Peak Oil News

It would be tough to find a roughneck anywhere in the world who would describe working on a drill rig as easy, but Bob Gamble, who toils on the deck of Precision Drilling's rig number 521, comes closest. It is a state-of-the-art rig that bored its first hole just weeks before, an "iron roughneck" that has taken a lot of the backbreaking labour out of a job that has traditionally been recognized as tougher than anything outside a hardrock underground mine. » Source: canada.com If you venture to northeastern B.C., you will find dozens of similar rigs probing the landscape like mosquitoes seeking blood, guided by young workers such as Gamble who trade their labour for paycheques that can reach $100,000 a year. The machines and the workers are the physical manifestations of the biggest natural gas exploration boom in B.C.'s history, part ...

As a petroleum industry analyst who gave up material security for a career as an activist against petroleum industry expansion, I've developed a unique understanding of the global peak in oil extraction. Questioning society's energy needs has always been my tendency. But I gained further understanding of our culture by giving up affluence and many conveniences. This was an attempt to get closer to nature and live by my wits with the support of activists and my growing community of friends far and wide. » Source: Gristmill In 2004 I hit the road (the rails, usually) to spread the word about the plastic plague, petrocollapse, and the positive future that culture change will present. It was fitting that the nonprofit organization I founded in 1988, Fossil Fuels Policy Action, eventually ...

Satellite images of the Arctic show large openings in the perennial ice cover, yet another consequence of greenhouse warming, scientists announced this week. The Arctic's thick perennial sea ice typically survives the warmth of the summer and lasts through the year. But satellite images taken in late August show that up to 10 percent of the perennial sea ice has been fractured by summer storms. The surprising change involves an area larger than the size of the British Isles. » Source: LiveScience.com The striking openings in the pack ice were found north of Svalbard, Norway and extend to the Russian Arctic all the way to the North Pole. This condition is likely due to the thinning and extra mobility in the European section of the central Arctic ice pack seen in recent years. "This situation is unlike anything observed in previous record ...

Last fall Australia’s Senate, concerned about the future of the country’s oil supply, directed a standing committee to conduct an inquiry. The Committee was charged with investigating projections for the production and demand for oil inside Australia and globally, and the implications for the availability and price of transportation fuel. In essence, the Committee was asked to investigate peak oil. To gather information, the Committee advertised hearings and wrote to many organizations inviting submissions. In response came 192 written replies from all over the world. The Committee also held nine public hearings. Two weeks ago the preliminary findings were issued as an interim report. A final report is to be released next month. » Source: Falls Church News-Press This report to the Australian Senate is important in that an independent public body, after reviewing a wide range of evidence ...

The global sea level rise caused by climate change, severely threatening many of the world's coastal and low-lying areas from Bangladesh to East Anglia, is proceeding faster than UN scientists predicted only five years ago, Professor Chris Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, said yesterday. Climate change is causing sea levels to rise around the world because water expands in volume as it warms, and because land-based ice, such as that contained in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, adds to the volume when it melts and slips into the sea. » Source: The Independent The present prediction of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, from its third assessment report in 2001, is that global sea levels will rise by between 9cm and 88cm by 2100, depending on a number of factors including how far emissions are controlled, with a best guess of about 50cm over the century. Rises ...

Wed. Oct. 25 to Fri. Oct. 27, 2006 (Plus Evening & Sat. Sessions) - Boston University, GSU, 775 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA - Experts to discuss impacts of - and responses to - Peak Oil The Association for the Study of Peak Oil-USA (ASPO-USA) and Boston University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies (CEES) will co-sponsor the 2006 World Oil Conference, Time for Action: A Midnight Ride for Peak Oil, on the BU campus October 25-27, 2006. The Conference will bring energy experts from around the world to discuss the likely timing, impacts, and intelligent responses to the growing Peak Oil challenge. Virtually every sector of our society and economy will be affected by Peak Oil, from transportation, manufacturing, air freight, and agriculture, to homebuilding, city planning, and finance. » Source: Global Public Media “For ...

We tend to see urban pollution as a modern problem. But did you know that urban pollution was a serious problem for Western world cities as far back as 200 years ago? The greatest source of pollution for 19th-century cities was, believe it or not, the horse. Horses were ubiquitous back then. They drew pretty much anything that was heavy and had to move. Horse-drawn carriages, trains, wagons, supply carts...you name it. Of course, there were no horse toilets, so these animals had to relieve themselves in the streets. This might seem like a quaint issue until one realises that the average city horse could produce up to 35 pounds of manure and 2 pints of urine a day. Yuck! » Source: Daily Reckoning Today, we have to deal with global warming and Peak Oil – back then, they were dealing with global stench ...

The world needs to spend $1tn a year in alternative fuels, starting 20 years before the peak in conventional oil production, in order to mitigate fuel shortages, a US Energy Department study showed. Production peaks in Texas, the UK and Norway were examined as part of two studies for the department that advised on "crash course" efforts to cope with an eventual shortage of gasoline and other liquid fuels. The study, led by Robert Hirsch, didn’t predict when world production will peak, though Hirsch told reporters his guess is "within the next five to 10 years." » Source: Gulf Times "Conventional oil will peak at some point," Hirsch said at the Oil and Money Conference in London. To lessen the impact, "we have to start a long time before the peak or we’ll have severe liquid fuels shortages worldwide." Conventional oil production peaked ...

Global economic growth is at risk of peaking because of high oil prices and rising protectionist sentiment, warned Rodrigo de Rato, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, on Tuesday. “The global growth cycle may be close to its peak,” Mr de Rato said in his opening statement at the joint IMF and World Bank plenary session in Singapore. “The best hope for continued high growth lies in further increases to international trade. If this does not happen, the outlook is less encouraging.” » Source: Financial Times Mr de Rato also warned of a continued risk that current account imbalances will unwind in a disorderly way. “There is a growing risk that protectionist sentiment will overwhelm good sense. If it does, all of the other risks loom larger.” The IMF chief urged developed and emerging countries to renew their commitment to multilateralism and resume the ...

In assessing future demand for transport, the Department uses assumptions of future oil prices which are established, and periodically updated, by the DTI. In the 2003 Future of Aviation White Paper, the Department's assumption was that aviation fuel prices would remain at $25 dollars per barrel in real terms (2000 prices) until 2030.[205] In the 2004 Future of Transport White Paper, the Department referred to the DTI's May 2004 projections of the price of crude oil standing at $23 a barrel (2003 prices) in 2010, and rising to almost $28 a barrel by 2020. » Source: UK House of Commons Since those White Papers were published, the price of oil has risen markedly; as of 11 July 2006 a barrel of brent crude stood at $74.16. In our first session, Transport 2000 discussed their concerns about the ...