Category: Energy Matters

The twentieth century way of life has been made available, largely due to the miracle of cheap energy. The price of energy has been at record lows for the past century and a half.As oil becomes increasingly scarce, it is becoming obvious to everyone, that the rapid economic and industrial growth we have enjoyed for that time is not sustainable.Now, the hunt is on. For renewable sources of energy, for alternative sources of energy, for a way of life that is less dependent on cheap energy. 

Too fearful to publicise peak oil reality

admin /6 September, 2010

Too fearful to publicise peak oil reality

The economic establishment accepts the world soon won’t be able to meet energy demands, but wants to keep quiet about it.

It is very hard for the average person in the street to come to a sensible conclusion on peak oil. It’s a subject that prompts a passionate polarisation of views. The peak oilists sometimes sound like those extraordinary Christians with sandwich boards proclaiming that the end of the world is nigh. In contrast, the the international economic establishment – including the International Energy Agency (IEA) – has one very clear purpose in mind at all times: don’t panic. Their mission seems to be focused on keeping jittery markets calm.

Faced with these options the majority of people shrug their shoulders in confusion and ignore the trickle of whistleblowers, industry insiders and careful analysts who have been warning of the imminent decline in oil for over a decade now.

Remember the Queen’s question – that uncannily accurate and strikingly obvious question she put to economists at the London School of Economics a year ago after the financial crisis: did no one see it coming? Apply that question to peak oil and the answer is that many people did see it coming but they were marginalised, bullied into silence and the evidence was buried in the small print.

Take the 2008 edition of World Energy Outlook, the annual report on which the entire energy industry and governments depend. It included the table also published by the Guardian today, and the version I saw had shorter intervals on the horizontal axis. What it made blindingly clear was that peak oil was somewhere in 2008/9 and that production from currently producing fields was about to drop off a cliff. Fields yet to be developed and yet to be found enabled a plateau of production and it was only “non-conventional oil” which enabled a small rise. Think tar sands of Canada, think some of the most climate polluting oil extraction methods available. Think catastrophe.

Peak oil alarm revealed by secret official talks

admin /4 September, 2010

Peak oil alarm revealed by secret official talks

Behind government dismissals of ‘alarmist’ fears there is growing concern over critical future energy supplies

oil barrels Forecasts that crude oil production will reach 150m barrels a day by 2030 have been described as ‘unrealistic’. Photograph: Tatan Syuflana/AP

Speculation that government ministers are far more concerned about a future supply crunch than they have admitted has been fuelled by the revelation that they are canvassing views from industry and the scientific community about “peak oil“.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is also refusing to hand over policy documents about “peak oil” – the point at which oil production reaches its maximum and then declines – under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, despite releasing others in which it admits “secrecy around the topic is probably not good”.

German Military Report: Peak Oil Could Lead to Collapse of Democracy

admin /3 September, 2010

Published on Thursday, September 2, 2010 by The Raw Story

German Military Report: Peak Oil Could Lead to Collapse of Democracy

by Daniel Tencer

Peak oil has happened or will happen some time around this year, and its consequences could threaten the continued survival of democratic governments, says a secret Germany military report that was leaked online.

According to Der Spiegel, the report from a think-tank inside the German military warns that shrinking global oil supplies will threaten the world’s economic foundations and possibly lead to mass-scale upheaval within the next 15 to 30 years.

International trade would suffer as the cost of transporting goods across oceans would soar, resulting in “shortages in the supply of vital goods,” the report states, as translated by Der Spiegel.

The result would be the collapse of the industrial supply chain. “In the medium term the global economic system and every market-oriented national economy would collapse,” the report states.

Oil platform explodes in Gulf of Mexico

admin /3 September, 2010

Oil platform explodes in Gulf of Mexico

September 3, 2010 – 9:48amOil rig explodes in Gulf

An offshore oil rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico near the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill.

An oil platform explosion on Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico forced the crew to jump into the sea and threatened further damage to waters still recovering from the BP disaster.

