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Not particularly good news at the start of 2008


TankHunter

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Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080102/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices_45;_ylt=Ah_R3Ho79NxHL4npn8ON0fGAsnsA

or rather suppliers will not produce to meet demand perhaps?...(OPEC)

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We have held up remarkably well in spite of the ridiculous rise in oil prices over the last few years, but eventually a breaking-point is reached. We are now in the vicinity of the worst oil prices (adjusted for inflation and purchasing power) since the all-time peak in 1980 at about $40 a barrel then or around $90-$110 a barrel adjsued to today's prices. As we are now at $100 a barrel, we may be moving into the unknown, but some indications of what may be to come are unsettling.:(

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Well, Hack, that may be possible (though one would think that scaring the pants off of your consumers to a point that some are looking for alternatives would be an undesirable business practice), but I am not sure if I would follow the idea (even if it were the case, it is possible that some states would up production behind OPEC's back). Now, the following is sort of scary in my opinion. Granted I am sort of new to the peak oil theory (I have just started seriously looking into it recently).

http://www.theoildrum.com/files/PU200712_Fig3b.png

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3439#more

If this info is correct, then production has peaked...

If production has peaked, then things will get a lot worse...

However if it hasn't peaked, then we still have a few more years, though I am not sure how much that will help.

As regards the link that Norfolk posted, I guess the best option at least in areas that can actually consider it would be to have local food production. Short travel distances should decrease the prices (though if the farming is modern, the cost will still increase anyway due to fuel required for harvesting, etc).

It also seems as if these biofuels are going to be a bigger problem than the problem that they may solve. Either way, we really need to start looking for a cost effective alternative to these fossil fuels. If not, we are going to face a very interesting world in the next few decades.

One alternative to this could be nuclear power, another one could be earth based renewable sources of energy (i.e., solar or wind) or in the future (hopefully in the near future) helium-3, but with today’s technology, it may be problematic in accessing the last one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium_3

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TURNER: Do we have plans to invade the Middle East?

HIGGINS: Are you crazy??

TURNER: Am I?

HIGGINS: Look, Turner....

TURNER: Do we have plans?

HIGGINS: No. Absolutely not. We have games. That's all. We play games. "What if?". "How many men?". "What would it take?". "Is there a cheaper way of destabilizing a regime?". That's what we're paid to do.

TURNER: So... Atwood just took the games too seriously. He was really going to do it... wasn't he?

HIGGINS: It was a renegade operation! Atwood knew 54/12 could never authorize it: not with all the heat on the Company.

TURNER: Suppose there'd been no heat? And I hadn't stumbled on the plan? Nobody had?

HIGGINS: Different ballgame. The fact is, it wasn't a bad plan. It could've worked.

TURNER: Jesus--What is it with you people? You think that not getting caught in a lie is the same as telling the truth.

HIGGINS: It's simple economics. Turner... there's no argument. Oil now... 10 or 15 years it'll be food, or plutonium. Maybe sooner than that. What do you think the people will want us to do then?

TURNER: Ask them!

HIGGINS: Now? Ask them when they're running out. When it's cold at home and the engines stop and people who aren't used to hunger go hungry. They won't want us to ask... they'll just want us to get it for them.

"Three Days of the Condor" (1975)

I've always tried to keep as much distance from politics as possible, but I do enjoy my political thrillers.

Now just hope a car doesn't slow beside you, and someone you know--maybe even trust--gets out and smiles a becoming smile :clin:

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