Posted on 04/17/2006 1:32:48 PM PDT by SLB
CBN.com – (CBN News) - Some believe that the world as we have known it is about to change.
Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) is talking about what he thinks could be the biggest challenge in our nation's history.
"The world has never faced a problem like this," Bartlett said.
A huge and sustained increase in the price of oil that would devastate our economy and the world economy, and would force all of us to change the way we live. Why?
It is a phenomenon known as "peak oil." The idea is that oil is a finite resource. There is only so much of it in the ground, and eventually we will start to run out.
One of the leading advocates of this theory is oil industry analyst Matthew Simmons. In his book, Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy, Simmons uses reams of hard geological data to argue that the oil fields of Saudi Arabia -- the world's largest producer -- are in serious decline, and prices for oil at some point will skyrocket.
The quantity and price of oil follows a bell curve. When Saudi oil was first discovered and oil production was growing, the amount of Saudi oil on the market kept increasing, assuring low prices. But at the point when Saudi oil production falls and can no longer meet demand, prices go up.
And because energy-hungry nations like China and India are in the midst of economic booms, the demand for energy is increasing daily, while the supply of oil, if it is shrinking, will make oil scarcer, and much more expensive.
Some of us remember gasoline prices of 29 cents a gallon or less. Today, we have gotten used to gas prices that were once unthinkable. But what if gas prices were $7 a gallon, or more?
Bartlett said, "The peaking may have already occurred. If not now, then very soon. So I think we are probably beyond the point where we can avoid the consequences of peaking. I think what we need to do now is to simply minimize the consequences of peaking. I don't think we have a prayer of avoiding the consequences of peaking."
What is the absolute worst-case scenario from peak oil? A world war over oil supplies. But the less dire economic scenarios are not much better. It would most certainly lead to a deep worldwide recession, or even a depression.
Our economy and way of life has been built around affordable oil. Many of us live in the suburbs. We have to drive to work, to grocery stores, to just about everywhere. We enjoy a high standard of living, thanks to affordable goods and services made possible because of cheap energy.
An oil price spike to perhaps $200 dollars a barrel or more could wreck whole sectors of our economy, like the airline industry, which is already hurting from oil at $70 a barrel. Just think what would happen if airline ticket prices tripled from today's levels!
Peak oil prices would also pour a lot more money into the coffers of some regimes around the world who do not like the United States.
But if there is a plus side to peak oil, it is that unaffordable oil would finally force businesses to invest seriously in developing alternative fuel technologies.
Simmons' book has created such a stir in the energy industry that the world's largest oil company, ExxonMobil, created an ad to dispute it. It says that the Earth still has plenty of untapped oil to meet demand for decades to come.
Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think-tank, said, “At some point, oil production will peak. I think that is a long ways away…In the early 1930s, the Department of Interior estimated that we'd run out of oil by 1940. So there's a long history of predicting these things, and most of the predictions turn out not to be true.”
There is plenty of oil in the ground right here in America, but environmental protection laws prevent us from drilling for it.
Ebell also observed, “There are political obstacles to oil production in many places in the world -- most seriously in the United States.”
But if Simmons is right, America is facing a serious problem that Bartlett warns may now be too late to prepare for. He says we must begin to conserve, and to develop other sources of energy.
“I think this is going to be the overarching problem for the next decade,” Bartlett said. “We will transition from fossil fuels to renewables (renewable energy). Geology will insist on that. It will be a really bumpy ride or a less bumpy ride, depending on how we relate ourselves to it and what we do now.”
And everyone -- from President Bush on down -- knows how much America depends on oil. Bush has said that "America is addicted to oil."
And if the prediction of peak oil is true, America needs to start moving away from oil as an energy source as soon as possible.
In particular the emissions from Congress. No 'peak' problem there as we'll have an endless resource from them.
==could wreck whole sectors of our economy, like the airline industry==
And yet Gov't can't develop an efficient, if not profitable program to take advantage a very fuel-efficient mode of travel in our 'fast food' culture mentality: Rail.
Freight hauling this way wins hands down.
You can make oil out of turkey guts. So much for the "finite resource" idea.
Instead of wasting money on an endless stream of meaningless pork, we should be investing in a multi-path high-speed rail system to blanket the country.
I heard a brilliant idea the other day. Oil companies should be under govt price regulation just like the utilties - reason being, they get govt assistance. No assistance = no regulation.
Bears repeating -- BTTT
The point was that they would have to ask permission for a rate incease. AmerenUE has had banner years as of recent so I ain't losing any sleep over their financial situation.
Psychosis is sometimes defined as doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. There is no clearer example of this than those who advocate gov't regulation as a means of either improving supply or mitigating price; such regulation, always and every time, has had the opposite effect.
Look up the spot prices for energy in the 1970s, boyo, and then get back to me on this, eh?
Six months ago world news was full of this stuff. Then the Saudis announced they were ramping up production and pressures eased for other reasons. Well, the Saudis haven't been able to deliver - not even the heavy, sour stuff let alone light, sweet crude. Meanwhile demand has continued to increase so here we are with $71 a barrel oil and no relief in sight.
What's likely to happen? The worst.
First, the failures of major industries highly sensitive to energy prices; airlines, major auto manufacturers, tourism.
Second, failure of secondary industries as disposable income disappears in the face of rising food prices and loss of jobs.
Third, general economic collapse.
Fourth. War.
...This scenario doesn't consider massive climate change (man-made or natural) which seems imminent.
How likely are we to be insulated from the worst of it? I don't know.
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Fuel Type Regular
MPG (city) 28 MPG (highway) 34 MPG (combined) 30
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The article misses the main point. The theory should not be known as Peak Oil but Peak Easy Oil. The peak is not yet here, but could arrive within a decade no matter what, or tomorrow if war breaks out. When it does, easy oil will be past and any alternative is more expensive, be it coal, nuclear, solar, or tar sands. Nothing is so cheap to produce as Saudi oil. The next basis of the economy will cost much more than easy oil, and the whole economy will be injured disproportionately.
WE need nuclear plants not more oil drilling.
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