2 Comments

• 1. Reality replies at 8th July 2008, 9:58 pm :

  While politicians in Washington in both parties quibble over their pet projects (like, in this case, squeezing dollops of oil from rocks in an expensive and energy-intensive process) T. Boone Pickens is choosing to treat the American people like adults by forking over his own money to publicize a much more serious plan – http://www.pickensplan.com – We’ll see if American voters are still adult enough to understand the implications of what we face, and to take up the responsibility of implementing something like the Pickens Plan. If not, get ready for a world of hurt. And no amount of fantasy-land thinking about tar sands, shale, hemp, biofuel, or organic crunchy utopias are going to save us.

• 2. Reality replies at 8th July 2008, 10:35 pm :

  I almost forgot – a new daily dose of reality Zen (oh, but don’t worry, shale is just around the corner!)….

  http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,564223,00.html

  “Back in 1997, a barrel of crude oil cost only $20. The price has since exploded and today stands at $144 on the global market. But forward-looking Rainwater sold its oil interests when the price reached $129 and the company is, at least for now, avoiding oil. Rainwater views the turbulent activity on commodities exchanges as a distant observer and is astonishingly critical of it. If things go on as they have been, he recently told Forbes magazine, the survival of humanity could be at stake.”

  NOTE WELL: Rainwater is no Soros kook.

  http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/general-motors

  http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/WhyPepsiCanReboundButGMCant.aspx

  http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5876266.html#Intro

  “Separately, Pemex said output at Cantarell, the world’s third-largest oil field, fell to an almost 12-year low in May.”

  NOTE: That’s because Cantarell is in decline!

  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121538602450331005.html

  “Far from profiting from climbing gasoline prices, station operators are finding that their costs are jumping even as gasoline sales are sagging. And so gas stations are being shuttered at an accelerating clip, their numbers dropping by almost 3,000 over the past 12 months … The shrinking number of gas stations is also bad news for drivers, reducing both convenience and competition, which could lead to even higher gasoline prices.”

  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121538754733231043.html?mod=residential_real_estate

  What Sacramento’s got in terms of sprawl woes, OKC and Tulsa have in spades!

  http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080703/american_airlines_jobs.html?.v=6

  http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0702/p01s08-usec.html

  “Shares of General Motors are trading at prices last seen in the 1950s, their value cut in half in just eight weeks. Ford and Chrysler are in even worse shape, analysts say … The sobering implication: The Big Three may have to become the Big Two, and even survivors will have a tough road ahead.”

  http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/1264/2008/06/2-175818-1.htm

  “In five years’ time, we could be living in a world where millions are dying in famines with no food aid to hand, regular storms and droughts wipe out acres of crops, and skyrocketing food prices have created global political panic, food experts say.”

  http://business.smh.com.au/the-year-everything-changed-20080704-31u6.html

  “In years to come, it’s quite probable we will look back at 2008 as the year in which everything changed. And most of the changes being wrought upon us relate to energy, our use of it and its cost.”

  http://www.cnbceb.com/Articles/2008/July/44/power-hungry.aspx

  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121521029377229405.html?mod=fpa_mostpop

  “We are in a credit crisis the likes of which I’ve never seen in my lifetime,” Mr. Forstmann warns. He adds: “The credit problems in this country are considerably worse than people have said or know. I didn’t even know subprime mortgages existed and I was worried about the credit crisis.”

  http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-05-01-usda-food-supply_N.htm

  http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/07/01/peak-oil-iea-inches-toward-the-pessimists-camp/

  “What’s up with oil prices? Well, it’s not speculators, and there’s no relief in sight, meaning at least five more years of high prices with no easy fixes. The ugly truth? Peak oil isn’t fringe anymore—it’s going mainstream. That’s the reading from the latest oil market report from the International Energy Agency, the rich-country energy watchdog. The IEA’s latest x-ray of the oil market includes plenty of disturbing nuggets. The fact that there are no growing stockpiles of crude around the world, for example, suggests speculators aren’t behind crude’s dizzying rise this year…”

  http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/06/27/3521248.htm

  “Expensive fuel at the pumps is just the start. These battles over the price of oil could be the harbinger of something even scarier. There is a growing realisation that we are teetering on the edge of an economic catastrophe which could be triggered next time there is a glitch in the world’s oil supply … Most geologists now accept we have reached, or will imminently reach, peak oil … In the past, it has usually been possible to ride out any disruption to world oil flows – whether from accidents or hostile acts – by pumping more oil from the ground. That spare capacity has now all but vanished…”

  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil28-2008jun28,0,5808547,full.story

  “Three months ago, when oil was around $108 a barrel, a few Wall Street analysts began predicting that it could rise to $200. Many observers scoffed at the forecasts as sensational, or motivated by a desire among energy companies and investors to drive prices higher. But with oil closing above $140 a barrel Friday, more experts are taking those predictions seriously — and shuddering at the inflation-fueled chaos that $200-a-barrel crude could bring. They foresee fundamental shifts in the way we work, where we live and how we spend our free time.”

  http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2008/06/part_one_america_is_falling_ap.html

  http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0702/p01s01-usgn.html

  … But never fear – Congresswoman Fallin and shale formations with heating coils shoved in them will save us, and we won’t have to change a thing! ;-P

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