Big Oil has a lot more to worry about than fighting the biofuels industry over the Renewable Fuel Standard. Fourth quarter 2013 earning reports show that major oil companies haven't been as profitable lately as they used to be.
Just because gas prices have been steadily declining since March doesn't mean we should all get comfortable with the idea of lower refueling costs and a dependable fuel supply. In fact, a University of Maryland study titled "Economic Vulnerability to Peak Oil" pushes the panic button a bit.
At least one author is warning consumers not to be fooled by relatively steady gas prices and prognostications of plentiful petroleum. Richard Heinberg, in his book Snake Oil: How Fracking's False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future is warning people that any prediction that the world has staved off the prospect of diminishing returns on continued oil drilling is inaccurate, and that the recent increase in
Compared with the rest of the world, the U.S. has long been known as the gas guzzler country--the nation of the widest roads, largest vehicles and the least amount of reliable mass transit for the geography. That image could be changing, according to a new study that says driving in the U.S. has already peaked and will decline.
You can make a coherent, logical argument for cars that don't burn gasoline without once mentioning global petroleum supply. You can talk about international relations and the power of gasoline exporters (just read the first three paragraphs of this for a bit of history). You can talk about climate change. You can talk about the health effects of CO2 in the air. But the fact remains that gas
What global recession? After falling 1.5 percent from 2008 to 2009, global oil consumption soared to an all-time high of 87.4 million barrels per day in 2010, according to the online Vital Signs report published by Worldwatch Institute. The 3.1 percent increase in consumption in 2010 easily makes up for the decline between 2008 and 2009 caused by the global economic crisis.
The United States hit peak oil production in 1970. Depending on your sources, we may have already passed global peak production or we may not reach the downslope in for a few more years. Still, even if the amount of fuel being pumped out of the Earth has crested, surely all those new four-wheel vehicles being added in Asia alone is enough to guarantee that global use of cars is still on the
Peak oil, according to Wikipedia, is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. Opinions vary on when the world will actually reach a peak oil scenario, but a new report detailed by Julian Assange's infamous Wikileaks website indi
While the debate over peak oil rages on, a new yardstick has emerged: "peak travel."
Peak oil, according to the great and all-knowing Wiki, "is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline." Regardless of your opinions on whether or not the planet has entered into its Peak Oil stage, it would seem that the United States has at least entered the stage of steady decline in usage.
Energy analyst Charles Maxwell of Weeden & Co. sat down to discuss peak oil, alternative energy and the future cost of a barrel of crude with Index Universe managing editor Olivier Ludwig recently. Maxwell, a man who has been involved in the oil industry for more than half a century, is pretty sure that peak oil is nearly upon us. Maxwell's vision of a world forever changed by dwindling petroleum supplies is startling, so let's hope it's not entirely accurate.
That worry (or hope, depending on your point of view) that oil might soon drop to $10 a barrel? It might be here – or maybe not. It all depends on who you ask.
Here's how you make friends and influence people: say that politicians and industry experts have their "heads in the sand" when it comes to understanding how much oil is left in the world. That's what Britain's former chief scientist, Sir David King, said recently, adding that people with a "vested interest" in overstating how much easy-to-access crude is left in the ground do so, and that
Wherever you weigh in on the peak oil debate, most Americans tend to agree that less foreign oil is in our best interests. The problem, of course, is that we can't make all the oil we need: 21 million barrels per day, give or take. We have a capacity of about 5 million barrels per day in the U.S., so the remainder comes in through Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela.
The U.S. military thinks we're one step closer to peak oil, the point at which oil demand will forever outstrip oil supply, and therefore we're one step closer to fighting over the last rusting cans of gasoline like so many scraps of meat. On the plus side, we're also one step closer to finally equipping our cars with superchargers and massive gas tanks rigged with explosives a la Mad Max and his archetypal peak-
