Section » Commentary
The Top 10 Peak-Oil-Related Stories of 2008
1. Â The Global Recession The impact that declining world oil production will have during the coming year, and possibly longer, is now inextricably intertwined with the course of the economic recession that is sweeping the world. During 2008 the world’s stock markets lost some $30 trillion in investor equity. Nearly every major government was
More Articles
Drill Baby Drill - A Reality Check
Many Americans want to believe that the US still has unlimited oil resources within its boundaries, if only the pesky environmentalists would just get out of the way. Throughout the recent presidential campaign, the “Drill baby drill” mantra was exploited relentlessly by John McCain, his
Will Canada be Our Salvation?
There have been occasional claims from U.S. media sources that oil from Canada, specifically oil from the Athabasca oil sands region, can be the salvation for US oil woes in the future, assuming drilling everywhere in the US doesn’t do the trick. An example of such optimism was exemplified in
Taxes and Choice
Whenever I mention the idea of increasing gasoline taxes, some inevitably hear only half the message: A tax increase. They don’t want to know about any tradeoffs I propose, or if there might be a long-term benefit. They just know one thing: Tax increases are bad. But I don’t want to increase
Gleanings from Fatih Birol’s presentation of the WEO 2008 to the Council on Foreign Relations
Last week, Fatih Birol, chief economist to the International Energy Agency, presented the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2008 to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. In an unusual gesture, this CFR session was opened to invited guests, which is how I cleared its thick oak doors. As
BP Fights Self in Phone Booth, Loses Match
British Petroleum ranks as one of the lead members of the peak oil denial club. ASPO’s Colin Campbell and Kjell Aleklett both took BP to task for recent comments slamming the peak oil perspective, even denying its validity. (More on the latter point in a moment.)   But it wasn’t
Alaska’s Key to Oil Production - It’s a Gas…
The two-and-a-half year bout to rehabilitate pipelines on Alaska’s North Slope appears to be over. Daily field-by-field production figures from Alaska’s Department of Revenue show that production curtailments, especially in the Prudhoe Bay Unit, have given way to steady production at surprisingly
A Peak-Oiler, but still in the closet? IEA’s 2008 Report
By Aage Figenschou, with Matt Simmons The groundbreaking new IEA World Energy Outlook 2008 is still a product of a somewhat schizophrenic organization.  Here and there you still have references to how abundant the resource base is (9 trillion barrels all in) and how satisfying demand is only a question
An Opportunity in Energy Policy
A Letter to the President-elect By John Langhus and Steve Andrews [ full-length version of this article in PDF ] Dear President-elect Obama, We believe that no other challenge we currently face
China’s Oil Reserve Forecast and Analysis Based on Peak Oil Models
By Lianyong Feng, Junchen Li and Xiongqi Pang In order to forecast future oil production it is necessary to know the size of reserves and to use models. We use two peak oil models-the Hu-Chen-Zhang model, usually called HCZ model, and the Hubbert model-which have been used commonly for forecasting in
