Not too sure about all the Libs/Dims/Socialists/Moozies, but I would imagine that most of us good Conservative Freepers are ready. LOL
Posted on 09/24/2006 11:45:02 AM PDT by Star Traveler
Leading petroleum producers, including Saudi Arabia and Exxon Mobil Corp., are aggressively arguing that plenty of crude oil remains for world consumption, a move to counter critics who contend crude output is about to plateau, according to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
The argument, known as the "peak-oil" theory, has provided intellectual backing for the boom in crude prices and sowed doubts among some policy makers about crude's long-term reliability as an energy source.
Such doubts, coupled with concern over sky-high prices, have added impetus to the search for oil substitutes -- including in Washington, where President Bush declared the country was "addicted to oil" and sparked a boom in interest in ethanol.
Some in the industry are keen to fight the threat posed by such fears.
Abdallah S. Jum'ah, chief executive of Saudi Arabian state-owned Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company by production, argued on Wednesday during a speech in Vienna that the world has more than a century's worth of crude left at current production rates.
His talk followed similar remarks by a senior Exxon executive this week. Spokesmen for Exxon and Aramco said they were not coordinating their remarks, according to the report carried by The Wall Street Journal.
The belief that the Earth is running dry of oil is just one factor supporting crude prices. Oil supplies -- constrained by under-investment when crude prices were lower -- have increased more slowly than demand, leading to a thin margin of spare pumping capacity and higher prices, says the report.
Demand has shown signs of slowing and prices have fallen from a nominal all-time high of more than 78 dollars a barrel in July, although, adjusted for inflation, oil reached as high as 99.21 dollars in April 1980.
In New York on Wednesday, crude-oil futures rose 21 cents to settle at 63.97 dollars.
In a sign that oil-supply concerns are gaining currency, the U.S. Department of Energy has asked the National Petroleum Council, an oil-and-gas-industry research group, to investigate peak-oil claims.
The council launched a study that includes different industries and environmental groups.
It will survey existing studies and examine why they differ on how much oil and gas the world holds and what the response should be.
At an OPEC seminar on Wednesday, Jum'ah of Aramco said the world had produced only about one trillion barrels, or about 18 percent, of the earth's producible potential of 5.7 trillion barrels of oil.
"That fact alone should discredit the argument that peak oil is imminent, and put our minds at ease concerning future petroleum supplies," he said.
The remaining 4.7 trillion barrels should be enough to last more than 140 years at current output rates, he said.
Saudi Arabia, with a quarter of the world's proven crude reserves, has an interest in countering developments that would reduce demand.
"If you are sitting on the world's biggest oil deposits, you would want to prevent the premature development of alternatives to oil," said Herman Franssen, president of International Energy Ass.
Jum'ah said the Saudis "don't mind the development of alternatives to oil," because increasing energy demand means the world needs supplemental energy sources.
The chief executive, however, objected to government subsidies and other support that led people to believe that alternatives like ethanol were a "panacea" and were only "around the corner."
However, the oil industry says that while oil is finite, the known pool of obtainable oil grows as technology improves.
"I think there's a lot of misconceptions of what peak oil is," Raymond, who is leading the U.S. oil study, said in an interview with the business newspaper last week. "The resource base is continually changing, driven by economics and technology."
Source: Xinhua
This is no different from global warming, population bombs, or any other alarmist garbage. Will we eventually run out of oil? Yeah. But not for at least a century. And when oil prices cross with those of other energy sources, we switch. My money's on nuclear.
"Peak food" was debunked hundreds of years ago, some people never learn.
http://www.economyprofessor.com/economictheories/malthusian-population-theory.php
What a stupid statement.
There might be enough oil for 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 more years. That's not the point. Peak oil concerns peak production. There may still be plenty of oil even after the production peak. It will just be harder to get at.
The new find in the Gulf of Mexico proves the point. There they had to have platform floating a mile above the sea floor and a drill that went down another four miles to get to the oil.
There may be lost of oil left, but it's less and less easy to get to and that fact has important consequences.
Not too sure about all the Libs/Dims/Socialists/Moozies, but I would imagine that most of us good Conservative Freepers are ready. LOL
About a year ago, the Saudi's proclaimed their reserves alone are more than the world will ever need. They stated new technology will evenutually render oil obsolete as a source of fuel long before their reserves are depleated. I thought it was a bold statement by a nation whos best interest is served by making everyone believe oil is going to run out in the near future.
The Saudi Government's theory was based upon their belief that Saudi Arabia has undiscovered reserves double that of what is known now. They believed that deeper sources of oil and the use of new technology would allow them to extract these deeper reserves.
Maybe, but as far as I'm concerned the prospect of another century of depending upon unstable suppliers (such as the Mideast and Venezuela) for a commodity critical to our survival is foolish at best and suicidal at worst. The time is now for the development of alternatives, regardless of how many years of oil might remain in the ground.
Nope, this mantra has been a ploy, going back to Pres. "Goober" Carter, by lib's to control and manage the general population's lives. Same thing with the environmental movement, all about control of other's behavior. If markets are allowed to prevail, there will be plenty of affordable energy for, well, forever.
There might be enough oil for 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 more years. That's not the point. Peak oil concerns peak production. There may still be plenty of oil even after the production peak. It will just be harder to get at.Would you mind pointing out to us where the NEWS is in that statement?
It will soon be evident that world peak oil production is upon us.Sorry, but I put this statement in the same category with Algore's 'we only have ten years left' ... where we presently have 9 yrs, 126 days and 4 hrs left ...
The Saudi Government's theory was based upon their belief that Saudi Arabia has undiscovered reserves double that of what is known now. They believed that deeper sources of oil and the use of new technology would allow them to extract these deeper reserves.That's all well and good, but, the 'peak oil' crowd says it is going to be harder to get at and cost more.
And I say: "So bill me."
It is what a number of experts are saying - who cares what you "believe".
But they are being included in the "reserves" figure. Look at the sudden dramatic increase in Canadian reserves in the 90's. Oil tar sands. At $60 per barrel, maybe economically recoverable.
You're going to have to tell me what you are responding to, because, nowhere did I say I 'believed' anything.
I stated where I thought your statement belonged, alongside Algore's ...
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