A North Sea oil rig in stormy waters. Pic by Terry Cavner
I’ve harped on about peak oil here before on countless occasions, so I won’t rehash all the arguments about inability of market forces to provide a self-correcting mechanism to supply shortages etc.
But it’s good to note that more and more people seem to be becoming aware that we are in deep shit when it comes to oil reserves. First it was just the doom-mongers, then it was the head of commodities at Merril Lynch, now it’s former government chief scientist Sir David King.
As the Telegraph reports, King has helpfully pointed out to the tin-eared, leaden-booted twats who make policy in the UK that the world’s oil reserves have been exaggerated by the International Energy Agency (IEA) by up to a third and that shortages and price spikes are just around the corner.
The IEA functions through fees that are paid into it by member companies and has to keep its clients happy,” he said. “We’re not operating under that basis. This is objective analysis. We’re not sitting on any oil fields. It’s critically important that reserves have been overstated, and if you take this into account, we’re talking supply not meeting demand in 2014-2015.”
Sir David said he was “very concerned” that Western governments were not taking the concept of “peak oil” – where demand outstrips production – seriously enough, while China is throwing all its efforts into grabbing as many energy resources as possible.
Yes. The credit crunch is going to look like a walk in the park. Bear in mind that 2014 is just 48 months away. Within the next decade we’re going to have to adapt to some pretty significant changes in lifestyle, whether we like it or not, I’d say. Read more at the Oil Drum.
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