The Oil Drum

To the greatest extent in the history of oil futures trading, oil prices are now in continuous contango--that is, oil futures get progressively more expensive each year into the future. Does this mean that Peak Oil, as a meme, has "tipped"? Our latest oil price poll suggests that well over 70% of the sample (N>3000 now) thinks that oil will at least stay above $114 a barrel for the next two months--and almost half think it will hit $140 a barrel in that timeframe. Search volume on Google for the term is up dramatically in the past month, as is traffic at The Oil Drum. The following graph shows the dramatic swing from backwardation to contango over the last 6 weeks:

Has Peak Oil, as a meme, "tipped"? Our latest oil price poll suggests that well over 70% of the sample (N>3000 now) thinks that oil will at least stay above $114 a barrel for the next two months--and almost half think it will hit $140 a barrel in that timeframe. Search volume on Google for the term is up dramatically in the past month, as is traffic at The Oil Drum. One indicator of a "tipping point" for acceptance of Peak Oil may be the state of backwardation in oil futures. I first raised this idea over 2 years ago, but recent market movements, coinciding with attention in the press, may be validating it: when the markets accept Peak Oil, we will see the end of backwardation in crude oil markets, and possibly even Contango. Here's what has happened over the past 6 weeks:

UPDATE: Graph updated with data as of 10:00am EST on May 19th to show significant contango