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The Top 10 Peak-Oil-Related Stories of 2008

The Top 10 Peak-Oil-Related Stories of 2008

By Tom Whipple • on January 5, 2009

1.  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

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Drill Baby Drill - A Reality Check

Drill Baby Drill - A Reality Check

By Roger Blanchard • on December 29, 2008

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

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Will Canada be Our Salvation?

Will Canada be Our Salvation?

By Roger Blanchard • on December 22, 2008

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

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Taxes and Choice

Taxes and Choice

By RRapier • on December 15, 2008

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

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Gleanings from Fatih Birol’s presentation of the WEO 2008 to the Council on Foreign Relations

Gleanings from Fatih Birol’s presentation of the WEO 2008 to the Council on Foreign Relations

By Sally Odland • on December 8, 2008

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

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BP Fights Self in Phone Booth, Loses Match

BP Fights Self in Phone Booth, Loses Match

By Steve Andrews • on December 1, 2008

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

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Alaska’s Key to Oil Production - It’s a Gas…

Alaska’s Key to Oil Production - It’s a Gas…

By Tom Standing • on November 24, 2008

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

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A Peak-Oiler, but still in the closet? IEA’s 2008 Report

A Peak-Oiler, but still in the closet? IEA’s 2008 Report

By Matt Simmons • on November 17, 2008

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

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An Opportunity in Energy Policy

An Opportunity in Energy Policy

By Steve Andrews • on November 10, 2008

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

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China’s Oil Reserve Forecast and Analysis Based on Peak Oil Models

China’s Oil Reserve Forecast and Analysis Based on Peak Oil Models

By Tom Whipple • on November 3, 2008

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

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