Back in 2005 the late Matt Simmons (author of Twilight in the Desert and a leading peak oil theorist) bet $5,000 that oil would be $200 per barrel (in 2005 dollars) in 2010. While I think Mr. Simmons was being overly pessimistic about how high oil prices were headed, I applaud his boldness. The following [...]
[Continue reading…]How Accurate is the EIA’s Oil Data?
December 8, 2010 By
Ok, I’ll admit the attached article is a bit old (it’s from earlier this year), but its message is very important none-the-less: the very data policy makers and investors use may not be entirely accurate. I am referring to the weekly US oil inventory data the EIA (Energy Information Administration) releases. In a world where [...]
[Continue reading…]Geological Survey Reduces Alaska Oil Estimates
December 1, 2010 By
A little over a month ago the U.S. Geological Survey reduced their estimates of oil reserves at NPRA (the National Petroleum Reserves – Alaska) by a whopping 90% (10.6 billion estimated in 2002 to 896 million now – wow!). While this didn’t receive a lot of press coverage it is significant in that most post-oil [...]
[Continue reading…]Esquire on the Budget Deficit
November 22, 2010 By
The Esquire Commission to Balance the Federal Budget was recently convened, and contained ELA board member Gary Hart. Among other recommendations the Commission addressed two energy related policies: 1) the federal gasoline excise tax, and 2) biofuel subsidies. ELA has noted the benefits of the gas tax before (read about it here), and it is [...]
[Continue reading…]IEA On Avoiding an Oil Price Spike
November 9, 2010 By
It has taken some time for the International Energy Agency (a quasi governmental entity formed and funded by 20 OECD member nations) to consider anything but a rosy picture for future of oil use and prices. However over the last two years or so the agency has become far more practical in their public statements [...]
[Continue reading…]Peak Oil: An Alternative View
November 1, 2010 By
I will admit I don’t like pulling and posting too much information from a single source. However in this case I feel it necessary to provide an alternative, perhaps more optimistic view of life after Peak Oil than the two pieces I recently posted about the Hirsch Report (Part I and Part II). This new [...]
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