seen as the fringe and “out there” wing of the energy world, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas-USA shows signs of finding its inner nerd as its sets its sights on making a bigger policy footprint.

This year the group held its sixth annual conference within spittin’ distance of the Capitol in Washington, DC. Recent past conferences have been in California, Colorado and  Texas.

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A random walk: from Iranian gasoline to New York natural gas

By John Kingston | July 30, 2010 05:39 PM Comments (0)

Some random musings on a Friday, halfway through the summer:

  • It is truly astounding just how fast the noose is tightening around Iran’s gasoline supplies. Sanctions are not even fully implemented by the west; the details remain murky; conventional wisdom holds that sanctions are always futile; and yet the reports continue roll in that Iran’s supply of gasoline continues to get squeezed. Platts reported today that Turkish refiner Tupras, one of the few remaining visible companies in the world to keep supplying gasoline to Iran, has had to offer for sale on the open market gasoline earmarked for Iran because it has been unable to fix vessels to take the oil to the Islamic Republic. As we reported Friday, “Tupras has encountered reluctance from shippers to call at Iranian ports and has had to put to tender several cargoes that were to have been delivered to Iran. One shipping source said, ‘The majority of shipowners are refusing to go to Iran at the moment.’” A small trading company with little concern about international sanctions might often be a company likely to break any sort of ban, but shipping companies are different. They need their boats to be able to call in ports all over the world, and do not need to be seen as sanctions-busters.

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Romance blooming in the spring: Americans + driving

By John Kingston | April 9, 2010 05:49 PM Comments (0)

Looks like Americans are revving the engines early this year.

The Mastercard data, which we’ve written about before, is one of many imperfect ways of trying to measure US gasoline demand. It’s based on credit card swipes, and it comes out weekly. 

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US oil output is rising: So what? Who cares?

By Xavier Cronin | December 4, 2009 12:41 PM Comments (5)

Anyone following recent Platts news feeds like Oilgram News and Global Alert now knows that US oil production is rising again at a fairly significant level and shows signs of holding above the 5 million b/d mark for the next 10 years.

As the journalist responsible for compiling the data that substantiates those results and the interviewing of experts to explain the reasons, however, I have a confession to make here in the blogosphere.

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