This was originally an article at ASPO: http://www.aspousa.org/index.php/2009/11/the-oil-situation-is-really-bad/ - I find it interesting that it has been published at scoop without any further comment or criticism (just a simple attribution to ASPO).
Scoop.co.nz - Dave Cohen: The Oil Situation Is Really Bad

A second senior IEA source, who has now left but was also unwilling to give his name, said a key rule at the organization was that it was “imperative not to anger the Americans” but the fact was that there was not as much oil in the world as had been admitted. “We have [already] entered the ‘peak oil’ zone. I think that the situation is really bad,” he added.

The Australian - Heats On To Approve Carbon Plan

KEVIN Rudd has seized on high temperatures across southeast Australia this week as proof of climate change and the need for the opposition to back his proposed carbon emissions trading system.
Mr Rudd has also used the data to challenge opponents who doubted the reality of climate change to examine current weather patterns and reconsider their positions.

One of the features of many models that are used to predict future events is that they focus on target years. Decadal years are the most common target years, so that whether talking of climate or the amount of oil or natural gas available, models focus on, for example, the amount that will be available in 2030. The problem with this approach is that it leaves the public to think that a problem is not yet serious. For example if the prediction is that the production of oil will only be 75 mbd, in 2030 then there is an implication that until 2030 that the situation will remain fine.

However the world does not reach those levels by continuing in the business as usual mode for the next 21 years, and then suddenly have production drop off a cliff one Friday night. Rather it is a problem that inexorably will grow, year on year, between now and then. I was struck by this thought as I looked through the latest comments from CERA/IHS on their view of the future of oil supply. Their view, as we have come to expect, is an optimistic one, and though we are not still living in the days of $30 oil that they had, at one time predicted, it is worth looking into so as to provide some explanation of the difference between their view and mine.

Pemex Proved Reserves May Drop 2.8% This Year

(Bloomberg) -- Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil company, said proved reserves of crude-oil equivalent may drop for an 11th straight year as existing fields dry up and discoveries are smaller than expected.

Proved reserves may decline 2.8 percent to 13.9 billion barrels this year, Vinicio Suro, director of planning at Pemex’s exploration and production unit, said in a presentation on the company’s Web site. Reserves may rebound again in 2013, he said.

Pemex, as the Mexico City-based company is known, has failed to replace dwindling output of oil at its offshore Cantarell deposit, the world’s third-largest deposit when it was discovered in the 1970s.

Market cornered for rare minerals

As resource-hungry China scours the world for crude oil and natural gas supplies, it has managed to corner the global market for a group of obscure metals used to make iPods, wind farms and electric cars.

The mainland supplies at least 95 percent of the world's rare earths - 17 chemical elements with names such as praseodymium and yttrium - essential for a wide range of high-tech devices and green technologies.

China, which has long recognized the value of these metals, is tightly controlling the supply of these vital natural resources.