Just in case you think you have it bad.

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Pidgey said:
Of course, the Cornucopians have always naysayed Peak Oil. It's just a lot more complex of a subject than people think. Anyhow:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121200725158327151.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

Pidgey
Click to expand...

It could be that we're running out of oil, and therefore screwed unless we can find a new source of energy.

However: As petroleum becomes more expensive, new sources become economically viable. Here is one, reported four years ago and currently being exploited.
 
It's a bad EROEI, and I've heard that it's getting worse for them as they're getting near to the end of the tar sands closest to the surface. We were actually doing steam-injection in wells in California for several years back in the early '80s but got our teeth kicked in when OPEC dropped the price down to ~$12/bbl. We'd probably return to that if we felt that the price was going to stay up.

In other bad news for the state of California:

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.co...-proclaims-drought-governator-demands-action/

Pidgey
 
Pidgey said:
It's a bad EROEI, and I've heard that it's getting worse for them as they're getting near to the end of the tar sands closest to the surface. We were actually doing steam-injection in wells in California for several years back in the early '80s but got our teeth kicked in when OPEC dropped the price down to ~$12/bbl. We'd probably return to that if we felt that the price was going to stay up.

In other bad news for the state of California:

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.co...-proclaims-drought-governator-demands-action/

Pidgey
Click to expand...

It's not much of a drought, at least not yet. There is almost enough snow left to fill the reservoirs. We've weathered much worse than this. The winter was pretty wet, in fact, up until March when the storm track took an unfortunate turn to the north.

Here is some good news (not very, and not much, but at least it isn't bad news):

The price of petroleum is actually down a little! That's right folks, down by $4.23.:)

And the price of gasoline and diesel seems to be following.
 
The pump price of gasoline today is partially due to futures contracts from quite some time ago. When the price of a barrel of oil was at its recent worst, there were also futures contracts on the NYMEX being sold for 2016 delivery (yes, 8 years in the future) @ ~$142/bbl. The ~$135/bbl that you were seeing in mid-May was for relatively short-term deliveries (June).

It was speculated last summer that gasoline would be up to $4.00/gallon this year but the sticker shock is currently causing a small, but significant downturn in consumption. It won't be enough in the long term as the result will be a downturn in the economy.

World demand for liquid fuels, by the way, will fall also due to the fact that many governments in Asia have been subsidizing the cost of fuel to help their economies grow. That system is beginning to fail due to the rise in cost and their citizens are just beginning to have to pay a lot more at the pump as well. As demand goes down, supply will go back up and cost will go back down. It'll all seesaw for awhile before finding a new equilibrium, which will still only be temporary.

Actually, the more turmoil there is with respect to price, the worse it can be for the economy as a whole. Economies work smoother and better when fluctuations are kept at a minimum.

Pidgey
 
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Pidgey said:
For our UK members:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-set-lose-nearly-half-electricity-years.html

Pidgey
Click to expand...

Thanks to decades of neglect and wishful thinking by successive governments - and now the devastating impact of a directive from Brussels - we are about to see 17 of our major power stations forced to close, leaving us with a massive shortfall.
Click to expand...

Can we conclude from that that the Brits are depending on government to buile power plants?
 
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