Peak Oil and the end of the oil age

[Medley of extemporanea]

In the last week those of us in the US have seen the price of gas rise to unprecedented heights. Is this an indication the world is running out of oil?

 

If so, what will that mean for our modern life style? Will it this lifestyle be sustainable?

 

Until this year ‘peak oil’ and ‘end of oil’ were terms used by those on the fringe of public discourse, but now you see corporations like Chevron (http://willyoujoinus.com/) and BP (now Beyond Petroleum) discussing it in public and even making commercials encouraging the public to “do their partâ€.

 

With out cheap oil, is there hope for undeveloped counties like Somali to ever industrialize?

[Baashi]

Good topic.

 

The recent hikes are due to the Katrina impact on oil refineries and pipelines which they said accounts of 40 % of total distribution of oil in the states. Gas gauging is a factor too, according to media.

 

As to oil decline, I think that is not a new revelation. I remember watching a NOVA program on PBS not long ago on this subject. In addition I've scan read a book called "Hydrogen economy" on the same subject. Yeah the decline is real.

[mojam]

Don't mean to get off topic here or anything like that but this is funny. Here in Canada most gas stations don't have a way to display 100 cents on their price display. Since gas prices are now over 100cents/ litter, most of them leave it blank. Others have bought displays with 5 character instead of 4.

[Castro]

Originally posted by Baashi:

The recent hikes are due to the Katrina impact on oil refineries and pipelines which they said accounts of 40 % of total distribution of oil in the states.

Baashi, the most recent hikes are due to Katrina and mostly in North America only. The general and long term trend is an increase in oil prices, and conflicts, and reduction in oil reserves. Scarcity of oil, as economics 101 teaches us, is undisputed.

 

On that note, I read a very interesting article about Venezuala and how the marked man Hugo Chavez is using his country's oil to connect with Carribean nations. For example, Chavez is ignoring IMF advice on how to spend oil profits. In exchange for cheap oil, he has 13,000 Cuban doctors, teachers and engineers revamping the educational and health systems of Venezuala. While this is classic social justice practice, it is raising the ire of western nations (read: US) and comments such as Pat Robertson's call to assassinate Chavez are on everyone's mind. It will probably happen if he continues to thumb his nose at America for long.

 

I see nothing but higher prices, wars and assassinations due to oil in the near and not so near future. Until, that is, we run out of oil and will have all either perished in the oil wars or have discovered alternative and renewable sources of energy.

 

Go Chavez Go. Show 'em what you know.

 

Edited to add: Haniif, the cheap oil train has left the station and in that sense, Somalia is sh!t out of luck. But we have more urgent things to worry about now than cheap oil. Hopefully by the time we are ready to industrialize, a new source of energy will have been found.

[Baluug]

Originally posted by mojam:

Don't mean to get off topic here or anything like that but this is funny. Here in Canada most gas stations don't have a way to display 100 cents on their price display. Since gas prices are now over 100cents/ litter, most of them leave it blank. Others have bought displays with 5 character instead of 4.

A lot of gas stations in Calgary have just put up "14.4 cents" on their display,cuz there's no room for the other "1".Nice to think as if it was true,but it's not.

[mojam]

Here too, Liibaan. They display 34.7 instead of 134.7. Others leave it blank yet others decided to buy bigger displays. Some bought bigger displays about 4 months ago as if they knew that the prices would go up so high.