 |
Energy sector investment banker Matt
Simmons has challenged future Saudi production potential in his new book |
IEA Admits World Energy
Policy 'Not Sustainable'
Top Kuwaiti Field Enters Decline
As Green Party Takes On 'Peak Oil'
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/EnergyNov2005.htm
Energy Update, November 2005
|
Energy sector investment banker Matt
Simmons has challenged future Saudi production potential in his new book |
"It was an incredible revelation last
week that the second largest oil field in the world
is exhausted and past its peak output. Yet that is what the Kuwait
Oil Company revealed about its Burgan field ....... it is surely a landmark moment when
the world's second largest oil field begins to run dry. For Burgan has been pumping oil
for almost 60 years and accounts for more than half of Kuwait's proven oil reserves. This
is also not what forecasters are currently assuming ..... The news about the Burgan oil
field also lends credence to the controversial opinions of investment banker and geologist
Matthew Simmons. His book 'Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the
World Economy' claims that the ageing Saudi oil filed also face serious production falls.
The implications for the global economy are indeed serious."
Arab Middle East News Service, 12 November 2005
Kuwait's biggest field starts to run out of
oil
"'In terms of prices, I think the risk
is ... it's going to explode,' Fatih Birol, chief economist
at the International Energy Agency, told the Council on
Foreign Relations in New York last week."
Speculation surrounds oil peak
Washington Times,
25 November 2005
| In This Bulletin |
| Green Party
Takes On 'Peak Oil' Conference At London School Of Economics - December |
| Kuwait's Top Oil Field Has Peaked |
| International
Energy Agency Admits Global Energy Policy Is 'Not Sustainable' |
| US Energy Secretary Also Knows It Can't Go On |
| Penny Starts To Drop In Congress Too |
| Peak Uranium? |
http://www.prleap.com/pr/20181/
News Released: November 26, 2005
(PRLEAP.COM) A series of events in the UK in December aimed at raising
awareness of the imminent peak and decline of global oil supply looks to press ‘Peak
Oil’ onto the national consciousness, culminating in a large conference at the London
School of Economics on December 14th.
We have already seen the end of ‘cheap’ oil as supply has struggled to meet
demand. ‘Peak Oil’ means demand will have to be destroyed as it is the point of
maximum global oil supply, followed by a terminal decline which will present significant
challenges for the oil-based way of living, and according to an increasing number of
analysts, we can expect it very soon. With no combination of alternatives able to make up
for the shortfall, everything from trade and agriculture to plastics and healthcare will
be affected.
Events start on December 3rd at the Campaign against Climate Change march in London, where
Peak Oil campaigners will team up with Climate Change protestors. The alliance between the
climate change and peak oil movements is a natural one as the methods of mitigation for
both are very similar with the key mantra being “Reduce, reuse and recycle”.
The Green Party will then host two ‘Peak Oil’ events in Brixton, London on
December 5th and December 7th. The Green Party has recently taken Peak Oil on board as an
important issue facing the world. On December 5th at 7pm there will be a showing of the
important documentary ‘End of Suburbia’ at The Ritzy Cinema, Brixton and a
discussion afterwards led by Green Party Energy Spokesman Tom Tibbets. On the 7th December
there will be a Peak Oil talk at the Vida Walsh Centre in Brixton from 7.30pm.
Also on December 7th, there will be an End of Suburbia showing in Totnes, followed by a
look on December 14th at the positive things we can take from the second half of the oil
age. It will be led by Rob Hopkins. Rob has been a permaculture teacher in Ireland for the
last 10 years. He developed and taught the first 2 year full-time permaculture course in
the world at Kinsale FEC, and also is a founding director of The Hollies Centre for
Practical Sustainability, where he pioneered many natural building techniques in Ireland.
He developed a process called ‘Energy Descent Action Planning’ in Kinsale,
whereby a community action plan for a designed transition to localization was developed.
He is now designing a similar process for Totnes. His talk will explore the challenge that
peak oil presents, and how if properly planned, the journey away from oil could be the
great opportunity to design the world we have always sought.
The final ‘Peak Oil’ events of the year takes place at The London School of
Economic, which will be hosting a debate entitled ‘Peak Oil - A Global Impact’
on Wednesday 14th December at 6.30pm at the Old Theatre. Chris Skrebowski, whose
field-by-field analysis suggests we already be at ‘Peak’ will give a talk on
‘Peak Oil’ followed by a panel discussion including John Hemming MP and Paul
Mobbs, author of Energy Beyond Oil. Entry to this event is free.
With the decline of global oil supply set to shape the 21st century, these are events you
will not want to miss. For further information about these events, please visit www.powerswitch.org.uk
Kuwait's Top
Oil Field Has Peaked
"Kuwaiti oil production from the
world's second-largest field is 'exhausted' and falling after almost six decades of
pumping, forcing the government to increase spending on new deposits, the chairman of the
state oil company said. The plateau in output from the Burgan field will be about 1.7
million barrels a day, rather than as much as the 2 million a day that engineers had
forecast could be maintained for the rest of the field's 30 to 40 years of life, said
Farouk al-Zanki, the chairman of state-owned Kuwait Oil Co."
Kuwait Oil Field, World's Second Largest, 'Exhausted'
Bloomberg, 10 November 2005
"The Kuwait Oil Co. said production
at its Burgan field has peaked at 1.7 million barrels per day. Company chairman Farouk Al
Zanki said Burgan, termed the second largest oil field in the world, failed to meet
expectations to produce two million barrels of oil per day. The well has been pumping oil
for nearly 60 years and accounts for more than half of Kuwait's proven oil reserves.
Burgan had been expected to produce two million barrels per day until 2045."
