Peak Oil True (allegedly)
Two Chief Executives of oil companies have just admitted that Peak Oil is true.
But neither has used the term ‘peak oil’!
It’s been derided by the big oil companies for years, but in mid-January a U-turn appeared.
The Chief Executive of the Dutch oil giant Shell, Jeroen van der Veer wrote forecasting the end of easy oil. He said the result could be a global scramble to reduce the effects of climate change.
“more energy, less CO2″
He sent this email to all Shell employees. It was explicitly meant for wider distribution:
“In this letter, I’d like to share reflections about how we see the energy future, and our preferred route to meeting the world’s energy needs. Industry, governments and energy users - that is, all of us - will face the twin challenge of more energy and less CO2.
By the year 2100, the world’s energy system will be radically different from today’s. Renewable energy like solar, wind, hydroelectricity and biofuels will make up a large share of the energy mix, and nuclear energy too will have a place.
Mankind will have found ways of dealing with air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. New technologies will have reduced the amount of energy needed to power buildings and vehicles.
Indeed, the distant future looks bright, but getting there will be an adventure. [more]”
“very alarming picture”
Dr Jim Buckee has just retired as President and CEO of Talisman Energy, a major independent Canadian oil company with a market capitalisation of $25-billion. He agreed that ‘peak oil’ was now either here, or very close.
“The world is consuming 30-plus billion barrels a year of oil and is finding seven or eight billion barrels a year. And this state of affairs has been going on now for 20 or more years.
“It’s obviously unsustainable and the world is increasingly drawing on the bigger older fields. You couple that notion with the irreversibility of decline and you’ve got a very alarming picture.”
He accepted that oil companies have delayed any acknowledgement of Peak Oil scenarios for fear of being alarmist. So… it is true!
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