The Oil Drum

54 comments on Matt Simmons on Fast Money (CNBC)

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Cslater8 on March 9, 2008 - 4:26pm

Simmons keeps talking about how cheap oil is, however I think he overestimates high oil can go before it's a huge problem. Fact is the world's economy has increased at the pace and scale it has, due to what I guess Simmons would refer to as super cheap oil, and if that commodity even stays at the lofty level it now trades at without increasing anymore, then we are all in for a long recession.

The only reason the UK continues to roll along with 9 dollar equivalent gas per gallon is that most people in Great Britain use public transit which goes everywhere. Where buses don't go, either subways or trains do. I lived in Aberdeen, Scotland and worked on the BP40's a set of 4 BP rigs a couple of hundred miles off shore in the North Sea. There was never any problem going anywhere in the year I spent there and I never rented a car or owned one. Even if you take a trip into the highlands, there are tour buses that have daily or weekly excursions. So those that can afford cars own them and those that can't don't.

But here in the US we don't have that option in many cases because public transit is very limited. America was conceived on the Urban sprawl plan and cars are a must, much to the chagrin of Kunstler. Plus if you drive anywhere in the UK it is a much shorter distance than here in the US.

So all these comparisons of what fuel costs in the UK, is for the most part irrelavent as compared to the US.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

fergiemeek on March 10, 2008 - 10:30am

Hello,
I am a long-time reader at the Oil Drum but this is my first comment.

"The only reason the UK continues to roll along with 9 dollar equivalent gas per gallon is that most people in Great Britain use public transit which goes everywhere."

I see variations on the above a lot in peak oil discussions but I must question the truth of this statement. There is indeed a large bus and train system but it is hideously expensive to use unless you are a) retired (in Scotland at least) or b) at school. As someone who, until recently, only used public transport I can give concrete figures for the cost of using the bus. To travel from the village I live in to the nearest town cost £4.75 for a return ticket in 2006, in 2007 this cost was raised to £14.10. For myself, my wife and my 7 year old daughter to travel to Stirling and back now costs over £35 by bus. We realised that we couldn't afford this and so bought a cheap second-hand car that now costs £6 in petrol for the same trip. Even factoring in road tax, insurance etc. there is a huge saving especially as our small car gets around 45mpg.

People are abandoning buses in droves and trains are much more expensive than buses, I hardly know anyone that uses the bus nowadays.
There has been a lot of discussion regarding people leaving their car at home and using public transport but the one aspect that is rarely mentioned is the ever increasing cost of using buses, trams and trains. For public transport to be practical it must be subsidised but this is anathema to our current free-market obsessed govt.

All the best,
Fergie

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

Kiashu on March 10, 2008 - 1:50pm

Some stats in support of what you're saying.

- in 2000/1, Britons travelled (averages) 6,815 miles each in 1,109 trips of 6.7 miles.
- 80% of people live in a household with a car
- car travel is 80% of the total distance travelled
- During the 1990s, London bus trips increased by 25% while those outside London decreased 30%
- 25% of all trips are under 1 mile, and 80% of these are walked.
- for the 75% of trips over 1 mile, cars are the dominant mode of transport

These figures are quite comparable to the US and Australia.