Bloomberg reported today that OPEC's crude oil production is down, prices are up, and demand is rising. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has cut production this month by 800,000 b/d (barrels per day), and they plan to in time raise that number to one million b/d. Coincidentally, Bloomberg also reported that the White House has been openly criticizing the governments of Iran and Venezuela. On the Jan. 20 broadcast of the "Don Imus Show," vice president Dick Cheney said that, "[Iran is] at the top of the list." Cheney warns that Iran's nuclear program and support for terrorist groups may work to destabilize the Middle East. During her nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Jan. 18, incoming U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice openly criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and declared him "a democratically elected leader who governs in an illiberal way.'' Iran and Venezuela just so happen to be OPEC's second and third biggest oil producers. Coincidence? I think not.
We are paying the price for not working towards different and more sustainable energy sources...I have been hearing about it for years, and would have thought that we would be much farther along by now...... Now i fear that we will see increased environmental degradation and violence due to the decreasing supplies..... kind of like when a junkie runs out of dope, we will be scraping the carpet for crumbs.
You bet. In fact, from my reading and the opinion I have come to, you're probably underestimating the problem. Sure, there will be sheer abuse to the environment the likes of which we have never seen before, and sure there will be oil wars (those have already started), but there will also be a complete shift in lifestyle for you and I and the rest of the world. From transportation to simply eating dinner, life will change... dramatically.
To me a big problem is the way cities have been plannned in the US..with the excep[tion of the old east coast cities and maybe san francisco, automobiles are an absolute necessity....what will happen when the price of oil gets to high, or oil itself becomes too scarce....this is why I cannot understand why substitute fuel is not being worked on more agressively. Whether we fight wars to get oil or not, its going to run out relatively shortly, and the US is going to be worse off than any other country. We both live in Ohio right, does your city have adequate public transit. This one sure doesn't. I can just picture abandoned condo complexes etc. as we have to redesign our land use planning.
Of course... OPEC has a vice like grip on 40%of the worlds oil production... its been the US's foriegn policy for 30 years to try and economically distabilize OPEC. Mr. Chavez has led Venezuela through a major labor strike which crippled the nation and set record high oil prices... and theres giong to be another strike there soon. Of course the US administration will criticize him... Nader's criticized Hugo Chavez.
I cant believe how rediculous that is...having to start war over oil and covering it up by saying "they are making nuclear weapons", how terrible... This is why i always walk everywhere (well...actually the fact is that i dont have my license, but it sounds like a good excuse for not having one!)
China and Russia have much more oil then there is in the entire middle east... there's also a large untapped supply in Australia. We're never going to run out of oil... China has undergoing rapid expansion in its oil mining capacities. I'm all for alternative energy... but I'm positive that its being produced at a pace that'll match our need for energy.
I remember being a little kid in the 70's and hearing then about all of these energy alternatives being worked on. Now here we are 25 years later, and hybrid cars are just now being produced at a significant level. Considering the extent that America sold out to the car, I would have thought coming up with sustainable energy would have been at the top of the country's agenda.
No, my city definitely doesn't have adequate public transit. In fact, there is no public transit. This is obviously cause some problems in the future, and the longer than people ignore Peak Oil, the worse things will be later on. Well, what I was trying to show is the fact that (very coincidentally) the White House has started to criticize, and even threaten, the major OPEC nations as oil prices are on the rise.
The funny thing is... nobody cared at all untill the dramatic oil price rise... Then a lot of ideas were thrown out on the table... but nobody really wanted to pour money into them at the time. Well, in the year 2000, there finally is being some money put into research... Surprisingly, the people who used to supress those ideas... energy producers and auto makers... are the ones pouring all their money into this research. Realistically, we're going to be dependant on oil till 2050.
I agree, oil dependance is the reality. When you look at US policy objectively, you will see that it is very reactive instead of proactive. Its not really a surprise that nothing will change until our back are against the wall.
That is false. The following is a list of what percentage of the world's oil certain regions of the globe contain: 6% in North America 9% in Central and Latin America 2% in Europe 4% in Asia Pacific 7% in Africa 6% in the Former Soviet Union 25% in Saudi Arabia 11% in Iraq 8% in Iran 9% in United Arab Emirates 9% in Kuwait 2% in Libya The Middle East controls 66% of the world's oil reserves. You can check that here. So what? Do you think they're going to give/sell their oil to the US when supplies start running low? You'd better think again. Again, you're wrong. I'd like for you to explain to me how "its being produced at a pace that'll match our need for energy."
im pretty sure the decomposition of animals and such under great pressure over millions of years is just how fast oil is used up...yup, makes sense to me...
i doubt that the albertan governemt would share its oil, for a reasonable price, if the supply was drying up rapidly [which i tis]...
What exactly did Nader say about this Chavez guy? China may be overflowing with oil or whatever the case is (I'm not big on statistics), but they've also experienced a major boom in the automobile market in recent years. If worse comes to worse, they'll be using as much oil as America to fuel their cars. And it'll be their own, not something they'll be willing to give up to our country.
You can read more about China's oil reserves here... http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/FK02Ad03.html It's untapped due to the fact that it's buried in mountains and difficult to reach, but the oil well in the Yulin mountains is the largest known on earth. It's also being caught up in a bunch of court settlements... investing problem, all kinds of crap The middle east controls 66% of the worlds tapped oil reserves... there are tons of untapped wells in China, Russia, and the Gulf Of Mexico. Of course they'd sell it to us... we're major trading partners... China's going to buy most of it's oil it need for its rapidly expanding economy from russia... the worlds third largest oil producer. I'd like you to explain to me the reason for all the hype, With world wide production increasing, and the sway toward alternative energy sources and more effecient ways of using oil, I see no reason why there wouldn't be enough. By 2100, the worlds oil consuption will probably be at half of what it is today... this is including China and India's rapid economic expansion. Considering all the sources of oil, and the waining influence of OPEC, I don't see what all the fuss is about. There are also about 30 billion barrels of reserves in the Caspian Sea. Like I said, I completly agree that we need to find another source of energy... and theres a lotta research going into that field. The demand for oil will get much larger in the first half of this century, as will the supply... oil prices will probably rise to $60 a barrel, which will suck, but it won't be catastrophic.
Chavez came in as a Populist, but hasn't fulfilled many of his promises. Nader just said something along the lines that he was dissapointed that Chavez wasn't able to fulfill his promises. Definatly, China's not going to give any oil away... not in the near future at least, but they're production is increasing, and and with Russia's production also increasing, China may be able to fulfill its oil needs without buying as much from Middle East sources. China will still import oil, for at least the next 30 years.
What promises did Chavez make to Venezuela? Right. You mentioned earlier that China's got untapped oil mines that are really difficult to extract oil from. How exactly are they going to get the oil they need for the automobile industry? If production is increasing, wouldn't they be well on their way to using up all of their oil? And how much are they importing? I'm not trying to dispute what you're saying, but I don't know...it's just not really adding up in my head. I ask a lot of questions, sorry. :&
Venezula, while having a Democratic government, has been ruled almost as an Aristocracy for the past 50 years. Chavez made a lotta promises to champion for the working man and break up the corparate infrastructure putting a stranglehold on the country. But he hasn't really done any of it. Well it is difficult for China to extract by itself... China's oil exraction methods are kind of primative, and they need to hire foreighn companys to come in and mine the oil for them... but China's government is being kinda hesitant to do this right now... largely because of ownership problems with the territory, and labor disoutes amongst who was going to mine it... I dunno how china's going to figure it out, but as their demand for oil increases, they'll come up with something. Probably means you're too smart to accept whatever the hell people tell ya. It's good to ask questions.