Category Archives: Oil

Deep Sea Oil

Posted on November 26, 2024 by

Preface. Peak oil was reached in November of 2018, but we aren’t out of oil, just halfway through.  Giant fields continue to be found, but in the deep ocean or arctic where it is expensive to drill. Below are some … Continue reading →

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Giant oil field decline rates, peak oil, & reserves

Posted on August 30, 2024 by

Preface. Of the roughly 47,500 oil fields in the world, 507 of them, about 1%, are giant oil fields holding nearly two-thirds of all the oil that has ever been, or ever will be produced, with the largest 100 giants, … Continue reading →

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Permafrost & lack of gravel will limit arctic natural gas, oil, and coal extraction

Posted on June 21, 2024 by

Preface. For many people, it’s comforting to know that about 25% of remaining oil and gas reserves (we have the know-how and economics to get it) and resources (beyond our technical and/or monetary capability) are in the arctic. They assume … Continue reading →

Posted in Arctic, EROEI remaining oil too low, How Much Left, Peak Natural Gas, Peak Oil, Reserves Lower than stated, Roads, Transportation Infrastructure | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Permafrost & lack of gravel will limit arctic natural gas, oil, and coal extraction

Oil choke points vulnerable to war, chaos, terrorism, accidents, & piracy

Posted on April 12, 2024 by

Source: Ballout, D. 2013. Choke Points: Our energy access points. Oil Change. Preface. Below are several articles I’ve collected since 2005 on oil chokepoints. If oil tanker traffic were stopped on one or more, much of the world would plunge … Continue reading →

Posted in Chokepoints, Oil & Gas, Oil Shocks, Threats to oil supply | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Peak Oil is Officially Here! World oil production peaked November of 2018

Posted on March 24, 2024 by

Preface. When I first published this post in February of 2022, I said that peak world oil production might have arrived, but it takes 5 years in the rear-view mirror to call it.  Now peak “crude oil including lease condensate … Continue reading →

Posted in Debt, How Much Left, Peak Oil | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Infrastructure interdependencies: an attack on one is an attack on all

Posted on May 29, 2023 by

An Attack on Energy Infrastructure would affect all other Infrastructure I should consolidate my many posts on cyber attacks, EMPs, and other ways the electric grid could come down, but our dependencies are just so widespread that I don’t want … Continue reading →

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Why biofuels can not scale up to replace petroleum

Posted on May 22, 2023 by

Preface. This is my favorite paper on why we can’t replace crude oil with biofuels.  Of course, oil is a biofuel. But alas, not renewable, since it took over 100 million years to make them. Every year we burn fossil … Continue reading →

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Review of “Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads”

Posted on February 26, 2023 by

Preface.  This is a book review of Rundell’s “Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads”. If this book is right, things have gotten a lot better in Saudi Arabia than when my other review on Saudi Arabia was written … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, Peak Oil, Peak Resources, Threats to oil supply | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Why it is hard to replace diesel with biodiesel

Posted on April 12, 2022 by

Biodiesel is the great hope, our main hope, the only renewable fuel of all the many options, and the closest to the diesel essential for rail, trucks, and ships to do the actual work of civilization. The U.S. produces over … Continue reading →

Posted in Biodiesel, Food production, Oil, Peak Biofuels, Peak Food, Transportation, Water | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Peak Fossil Fuels: overview of world peak oil, peak coal, & peak natural gas

Posted on February 4, 2022 by

Last updated 2022-6-24 Preface. Below are overviews of peak oil, coal, and natural gas, each followed by additional reading material from my book “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, which explains why we are unlikely to … Continue reading →

Posted in Coal, How Much Left, Natural Gas, Peak Coal, Peak Natural Gas, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment