Peak Oil- what it is and how it will impact your life

Discussion in 'Peak Oil' started by Minuteman, Aug 4, 2005.


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  1. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member

    "Saudi Arabia is investing billions in its tourism industry as it looks to diversify its economy away from oil.

    The government plans to attract 88 million tourists and generate more than 100 billion riyals ($27 billion) in tourism revenue by 2020, according to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA).

    “The state and the national economy are badly in need of investment projects that create more job opportunities for citizens,” Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the SCTA, was quoted as saying.

    “The tourism sector will provide jobs to Saudis in the areas they live.”

    Saudi Arabia earlier this year unveiled plans to build a 50 billion riyal ($13.32 billion) tourist city in the eastern coastal city of Al-Oqair."


    This is astounding news. SA has always been a strictly closed society. You could not get a visa to go there unless you had a job and your employer sponsored you. They were fanatical in wanting to limit foreign influences. So why this dramatic change? Billion dollar investments in tourism?

    Their massive oilfields, the benchmark that all others are judged by, are a thing of the past. Wells that free flowed 20,000 BBLS a day 20 years ago are having to be pumped mechanically or the remaining oil flushed out by water and nitrogen injection. They have had the largest water flood project in the history of the world going for the last decade. This is where they inject miilions of gallons of sea water into one end of a reservoir to flush the remaining oil to the wells on the other side.

    If this doesn't convince people of the reality of peak oil and the ever rapid depletion then I give up.

    The average price of gasoline in the US just hit $3 a gallon, the first time it has ever been that high at Christmas time, but that is buried in the news by the rosy reports of record spending at the stores this season. Yippee, all is well, go back to sleep.



     
  2. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    Pre-Christmas Spike In Gas Price Due To Refinery Problems
     
  3. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    $3.09/9 local, was hit with $3.15/9 on the way home today. (Couldn't quite make the round trip on one tank.)
     
  4. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    your just now paying Oregon Prices LOL
     
  5. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    This is really an informative thread. One thing you( Minuteman) said the really hit home is something I have believed in for a long time. And that the fact that everything is going to have to localize. Crops close to home, work close to home, get your fuel close to home. Limit long distance travel.

    I really believe I can build a self reliant home. I am learning that I have to totally rethink my needs and wants. Needs take over on the top of the list. I have a very good situation in that I have a lake, I have high ground , wind and plenty of sunshine to use all three forms of producing electricity. Not to mention wood as a source of heat and fuel. This site is the best so far. Thank you all. Kingfish
     
  6. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    I have agree with you on most points however I dont believe for an instant that the power brokers of this world didnt know decades ago that this crunch was coming. Not so much conspiracy but lack of the truth for lack of a better explanation. I think we are rarely given the truth by the powers that be . I do believe that many of the Global elite would like to see about half of the rest of us die off. It leaves More for them and their offspring. But on the other hand I also believe that we are our own worst enemies as we elect the fools who promise us bounty that they can not deliver. I believe the world has had a lot of bad decisions made by a lot of wealthy power brokers who are costing all of us dearly. Lies and wars over lies. If I could ask anything from the American Government it would be that they give us all the truth for once. Im not holding my breath on that one. Kingfish
     
  7. Joseph Thomas

    Joseph Thomas Monkey+

  8. Maxflax

    Maxflax Lightning in a bottle

  9. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    Does anyone know about this new oil find off of Brazil? Supposed to be bigger than the Saudi Oil fields? It was on 60 minutes. Kingfish
     
  10. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

  11. hedger

    hedger Monkey+

    West Slope of Colorado

    The oil shale on the West Slope of Colorado contains (conservatively) 6 times the oil reserves of the entire Middle East.

    Less conservative estimates claim double that amount.

    The high rollers think there may be as much as triple the 6 times estimate.

    The challenge is that this oil is "locked up" in the oil shale formations and we simply have not yet figured out how to economically extract that tantalizing ocean of oil.
     
  12. fireplaceguy

    fireplaceguy Monkey+

    They have known for a while. I just read the updated second edition of "The True Story of the Bilderberg Group" by Daniel Estulin. It has info from the 2006 - 2007 - 2008 Bilderberg meetings, including documentation of the group's manipulation of the global economy to decline in synch with oil production declines, in order to keep their economic hooks set firmly in our jaws.
    Orchestrated demand destruction, if you will. (It also details their machinations to keep oil prices from collapsing out of fear that such would cause the global debt bubble to collapse uncontrollably, although I find that one difficult to understand. Seems to me a shot of cheap oil is just what the debt bubble needs. I guess a lingering oil price collapse would just be too deflationary...)

