So there I was the other day, walking through the waiting area of a local hospital. I looked over at a glowing television set. I saw a silver flying saucer. The caption at the bottom of the screen stated, helpfully, "Flying Saucer Over Colorado." We're Not Alone… Thank GOD! I thought to ...read more

Eighty-five million barrels a day. That’s the most that can be produced. So when recession causes a temporary decrease in world consumption, it can seem like those 85 million barrels are enough. But consumption is bound to resume its upward climb, while those 85 million barrels a day are all we ...read more

Marcio Mello, the former explorationist from Petrobras (PBR: NYSE) and now independent petroleum consultant, electrified the Denver meeting of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (ASPO). In a riveting talk that lasted well over an hour, Marcio detailed the immense petroleum potential of offshore Brazil, as well ...read more

Each year, generally in May, the Energy Information Administration publishes a less-than-eagerly-anticipated tome called the International Energy Outlook, 250+ pages of mind-numbing text, charts, graphs, and tables. No one reads it. The mainstream media ignore it. It’s the product of the best prognosticators in the Department of Energy. Okay, that may be ...read more

Euphoria managed to out-run swine flu last week as the epidemic-du-jour, with "consumer" confidence jumping and the big bank stocks nudging up. The H1N1 virus fizzled for now, at least in terms of kill ratio, though we're warned it might boomerang in the fall with a vengeance. No one was ...read more

Mr. Obama heads to Europe now where official hostility is rising against the Anglo-American method of pounding monetary sand down the rat-holes of “non-performing” debt, bankrupt enterprise, and bubble-levitated bonds. Our poised and charming Prez may escape personal obloquy from the quaint old-world street folk, but most of the other ...read more

The arguments made against the proposed “net-positive” gas tax deserve a response, because they dismiss the tax’s raison d'être and they suffer from flawed reasoning.  Here is my response: The chief criticism is that the government should not be entrusted with any additional power to tax, for all the usual reasons.  ...read more

What next? Isn't that a question, though...       The Peak Oil story was never about running out of oil. It was about the collapse of complex systems in a world economy faced by the prospect of no further oil-fueled growth. It was something of a shock to many that the first complex ...read more

Why are oil prices lying? Prices communicate information. The NYMEX February oil contract fell over 5% today in New York trading to $34.40. This suggests oil is falling in value, at least in the short term. And maybe that's not totally a lie. After all, the current oil price results from two ...read more

The peak oil story has not been nullified by the scramble to unload every asset for cash -- including whomping gobs of oil contracts -- during this desperate season of bank liquidation. The main implication of the peak oil story is that we won't be able to generate the kind ...read more