It was the second such disaster in the Gulf, but this time there was no leak and no one was killed.

Fire engulfed the offshore platform 160 kilometres south of the Louisiana coast shortly after 9.00am (2400 AEST) and massive plumes of grey smoke billowed into the sky as rescuers rushed to fish out the workers.

Boats are seen spraying water on an oil and gas platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.

Boats are seen spraying water on an oil and gas platform that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo: AP

Photographs showed the 13-strong crew linking arms as they bobbed up and down in special flotation suits before being plucked out by helicopters and taken to a nearby rig and on to a mainland hospital.

All escaped serious injury.

Workers told rescue crews that they managed to shut down the wells before evacuating the platform and had spotted a thin sheen of oil spreading for about a mile.

The company that owns the platform, Houston-based Mariner Energy, did not know what caused the explosion.

Fire crews managed to extinguish the blaze after about five hours and the oil sheen was no longer visible by the time the Coast Guard arrived.

“The fire is out, and Coast Guard helicopters on scene and vessels on scene have no reports of a visible sheen in the water,” Captain Peter Troedsson, chief of staff for the Eighth Coast Guard District, told reporters.

“There’s no report or any evidence of leaks, but we continue to investigate and to monitor that situation to make sure that that doesn’t change.”

The incident ignited fresh criticism of the oil and gas industry as the region struggles to recover from the BP disaster, which was the largest ever maritime oil spill.

“The BP disaster was supposed to be the wake up call, but we hit the snooze button. Today the alarm went off again,” Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said in a statement.

“The oil industry continues to rail against regulation, but it’s become all too clear that the current approach to offshore drilling is simply too dangerous.”

Peak oil. Coming to a bowser near you

admin /2 September, 2010

Peak oil.  Coming to a bowser near you.
 
 
The [German military] leak has parallels with recent reports from the UK. Only last week the Guardian newspaper reported that the British Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is keeping documents secret which show the UK government is far more concerned about an impending supply crisis than it cares to admit.

 

According to the Guardian, the DECC, the Bank of England and the British Ministry of Defence are working alongside industry representatives to develop a crisis plan to deal with possible shortfalls in energy supply.

 

Military Study Warns of a Potentially Drastic Oil Crisis

By Stefan Schultz

Suppose it runs out? Mishaps in oil and gas exploration are almost routine, and governments have now started to wonder about a future with dwindling fossil fuel.

Zoom
Reuters

Suppose it runs out? Mishaps in oil and gas exploration are almost routine, and governments have now started to wonder about a future with dwindling fossil fuel.

A study by a German military think tank has analyzed how “peak oil” might change the global economy. The internal draft document — leaked on the Internet — shows for the first time how carefully the German government has considered a potential energy crisis.

The term “peak oil” is used by energy experts to refer to a point in time when global oil reserves pass their zenith and production gradually begins to decline. This would result in a permanent supply crisis — and fear of it can trigger turbulence in commodity markets and on stock exchanges.

The issue is so politically explosive that it’s remarkable when an institution like the Bundeswehr, the German military, uses the term “peak oil” at all. But a military study currently circulating on the German blogosphere goes even further.

WA government acquires land for Woodside gas plant

admin /2 September, 2010

WA government acquires land for Woodside gas plant

THE West Australian government has begun proceedings to compulsorily acquire 2500 hectares of pristine Kimberley land to build a gas processing hub.

The move comes after Premier Colin Barnett admitted defeat in his long-running attempts to negotiate a consent agreement with the traditional Aboriginal landowners.

Mr Barnett issued the controversial acquisition instructions today amid fears that major resources projects were being put at risk by the delays.

Oil and gas giant Woodside – which intends to use the gas plant for a proposed $30 billion LNG project in the Browse Basin – issued a statement saying the move would provide greater certainty for the development.

Mr Barnett said the acquisition could take up to 18 months to finalise and he had not given up hope that an agreement could still be reached with the traditional owners in the meantime. He said discussions with them would continue in parallel to the acquisition process.

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