Stories tagged with "schlumberger"

Asking one of the less comfortable questions about our energy future...

In my last post I talked a little about the media’s normal pre-disposition to ask relatively comfortable questions about the state of oil (and natural gas) supply, with the consequence that some of the more difficult questions and those with more painful answers don’t get asked very often. The painful questions take one beyond the current concerns on the ability of supply to match demand at a reasonable price, to the point where oil production can longer increase in absolute volume, and then on to the point where overall production starts to decline. It is an issue that Euan and the TOD Europe group are beginning to ably document, as they outline the problems that Europe will face. It is a point that is illustrated in the recent post on the Megaproject update by Khebab, and more specifically in the comments on that post. But what I would add to that, and ask, as a painful question, is as to whether the projection is overly optimistic.

Ken Deffeyes, who did so much to bring this current situation to our attention with his writing and books, who has said that he is no longer a prophet, but has become a historian. His remark implies that the much of the debate over peak oil is perhaps over. And there I would disagree with him, because I remain critically concerned, as Euan is, that the world does not really understand the size of the problem that is approaching, and the speed of that arrival. Further the information that controls the shape of the production curve, post peak is usually derived relating to the pattern of the peak in the United States. To anticipate that the world curve will look the same, overlooks the critical difference that, at the present time, there is no satisfactory alternative fuel to satisfy demand. Thus the market imperatives to extract more oil in the immediate short term to meet needs may over-ride more rational concerns about achieving maximum ultimate recovery by producing the oil more slowly. This is a different situation than that which held over the time that the American production plot was developed, and alternate supplies of oil were available from abroad.

The Big Crew Change: Turnover in the Oil Workforce

The mainstay of the oil- and gas industry workforce will retire in the coming ten years. While there is a fair amount of thinking about how to fix this huge problem in the oil- and gas industry, this factor is being ignored in the energy scenarios of the International Energy Agency and Energy Information Administration. This posts looks at the numbers and potential effect on oil production of the retirement in the oil-industry.

Wednesday Open Thread

Cheers...and here's some stuff to chew on:

Schlumberger: US Oil Demand 21.642M B/D, Highest Ever in Week. (link) Update [2005-12-15 0:6:13 by Prof. Goose]: Link fixed!

Exxon: Oil demand to rise 50%...Energy industry can supply what's needed, company says. (link)

Participate.net: Syriana talk. (link)

John Robb (Global Guerrillas): "Clear and Hold?"  The current US approach in Iraq is to clear areas of insurgent activity and hold them to prevent their return. This is a redux of a 20th Century counter-insurgency method called oil spots (a variant is strategic hamlets). (link)

US News and World Report (not necessarily a peak energy publication!!): The Big Chill, A winter fuel crisis of high prices and shortages could darken homes and factories. (link)