    Which is, by definition, a conspiracy.

    More like 90 percent, you useless eater.

    There are no bad decisions. From their perspective everything makes perfect sense. And costing us dearly is exactly what they set out to do. We are our own worst enemies because we refuse to see what's right in front of us: It's a perpetual harvest, and we're the crop.
    Yeah, regular breathing is a good plan...
     
  13. fireplaceguy

    fireplaceguy Monkey+

    This has been covered here in the peak oil thread, which you should read in it's entirety. Briefly, though, that's not even oil - it's kerogen, which is a precursor to oil. To become oil, it has to be cooked at several hundred degrees for several years, which is incredibly energy intensive. It boils down to the equation ER/EI (energy returned over energy invested) which has nothing at all to do with the price of oil. ER/EI rules regardless of the price of oil.

    It takes just about as much energy to cook that kerogen into oil as the process yields. There isn't enough gain left over to make refining and distribution feasible. Every process ever tried is also highly water intensive, and none of the Western Slope water in Colorado belongs to us. The folks downstream who actually own it aren't likely to allow it to be diverted and contaminated with oil, which means production may continue experimentally, but it will never scale up to any meaningful volume of refined product.

    Here you have the two great problems of unconventional oil and alternatives: ER/EI and scalability. Keep your eyes open and you'll see these gremlins everywhere except conventional oil, where both reserves and production are in decline. That's when you'll awaken to just how difficult a situation this really is.

    Barring a repeal of the laws of thermodynamics (and California and Nevada dropping into the ocean, thereby losing claim to our water...) that kerogen is staying in the ground forever...
     
  14. fireplaceguy

    fireplaceguy Monkey+

    Soros is heavily invested in this find. After he bought in, Obammy arranged for a big loan or grant to Petrobras for development, and I'm guessing his move to idle rigs in the gulf is calculated to free them up for Brazilian exploration, as otherwise they were contracted up here for years.

    Must be nice to own a pet president - even a sack of crap like Obammy.
     
  15. Moose57

    Moose57 Monkey+++

    Actually the technology exists to extract the oil from shale and oil sands. It is in use in Canada. The EPA won't allow it to be used here under the guise that it is too "dirty" of a process. There are more oil reserves in Utah than in the middle east. The technology to produce it is being suppressed.

    Did you know that there have been no major refineries constructed it the US in the last 20 years? Why? To keep the supply limited. Limited supply (artificial or otherwise) keeps demand and therefore prices up. The oil companies have more idle wells in than producing wells in the US. Again, to limit supply. That's also why we import the oil. To keep the price up. And to save our reserves.

    Bottom line, we have hundreds of years of oil reserves. But as long as we think the sky is falling, we'll pay high prices for it.

    Something to think about.

    Paul
     
  16. fireplaceguy

    fireplaceguy Monkey+

    1) Utah's deposits are not the same as Canada's, so the technologies used in Canada won't work in Utah.

    2) Eastern Utah has no rivers like the Athabasca river, which is where the water comes from for Canadian production. Water is key, though, and there just isn't enough to scale up production in Utah.

    3) There are less than 40 billion barrels of unconventional reserves in Utah. Don't know about conventional, but it's not that much more in the scheme of things. In contrast, there are half a trillion barrels in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq alone. (Those are the top three, but the middle east is made up of over twenty countries.) Adding to the middle east's advantage is the fact that their oil is recoverable at a positive ER/EI.

    4) The laws of thermodynamics are not a conspiracy.
     
  17. Maxflax

    Maxflax Lightning in a bottle

    There is no crunch, it's a scam, just like diamonds are

    The powers you are mentioning have hidden unbelievably vast discoveries of oil that are now capped and forgotten. There' enough capped oil in Alaska alone to supply North America for 500 years at our current rate. They are doing this to control prices so they get more rich while we suffer

    It's also a way to keep the West from prospering too much so that they can complete their new world order. They want us weak and needy

    It's really that simple.. did anyone watch the videos I posted?
     
  18. fireplaceguy

    fireplaceguy Monkey+

    There's an element of truth in this statement, but you are in at least denial if not utter ignorance of the numbers. Fact is, there's not enough easily recovered oil left to sustain a population of 7 billion with even a level standard of living, let alone one that's rising.

