Crude Oil Has Already Peaked!

...crude oil itself has already peaked – at least five times since 1950, Prof. Boyce says – without beginning to approach the demise of oil anticipated by peak oil theory’s famous Bell curve. Indeed, crude oil reserves have doubled roughly every 15 years since 1850 and the world now has more proven reserves than it has ever had in the ensuing 150 years. _CTV

Crude oil may just peak a few more times before humans discard oil in favour of better sources of energy. Oil production is responsive to price signals, although oil producers will watch the price curves closely, to be sure that a rise in prices will last long enough to justify a ramp-up in production. The ephemeral rise in oil prices in the summer of 2008 clearly did not last long enough to justify a full-scale build-up in production.

THERE is only one rule when it comes to the availability of oil: experts are always convinced it will run out – but it never seems to. Brent crude is now at close to $75 a barrel, which is high but hardly excessively so by historical standards....

But one thing is clear: the peak oil theorists, who constantly predict that prices are about to explode, keep on getting it wrong but are never sufficiently held to account by a gullible media. As Mark Perry, a professor at the University of Michigan, reminds us, it was five years ago that Houston-based Matthew Simmons (a leading peak oil man) and the unusually sensible New York Times columnist John Tierney bet $5,000 on the price of oil. The wager was based on the average daily price for 2010, adjusted for inflation. If the inflation-adjusted oil price averages $200 or more, Simmons wins $10,000, and if the average price this year is less than $200, Tierney wins. As Perry points out, average oil prices this year won't even be anywhere close to $100, and will probably average less than $70, far below the $200 price predicted by Simmons. Only a total catastrophe would ensure the price would average $330 per barrel for the rest of 2010 – which is what would be needed for Simmons to win his bet. He will have to hand the cash over and eat humble pie. _CityAM

Matt Simmons is just one of the grifters who has latched on to the gullible mass of believers in Peak Oil Doom. Losing $5,000 in a bet is unlikely to discourage Matt, since he probably cons a lot more than that from his credulous disciples every week.

If you are a doomer, you have to ask yourself the question: "If I am wrong about this doom business, how much am I hurting myself, my family, and our future prospects for happiness and prosperity?" Most doomers just get off on the doom, and don't really care about the opportunity costs. Some of them want to starve the world of energy, so that the human population will be reduced by 50% to 90% from its current numbers (the "dieoff"). But there are likely to be some doomers who eventually get tired of the echo choirs, the genocidal undertones, and the role-playing.

The notion that the world is approaching "Peak Oil" is just not supported by the facts. We may still be getting closer to a peak, but the world has far more untapped oil than anyone could have imagined 10 years ago. _StreetAuthority

There is nothing new about the idea of an energy crisis. Back in Elizabethan times, England suffered from "peak wood." There have been peaks in production -- multiple peaks -- for anything that humans have ever used for energy. More peaks will certainly come and go. But the only form of "peak energy" that could be semi-permanent, is the type of "peak energy" that has come to North Korea -- "political peak energy."

In America, insightful persons might well ask: "Who needs peak oil when we've got Obama Pelosi?" They are referring to the energy starvation policies of the Obama Pelosi regime, which intends to bankrupt coal and oil companies -- and would like to do the same to gas and nuclear companies, if they could devise the proper excuse.

Energy is the life's blood of an advanced society. Persons who intentionally set about to disrupt or shut down a society's energy supply, are essentially committing genocide. Voters should consider that when they go to the polls.

From an earlier post at Al Fin Energy