This is a guest post by Kevin Rietmann, known as KLR on The Oil Drum. A collapse in demand for petroleum products happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s. JD, proprietor of the blog Peak Oil Debunked, examined this briefly in this 2007 post about what he termed ”The Big Glitch”: So what really does happen when global oil … Read More

The price of crude oil fell Thursday, in the wake of Wednesday’s Energy Information Administration report showing that crude supplies in the US gained last week and even though the Labor Department reported 5,000 fewer new jobless claims were filed last week. At just past 1:30 p.m. in New York, April contracts for West Texas Intermediate

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Jonathan Callahan , a PhD chemist who has worked for almost 20 years as a data analysis/data visualization expert for various Federal science agencies (NOAA, NASA, EPA), has created a new data browser, called US Minerals Databrowser . Many of you are familiar with Jonathan’s Energy Export Databrowser , which he created in 2008, showing imports and exports of energy … Read More

Brazil subsalt output to see early peak - minister SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s subsalt oil production could shoot up in 2013 and 2014 before leveling off to match production in other off- and onshore areas, Planning Minister Paulo Bernardo said on Thursday. Output from the offshore subsalt region will grow slowly in the next two years and jump significantly … Read More

How do we maintain phosphorous and potassium fertility, as rock-based supplements become in shorter supply, and fossil fuels for mining and transportation become less available? A PennState University website says: Most forage crops remove between 15 and 20 pounds of phosphate per ton of hay equivalent and between 45 and 60 pounds of potash per ton of hay equivalent. One … Read More

Crude oil prices were higher in afternoon trade in New York after US crude oil inventories did not grow as much as expected last week and after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries voted to hold production quotas steady in hopes of supporting oil prices at their current levels. The US Energy Information Administration, in its

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Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has today announced it will axe a third of its global petrol station network and shed a further 1,000 jobs by the end of next year, as part of its ongoing cost cutting programme. The Anglo-Dutch firm, which is Britain’s second largest oil company, has been hit by a slump

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Lots of surprises in today’s profile of Brett Wilson , “the Dragon with a heart,” in the Toronto Star. Writer Jennifer Wells describes her interview with him as ”one part business, three parts psychoanalysis.” • First she hints about a significant other* in his life. • She explores his disdain for Toronto financiers when he was financing oil and gas … Read More

I just finished reading a book called Anatomy of the Bear where the point was made that rising new car sales are a leading indicator for the end of recession. No wonder then that many OECD governments introduced incentive schemes to boost new car sales following the dive off the cliff that accompanied the credit crunch (Figure 1). Cash for … Read More

The Peak Oil Crisis: 2014 – The Year of Transition The key remaining question of the peak oil crisis is just when world production is going to start on an unstoppable decline. A few years ago those analysts who were deeply enmeshed in the problem were saying that 2011 or 2012 looked like the fateful year. But then the unexpected … Read More