KUWAIT'S LARGEST FIELD DISAPPOINTS
Middle East
Newsline, 14 November 2005
International
Energy Agency Admits
Global Energy Policy Is 'Not Sustainable'
“The world must change its energy
habits or struggle with choking fumes, runaway oil demand and a growing dependence on the
volatile Middle East for fuel, the International Energy Agency said on Monday. Energy
demand and greenhouse gas emissions will soar by more than 50 percent by 2030 if consumers
keep burning oil unchecked, the IEA said in its World Energy Outlook. That would blow a
hole in the Kyoto protocol aimed at cutting developed nations' emissions five percent
below 1990 levels by 2008-12. To keep pace with booming demand over the next 25 years, top
producer Saudi Arabia and its neighbours would have to spend an annual $56 billion on rigs
and refineries or oil prices will race higher, said the IEA, adviser to 26 industrialised
nations. ‘These projected trends have
important implications and lead to a future that is not sustainable,’ said IEA Executive Director Claude Mandil. ‘We must change
these outcomes and get the planet onto a sustainable energy path.’"
World's energy policy is not sustainable-IEA
Reuters,
7 November 2005
"Matthew Simmons, author of 'Twilight in the Desert:
The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy,' .... thinks Saudi Arabia has pumped
much of its usable reserves and will start to experience production declines. Even
analysts who are more optimistic warn that chronically high prices and occasional supply
crunches are likely in the years ahead. The world's consumers are using up nearly all the
oil being produced today, and the outlook for growth of supplies is uncertain. 'In terms of prices, I think the risk is ... it's going
to explode,' Fatih Birol, chief economist
at the International Energy Agency, told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York last week.
Mr. Birol thinks plenty of cheap oil remains to be discovered, but it lies mostly in
politically volatile nations of the Middle East. He is hopeful that those countries will
spend the billions of dollars needed to increase their supplies and satisfy the growing
appetite for fuel. 'The bulk of the growth needs to come from very few ... countries
in the future, namely Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait' and the United Arab Emirates --
the countries where the lion's share of the world's remaining oil reserves lie, he
said."
Speculation surrounds oil peak
Washington Times,
25 November 2005
US Energy Secretary Also Knows It Can't Go On
"......if you look out over the next 20, 25 years, we expect demand to grow 50% to 120 million barrels a day. I wouldn't want to opine that's available. It could be, but I don't know."
"We will use Saudi Arabian oil for some time to come. But
the goal is to recognize that at some point in time ... we will have to recognize that oil
and natural gas, we will run out of it in the world. So we must make plans for it."
Sam
Bodman, US Energy Secretary
CNN, 12
November 2005
Penny Starts To Drop In Congress Too
"Expressing the sense of the House
of Representatives that the United States, in collaboration with other international
allies, should establish an energy project with the magnitude, creativity, and sense of
urgency that was incorporated in the `Man on the Moon' project to address the inevitable challenges of `Peak Oil'. Whereas the United States has only 2 percent of the
world's oil reserves; Whereas the United States produces 8 percent of the world's oil and
consumes 25 percent of the world's oil, of which nearly 60 percent is imported from
foreign countries; Whereas developing countries around the world are increasing
their demand for oil consumption at rapid rates… Whereas North American natural gas
production has also peaked; Whereas the United States is now the world's largest importer
of both petroleum and natural gas…Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the
sense of the House of Representatives that--
(1) in order to keep energy costs affordable, curb our environmental impact, and safeguard
economic prosperity, including our trade deficit, the United States must move rapidly to
increase the productivity with which it uses fossil fuel, and to accelerate the transition
to renewable fuels and a sustainable, clean energy economy; and
(2) the United States, in collaboration with
other international allies, should establish an energy project with the magnitude,
creativity, and sense of urgency of the `Man on the Moon' project to develop a
comprehensive plan to address the challenges presented by Peak Oil."
House of Representatives, Resolution No 507
US Library of Congress, 24
October 2005
“Three massive claims are being made
for Britain building a new generation of nuclear stations: first, it is the only way that
Britain can meet its ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions; secondly, it is the
only reliable option available if we are to fill the 'energy gap' left by declining
sources of fossil fuels; thirdly, it is the best way of ensuring that our energy comes
from 'secure' sources, rather than unstable oil-rich oligarchies. These claims are at best
specious, at worst untrue. Take carbon emission. There is a blithe notion that nuclear
power is 'clean' — it emits no COČ and therefore does not contribute to global
warming. This argument has been systematically taken apart over the past five years by two
independent experts, Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Bartlett Smith, one a chemist
and energy specialist, the other a nuclear physicist, who between them have a lifetime
’s experience in the nuclear industry. What they have done is look at the entire life
cycle of a nuclear power station, from the mining of the uranium to the storage of the
resulting nuclear waste. Their conclusions make grim reading for any nuclear advocate.
They say that at the present rate of use, worldwide
supplies of rich uranium ore will soon become exhausted, perhaps within the next decade. Nuclear power stations of the future
will have to reply on second-grade ore, which requires huge amounts of conventional energy
to refine it… At present, about 440 nuclear
reactors supply about 2 per cent of demand. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology
calculates that 1,000 more would be needed to raise this even to 10 per cent of need. At
this point, the search for new sources of ore would become critical. Where would they come
from? Not friendly Canada, which produces most of it at present, but places like
Kazakhstan, hardly the most stable of democracies. So much for ‘secure’ sources
of energy. We would find ourselves out of the oil-producing frying pan, right in the
middle of the ore-manufacturing fire.”
Who says nuclear power is clean?
London
Times, 23 November 2005
| No Solution In Sight? The Biggest Challenge Of All Is Changing The Way People Think Transforming Global Consciousness - Before It's Too Late |
'PEAK
OIL'
GLOBAL ENERGY CRISIS LOOMING
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