« Sneak Preview of Peak Gas | Main | Try with bikes, Rummy... »
March 17, 2006
What Peak Oil Looks Like
By: Rowan
In a March 16, 2006 article called North Sea oil and gas - The long goodbye, there is a telling chart (below).
What is clearly portrayed in the chart is that despite significant increases in both exploration and the cost of crude, North Sea oil has continued to drop precipitously. This flies in the face of those who argue that increased price for oil allows for increased extraction of over-peak reserves through "more expensive" extraction technologies.
Meanwhile Britain continues to face a natural gas crisis. While fingers point everywhere to the source of the shortage:
""The government appears to be blaming France and Germany for the UK's gas shortage," said Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish National party."The real culprit is the incompetence and short-sightedness of successive governments to secure supply and additional storage."
But energy ministers have responded by denying a threat existed to long term gas supplies.
The latest rise in gas prices reflects a longer term trend of reduced supply caused by declining reserves of gas in the North Sea, which has forced British energy companies to construct new pipelines across the Channel and pass increased wholesale costs onto consumers."
The charge that the government has failed to secure supplies in the face of decreasing gas reserves is telling. Hardly below the surface of such a complaint is that regardless of decreasing supplies, it is the responsibility of government to meet natural gas (and energy) needs. This is the formula for resources wars.
Posted by Rowan at March 17, 2006 09:23 AM Category: Peak Oil