The Oil Drum | DrumBeat: June 15, 2006

145 comments on DrumBeat: June 15, 2006

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westexas on June 15, 2006 - 5:09pm

Speaking of Simmons, the author of the following article thinks that Peak Oil is a global conspiracy, with Simmons as one of the ringleaders:

http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/kirby/2006/0614.html

Which I guess implies that the Peak Oilers on this blog are part of the conspiracy too.

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wstephens on June 15, 2006 - 5:33pm

Those financialsense guys mean well, and the Puplava guy conducts great interviews (he asks questions and then stays quiet), but they are gold-buggers and allow too much of this type of junk to litter their site.

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BrianT on June 15, 2006 - 6:11pm

I don't buy the theory, but I give Kirby top marks for original thinking. I was not aware that basically all of the world's oil reserves are north of the equator. It does seem like an important fact that is rarely mentioned, if at all.

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DelusionaL on June 15, 2006 - 11:57pm

I thought that they find gold, diamonds, and other valuable things underground in the southern hemiphere. They also found trillions of barrels of "unfinished oil" here in the US. Brazil has alot of thier own "in house" oil production to help with thier energy independance.

There are probably many people trying to keep the dollar in one piece.
Does history have examples of "huge treasures" be it nat rescources, gold, silver, or oil with it never being leaked?
I'll bet on greed here twice.
Would Oil co's be exploring, finding and developing oil in warm countries that have a weak military vrs the artic cold? ROI? Seems too obvious...IMO, These poor southern countries wouldn't like some cash? I think it is unlikely that there are huge reserves of oil waiting to be found
Who said "Look at what oil companies do not what they say" wasn't it Deffes?
Pumping up gold - Just what do these guys own or have $ invested in?
On the otherhand I have some pre WWll German marks (paper)
from my wifes grandmother. They changed in value so quickly that they didn't bother to reprint. They would just use a rubber stamp of all things to "double" the value(seriously). Looks absurd with a "rubber stamp" on it.

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smekhovo on June 16, 2006 - 12:37am

There's just much less land, and also fewer large rivers, low-lying plains etc. south of the equator, which would seem to explain it.

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SHiFTY on June 16, 2006 - 7:26am

There are many explanations for this, mostly down to location and population. For instance it is no accident that the US, Russia and Europe have developed oilfields in close proximity- that is where the major demand is. Plus the presence of stable government is a clearly a critical factor for development of any kind.

Although there are rumours there is a North Sea size field in the Great South Basin (google for it) to the southeast of New Zealand, which has never been developed due to lack of capital and distance to markets.

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BrianT on June 16, 2006 - 8:47am

You guys are correct- it just seems like an interesting fact I had never heard before.

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Donal on June 16, 2006 - 9:45am

Much of the land in the southern hemisphere is Antarctica. To have "biotic" oil, Antarctica would have had to experience millions of years of sustained vegetative growth, right?

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smekhovo on June 16, 2006 - 11:20am

Well, it did ... but is geologically unpromising in other ways, as far as I know.

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AlanfromBigEasy on June 16, 2006 - 1:09pm

There have been coal seams discovered in Antartica. Several times in geological history Antartica has had abindant plant & animal life, but not for a majority of the time.

Perhaps there is oil in Antartica, but the repeated addition and removal of ice sheets should surely stress the geology of Antartica and I would not be surpriced if most of the oil did not escape after repeated "flexing" of the cap rock and associated fractures.

Antartica is a small continent. Slightly smaller than Australia from memory. So I have little hope for more than a trickle of oil from there by 2150.

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plucky underdog on June 17, 2006 - 11:23am

Sheesh... that article is real tinfoil-helmet stuff. But then they're gold bugs, aren't they? Most of the world's land is in the North; most of the world's continental shelf; most of the world's sedimentary basins; hence most of the oil.

Look here >>> http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-50720

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Robert Rapier on June 15, 2006 - 6:54pm

They have asked me to write an article for them, but I am struggling a bit with what to write. I don't want to give financial advice, and I don't want to attempt to predict the markets. I have been reading their editorials trying to get an idea of what to cover.

RR

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BrianT on June 15, 2006 - 9:51pm

I read the site regularly. IMO, most of their readers would be unaware that corn is a poor raw material for ethanol production because of the poor EROEI. You could also cover the expense involved in CTL production. You are probably aware of this, but quite a few of their articles are not financial in nature (these are usually geopolitical).

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Robert Rapier on June 16, 2006 - 9:08am

I may just write a bit on ethanol. I have also been asked to write up a summary of my Brazilian ethanol critique for World Energy magazine. So, I may as well just work on these articles in parallel.

RR

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wstephens on June 15, 2006 - 9:58pm

I would say write about exports because it's PO, but with a "financial" twist.

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bradshaw on June 15, 2006 - 7:46pm

Yes and the conspiracy started with an old nut at Shell back in the 50's... Dr. Hubbert right?

These guys really need to be introduced to the concept of Occam's Razor.

So I see you found the link interesting :) "I think it was you I posted it to right?"

-C.

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tate423 on June 16, 2006 - 10:13am

I read a book all about the CFR. Scary thoughts at least, even worse if parts are true.

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145 comments on DrumBeat: June 15, 2006

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