COMMENT: We’ve examined the Peak Oil propaganda phenomenon in several past broadcasts. Based on the notion that the world is running out of oil, it has been used as justification for casting aside environmental concerns, raising prices and imposing draconian social programs to deal with the “emergency.”
As we saw in FTR #506, the petroleum companies have been saying the world has been running out of oil since the 1920’s. (That was the justification for the development of the Fischer/Tropsch process to synthesize oil from coal.)
The epicenter for the Peak Oil ideology is HIS Energy Group, a subsidiary of Thyssen/Bornemisza industries, which draws its conclusions based on data fed to them by the very companies that benefit from the dissemination of the theory.
It is no coincidence that Thyssen/Krupp bought the Leuna hydrogenation plant, originally built by I.G. Farben during World War II to synthesize oil utilizing the Fischer/Tropsch process.
The fear mongering over Peak Oil has been used to propose a Nazi-linked social agenda.
For now at least, the oil companies and their amen chorus have relaxed their propaganda, seeing plenty of oil for decades to come.
It will be interesting to see how long this “Petroleum Propaganda Ploy” remains dormant. When prices get too low, or environmental restrictions too high for the liking of the oil barons, don’t be surprised to see it reemerge.
In passing, I will note that I am fundamentally critical of the fossil fuels industry–two thumbs down on oil. We should be going full speed ahead to develop renewal energy sources. Many pro-environment advocates have been suckered by the peak oil phenomenon, seeing it as a “green issue.” It is nothing of the kind.
EXCERPT: When Daniel Lacalle, in his early 20s, took a job with Spanish oil company Repsol YPF SA in 1991, friends chided him for entering a field with no future. “They all said, ‘Why do you want to do that? Don’t you know only 20 years of oil is left in the whole world?’” he recalls.
Two decades and four energy crises later, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates that more than 2 trillion barrels of untouched crude is still locked in the ground, enough to last more than 70 years at current rates of consumption. Technological advances enable companies to image, drill and shatter subterranean rocks with precision never dreamed of in decades past. Trillions of barrels of petroleum previously thought unreachable or nonexistent have been identified, mapped and in many cases bought and sold during the past half decade, from the boggy wastes of northern Alberta, to the arid mountain valleys of Patagonia, to Africa’s Rift Valley.
“Betting against human ingenuity has been a mistake,” says Lacalle, who today helps oversee $1.3 billion as a portfolio manager at Ecofin Ltd. in London. “The resource base is absolutely enormous, so much so that we will not run out of oil in my lifetime, your lifetime, our children’s lifetimes or our grandchildren’s lifetimes.” . . .
Uncle Sam and Il Duce
More on the death of peak oil
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/23/peak_oil_is_dead_citigroup/
https://www.citigroupgeo.com/pdf/SEUNHGJJ.pdf
Heh, the US is currently exporting so much oil that we now have Thomas Friedman asking the question “Should the US join OPEC?”.
Peak Water, coming to a future war zone near you. Actually, there’s nothing to worry about...the water wars aren’t expected start for another decade. That should be plenty of time to prepare for the loss of a vital resource:
This is one of those articles that’s a reminder that the collapse of the ecosystem may be bad for just about everything and everyone but it’s great for
war-profiteersbusiness!@Pterrafractyl: Sad but true. One must wonder how soon these ‘water wars’ could start........and just how bad terrorism could really get. Possibly even a nuke or two being exploded, over say, Tel Aviv or Cairo? Not pleasant stuff to think about. =(