The great coal hole
First published in New Scientist, 17 January 2008
There used to be a joke about taking coal to Newcastle but these days the laughing stock is getting the stuff out. (more…)...
See no peak: letter to the Financial Times
Just as the Financial Times’ news coverage of oil was beginning to improve (“Oil watchdog reworks reserves forecasts”, 27.12.07), Lex goes and spoils it with a truly shoddy analysis: “Peak no evil” (03.01.08) rehearsed all the old myths that have been comprehensively debunked in recent years. (more…)...
IEA to blame for $100 oil spike – Groppe
When the oil price soared to over $99 per barrel earlier this year, the cause was not surging demand, nor speculation, nor even impending peak oil, but a forecasting error by the International Energy Agency. (more…)...
Surfing the ultimate peak
First published in Surfer's Path, November 2007
The two longboards jammed between the hull and the wheel-house seem oddly superfluous. Two miles out in the bay, and sheltered from the choppy Gulf of Mexico by the sandbar of Galveston, the murky green water slaps gently against the hull of our tiny Boston whaler, glinting in the early morning sun. On the face of it the chances of a wave are minimal. (more…)...
$100 oil and British energy policy built on sand
First published as $100 oil: the terrible truth in the Guardian, 24 November 2007
As the price of crude oil sets new records almost daily, the British government remains stunningly complacent. With the $100 barrel looming, the prime minister’s website blithely proclaims “the world's oil and gas resources are sufficient to sustain economic growth for the foreseeable future.” Officials refuse to define what is meant by “foreseeable”, but it is clear they suffer from extreme myopia or worse. (more…)...
The unpalatable truth: $100 oil is just for starters
First published in the Evening Standard, 9 November 2007
With the markets hypnotized by the approach of $100 oil, analysts are pointing the finger at all the usual suspects: speculators, the OPEC bogeyman, the weak dollar, soaring consumption in China and India, and geopolitical tensions. All play a part but the real cause is altogether less palatable. The world is running short of oil, and this time it is likely to be permanent. (more…)...
“Supply crunch” is not peak oil – IEA
There is no contradiction between the International Energy Agency's forecast of long term oil supply growth to 2030 and a "supply crunch" by 2015, according to its chief economist Fatih Birol. Mr Birol insisted today that the short term crisis would not be caused by a fundamental shortage of oil but by entirely man-made factors. (more…)...