"Peak Oil"

[Cow Poke]

Where are we headed?

[Catholicity]

well according to the sign at the gas station right down to 1.59/gallon. I can't say I hate it at the moment. It helps my wallet. EVENTUALLY if people save money it will be good for other growth?

[Cow Poke]

well according to the sign at the gas station right down to 1.59/gallon. I can't say I hate it at the moment. It helps my wallet. EVENTUALLY if people save money it will be good for other growth?

I'm more concerned about the Global situation. I mean, sure, I'm concerned about the energy sector taking a huge hit here in Texas, but cheap oil and the current glut are far from what the experts were screaming about just a few years ago.

I'm referring to "Peak Oil".

[Catholicity]

oh that....demand for oil is going down etc. gotta love it when predictions fall. I don't know. It looks like a typical "cycle" in the human race. We demand something, the supply goes up or down and thus the price. typical economics.

[One Bad Pig]

People have been predicting "peak oil" for a long time now (as in, decades). So far, new methods for discovery and extraction have outpaced consumption.

[Sparko]

who was the guy here who kept going on about peak oil? Glen something.

[Cerebrum123]

who was the guy here who kept going on about peak oil? Glen something.

Glen Morton?

[Sparko]

yep

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3014

[Cow Poke]

People have been predicting "peak oil" for a long time now (as in, decades). So far, new methods for discovery and extraction have outpaced consumption.

I think the Saudis tried to destroy US and Chinese fracking by opening the spigots and flooding the market with cheap oil, like they did in the Jimmy Carter days, then pull back on production (along with OPEC) creating a supply problem. I think, this time, they failed to realize there was a whole lot of other oil on the market, and Iran is getting ready to join the party, while China's economy is slowing down rapidly.

Plus, as you point out, fracking and other extraction methods are getting way cheaper than they initially were.

I think the Saudis overplayed their hand, and are only shooting themselves in the foot and butt and mouth....

[Leonhard]

Peak Oil is inevitable, oil is a finite resource at one day we will have extracted most the oil that it is economically feasible to extract.

At that point oil prices will rise.

We will never really run out of oil, but it will become more expensive.

When will that happen, that's a really complicated question. And I don't have the answer to it.

[seanD]

Peak Oil is inevitable, oil is a finite resource at one day we will have extracted most the oil that it is economically feasible to extract.

At that point oil prices will rise.

We will never really run out of oil, but it will become more expensive.

When will that happen, that's a really complicated question. And I don't have the answer to it.

Oil is finite, the problem with the peak oil crowd is they never contended on the global economy and global growth being finite as well. Central banks created global bubbles, oil rose to meet the demand within those bubbles, people were buying and selling, credit was flowing, everything was good and booming, and now the great global bubble is deflating, global growth is disintegrating, thus no longer any demand for oil like it was before.

[Sparko]

with electric cars and fuel cell technology, soon oil and gas demands will drop even lower. and i think soon we will be able to make our own low cost artificial petroleum products for creating plastics, lubricants, etc.

[One Bad Pig]

with electric cars and fuel cell technology, soon oil and gas demands will drop even lower. and i think soon we will be able to make our own low cost artificial petroleum products for creating plastics, lubricants, etc.

Electric cars help a little bit, but the electricity still mostly comes from nonrenewable resources and is less efficient. IMO demand won't stop going up until pretty much the whole world is industrialized.

[Cow Poke]

Peak Oil is inevitable,

But not imminent.

oil is a finite resource at one day we will have extracted most the oil that it is economically feasible to extract.

At that point oil prices will rise.

We will never really run out of oil, but it will become more expensive.

When will that happen, that's a really complicated question. And I don't have the answer to it.

It happens in degrees in cycles, but for now, we seem to be swimming in it.

[Leonhard]

Actually even if you charge an electric car from a coal power plant, it would still produce less CO2 than if you drove a diesel car.

The transition to solar power and wind will happen in the richest country first. The middle income country will transition to a fifty fifty mixture likely. And the poorest countries will get coal power and diesel, but they'll consume relatively little compared to what we did.