Wishing it don’t make it so
This article was published in EurOil, 1 May 2012.
April is the cruelest month, a poet once wrote, and so it seems in the political economy of oil. (more…)...
Climate cost of Total’s North Sea leak
First published at New Scientist, 30 March 2012.
Coverage of the gas leak at Total's Elgin platform in the North Sea, off the UK coast, has so far focused on the potential for an explosion, and damage to sea life from hydrogen sulphide contamination - the latter now discounted. But methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, so what about the global warming impact? Here's what emerged from the back of my envelope. (more…)...
Tories play fast and loose with fuel supply
First published in the ODAC Newsletter 30 March 2012.
While awareness of peak oil has advanced light years since the petrol protests of 2000, on the evidence of this week the same cannot be said for the conduct of British energy policy. (more…)...
Obama-Cameron dogging explained
First published in the ODAC Newsletter 16 March 2012.
Finally, a plausible explanation for the Obama-Cameron political orgy – ‘love-in’ doesn’t quite do it – in Washington this week. (more…)...
Gas: climate panacea or industry propaganda?
First published in the New Scientist 25 February 2012.
I once hitched a lift from New York to London in the private jet of an American gas billionaire. (more…)...
Gas galore?
This article was first published in the New Scientist print edition of 21 January 2012, and will appear online at energyrealities.org.
It may come as news to hard-pressed European households, but the world is enjoying a glut of natural gas. (more…)...
Has the world reached economic peak oil?
This article was first published in the 3 December print edition of New Scientist and online at energyrealities.org.
Whisper it. Oil production in the US is increasing. The country where output peaked in 1970 and then shrank by 40 per cent over four decades, has turned some kind of corner. (more…)...