Posted on 06/12/2008 11:41:56 AM PDT by hreardon
World oil production fell by 0.2 percent in 2007, the first decline since 2002, while consumption rose by 1.1 percent, BP (British Petroleum) said on Wednesday, highlighting a tight supply/demand balance that has helped push oil prices to record levels.
Production fell by 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year to 81.53 million bpd and reserves were essentially flat at 1.24 trillion barrels, London-based BP said in its 2008 Statistical Review of World Energy.
The figures compiled by BP underline the world's challenge of boosting production to meet growing demand, particularly from developing economies such as China and India.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
The article also points out that China and India are gobbling up more and more of production, a fact that Blame America firsters seem oblivious of.
This does not explain the run up in prices we have seen in the past 1 to 2 years.
These reports have been appearing with greater and greater frequency since Nov 2007. The condition resembles the condition of Peak Oil that has been expected since 1955.
Hardly. The only reason their is a drop in oil production is because producers intentionally cut back on pumping not because they had to. There is still a large amount of unused pumping capacity, 2 million barrels a day just in Saudi Arabia. The supply of oil is ample and there have been significant new finds of oil in the last year.
The supply and demand explanation just doesn't cut it.
The world has the resources to increase oil production however, recovering these new sources of oil will be more expensive and each and every day the earth contains around 85,000,000 less barrels of oil as it did the day before.
Saudi is using more of its oil domestically, more every day. They are industrializing and already consume more oil than India.
A large-scale mining of tar sands in Alberta and shale in Utah and Colorado will push that peak oil back a few hundred years.
And the more expensive prices will make Arctic and deep-sea oil economically viable.
Also, one thing that peak oil theorists never take into account is that humans will adjust to the rising cost of petroleum, as is happening now. it could happen a lot more, with no intervention from the government whatsoever:
—A lot more people working from home. As employees seek to save gas, companies competing for scarce resources will offer more flexitime options.
—Bus companies will start to notice that middle-income people may be willing to get out of their cars, provided they can be assured the bus will be clean and not filled with unsavory types and perhaps offer entertainment of some sort.
—Hybrids and plug-in sales will go up.
Human ingenuity has a good track record, if we give it a chance.
No, it won’t. We are going over the cliff, at full speed. Enjoy the ride.
Gas use has dropped in the U.S. by four percent in the last year, GM is releasing a plug-in car, there’s reports of a lot of oil in Arctic waters, and we’ve shown we can extract oil from shale if given a chance. What is the reason for your pessimism?
Over-the-cliff mileage should be pretty good.
Just watching the numbers and the failure of our leaders in DC to even mention the nature of the problem.
The idea that we are experiencing peak oil right now is not accepted by the majority of industry experts. Every time the world experiences a run up in oil prices, a small minority of loud voices scream “peak oil, peak oil” and this time is no different.
Finally an article that explains high gasoline prices from the good old “supply and demand” standpoint.
.002% [less than 50,000,000 bbls/yr] reduction in production causes a rise of the proportions we have seen in the price per bbl of crude?
I like your attitude.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.