consistency of molasses, that is to say it is heavy sour oil that corrodes our refinery systems. Also, oil that was going to Exxon is now
http://business.smh.com.au/venezuela-diverts-exxon-oil-to-china/20080329-22b8.html">being sent to China.
As for Russia:
Peak Oil: “Da” Say Russian Oil Execs
The WSJ reports today on more bleak peak news: Russia could be the newest member of the peak-oil club. The International Energy Agency reported that Russian oil production in the first quarter declined for the first time in a decade. Russian oil executives are gloomy about keeping production steady, let alone increasing output at the world’s No. 2 producer.
That could bring supply-demand fundamentals back into the center of the oil equation. Oil prices reached another record high Tuesday, thanks to the cocktail of usual suspects like strong demand from developing countries and a weak dollar that drives money into commodities like crude.
But as many industry analysts—and even some insiders—have questioned whether global oil production can keep rising to meet ravenous global demand. With OPEC already running at nearly full capacity, non-OPEC countries are the only ones that can pick up the slack. The U.K. and Mexico, by most measures, may have already peaked. The question is whether Russia, whose healthy output in recent years helped meet Asian demand, is next. Lukoil vice-president Leonid Fedun told the WSJ:
he fall also reflects a longer-term trend — the depletion of Siberia’s older fields. “Western Siberia is repeating the fate of Prudhoe Bay, with a time lag of five to six years,” he said. “When the well’s productivity falls, you have to keep drilling more and more. You’ve seen it in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, and now you’re seeing it in Siberia.”
-snip-
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/04/15/peak-oil-da-say-russian-oil-execs/
More on Russia:
http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLR_enUS264US264&q=russia+oil+peak&um=1&sa=N&tab=wnOh, and Brazil has made some new oil discoveries. It'll take up to 12 years to bring any of the new finds online and, so far, the combined total of all Brazilian oil discoveries, if produced (which is to say whether or not Petrobras can muster investors), will provide less than 2 years of consumption from 35 billion barrels in
estimated reserves.
-snip-
New oil, even in Brazil, will not alleviate supply concerns in the long term. The majority of companies are still reluctant to spend vast sums of money to extract oil. They fear a replay of the post-1980s bear market that resulted in bankruptcies, foreclosures and over expansion as prices peaked. Although Big Oil cautiously continues to spend more to discover and recover what reserves remain in the world, it’s fair to assume that, apart from what lies off the coast of Brazil, the world has probably juiced whatever significant supplies that exist.
-snip-
http://rosemanblog.sovereignsociety.com/2008/04/peak-oil-comes.htmlBut then, that guy turns right around and contradicts himself in the next paragraph. Oh well, time will tell.
This is a fair summation of the current situation:
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080414/oil-prices-set-to-increase-further.htmBottom line is this: Can we afford to be on the wrong side of this issue? Just like Global Warming, wouldn't we better off moving forward if we were to take these challenges more seriously? After all, what could it hurt?