    Capped and forgotten? How do you know about them?

    Seriously, there's no question this is going on on a lesser scale. I've written about it. But, I've seen no evidence of the "unbelievably vast" part. "Unbelievably vast" is so vague as to have no meaning, so right now, there's nothing to discuss. You'd need to come up with hard numbers and furnish proof of them, and I'm about to show you how that's done:

    Really? 500 years? Exactly 500? Not 499? Or 501.26? Get real.

    You've clearly never done the math. 500 years of US usage at current consumption (rounded to 20 million bbls/day) is 3.65 trillion barrels. (Now, plenty of this thread has been devoted to demonstrating that what's in the ground is irrelevant, and that only what's recoverable counts. Recoverable oil is called proven reserves.) Global proven reserves are estimated at 1.2 to 1.4 trillion barrels. Do you really expect us to believe there's three times current global proven reserves hidden in Alaska?

    I've said nearly the same thing, and I know all about it. Ever heard of Peter Sutherland? He was simultaneously Chairman of the Board of BP AND Goldman Sachs, and as if that weren't enough power he was at the same time a member of the Bilderberg Group and European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission. I could write a book about him. They're doing everything they can to keep the bubble inflated, because if the bubble collapses it takes their banks and power with it. They're also doing everything they can to reduce the population of the world by 90% and make the remainder serfs.

    This in no way proves your wild supposition that there's enough recoverable oil hidden away that the whole world's present population can drive their Suburbans and Navigators to their favorite steakhouse in perpetuity, if only the elites would let them.

    If you stop and think about it, their efforts to hold back some of the remaining reserves strongly suggests scarcity, not abundance. There's just no way the world's national and supranational powers would be devoting so much attention to oil if supply was not a very serious issue.

    It's only that simple if you ignore the math and the physics. Reality is a bit more complicated.
     
  19. fireplaceguy

    fireplaceguy Monkey+

    Forgot to say this, but I skipped the videos. I truly mean no offense, but your statements are impossible to reconcile with reality, and that eliminated any interest I might have had in watching them.

    Years ago, I did spend some serious effort trying to debunk the concept of peak oil. (After all, the only way to prove something is to attack it and see if it holds up.) Well, it more than held up, and I sought out far more credible opposition than I've seen here. In the years since, the evidence for peak has only become stronger.

    Here's something to ponder: If you're right, you still need to prepare for a future in which petroleum is scarce and and in which you need to feed yourself. After all, if the elites keep it all from you, it's no different than running out...
     
  20. Minuteman

    Minuteman Chaplain Moderator Founding Member

    Good point. The ostriches always throw out the mythical "They" that are behind the rise in prices. But really what difference does it make? High prices and shortages are coming no matter if you accept the evidence of depletion or if you believe it is because martians are stealing our oil.

    Welcome to my world FPG, I have been in this for nearly a decade now and it never changes. You can show people the irrefutable facts, the numbers, and even first hand witness accounts, and there will always be some that just refuse to listen. And by the way, I didn't watch the videos either Max. Abiotic oil is a theory that has been debunked for years but you still find some saps who continue to spout this nonsense on the web as "proof" that there is plenty of oil. I have countered the trillions of barrels in Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, Deep Gulf, in Brazil, etc., etc., etc., so many times that I just ignore them anymore. Every new discovery is another Saudi Arabia and will supply the world for X number of years.

    Let me see, other wild stories are the thousands of tankers offshore (where, no one can say) that are holding millions of barresl of oil just waiting for the price to get higher. And the wells that are capped to drive up the price. I have heard that nonsense off and on since the 70's.

    As far as conspiracy goes I think Kingfish hit closest to the target. I believe it is more a conspiracy of inaction than of direct involvement. The powers that be know of the coming oil crises but what can they do about it? No government is going to begin drastic energy reductions, tell their populations that they have to give up luxuries and start conserving. They're not going to institute rationing (until it is unavoidable). Their citizens would be rioting in the streets. I think their reasoning has been that the only way to control the chaos is to let it happen, let the people experience the shortages and then step in with drastic solutions. "Ordo ab Chao", Order out of Chaos. Only then would the people accept them. And the resulting mass die off and implementation of "emergency powers" would serve their goals well.

    When Bush junior took office Dick Cheney organized an energy council and they had a series of meetings at the White house. Those meetings are still classified today. One of the members of that council was Matthew Simmons. If they didn't know about peak oil before you can be assured that they did after those meetings
     
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