We are getting really mixed messages over what will come first: peak oil or peak supply. First of this week was BP saying global peak oil demand will happen sometime between 2020 and 2030. Then we had the UK Industry Task-Force on Peak Oil and Energy Security which published a report entitled “The Oil Crunch … Read More
Month: February 2010
We’re All Going on a Summer Holiday … to the Tar Sands
As much of the Northern Hemisphere remains cold, or if you live in Washington DC blanketed in deep snow, thoughts of a warm Summer holiday spring to mind as something to look forward to. Where shall we go? Most people think of heading to the beach to soak up the sun and relax. Others head … Read More
Peak Oil More an “Immediate Threat” Than Climate Change
BP may think that a demand crunch will happen before a supply crunch. But others disagree. Today, six UK leading companies have launched the second report of the UK Industry Task-Force on Peak Oil and Energy Security. The report, entitled “The Oil Crunch – a wake-up call for the UK economy”, argues that oil shortages, … Read More
Lord Browne Reveals All
So the most iconic oilman of his generation, Lord Browne, has finally published his memoirs of his time at BP in a book called “beyond business”. Whilst most of the reviews so far concentrate on him being gay and his fall from grace, we also get glimpses of the power of oil and what it … Read More
Now BP Faces Shareholder Revolt Over Tar Sands
Last month a group of pension funds and asset managers filed a resolution asking Royal Dutch Shell to reconsider its controversial involvement in the dirty tar sands. And now the investors are targeting BP asking it not to invest a massive $10 billion in its Sunrise tar sands development.
Big oil’s race to the bottom is underway and tar sands producers have a head start
Two stories from Canada’s Globe and Mail this week highlight the emerging reality that the oil industry in North America is downsizing; although the commentary mostly misses the underlying trend that is staring it in the face. Firstly, the G&M highlighted an analyst note from Toronto-Dominion Bank, which warned of a glut in oil supplies … Read More
BP: Peak Demand Will Happen Before Peak Supply
Various blogs on the site over the last few months have warned about what peaking global demand will do for the oil industry. Last August in the blog “What About the Demand-Side Warning?” we quoted Lorne Stockman, the author of report on how reducing oil demand might affect the tar sands.
Falklands Oil Row Escalates
When we talk about wars for oil, the first and second Gulf wars spring to mind. First it was Kuwait and then Iraq. But cast your minds back even further to the Falklands conflict in the eighties. You could ask the question was Margaret Thatcher’s defining conflict about securing British sovereignty for the Islanders or … Read More
Canada’s Reputation “At Risk” Over Tar Sands
Timing, they say, is everything. Click on a copy of Canada’s National Post and one of the banner adverts today is from Shell talking about the “New Energy Future”. Part of Shell’s “new Energy Future” is the Canadian tar sands, where it has been investing heavily (although it may be shifting direction again back to … Read More
As violence starts again, Shell off-loads Nigerian assets
Things are hotting up in the Niger Delta again and once again Shell finds itself at the centre of the vortex of violence and conflict. On Saturday the company had to shut three oil flow stations in the Delta region after a pipeline was sabotaged by armed gun-men. It was the same day as Nigeria’s … Read More
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