Bob's Links and Rants

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Monday, October 11, 2004

$53.80

I know I'm getting carried away with oil prices, but I needed a headline for this quote from CBS Marketwatch:
"The bottom line remains that world oil demand continues to strain the world's productive abilities," said Todd Hultman, president of Dailyfutures.com, a commodity information provider.

And "demand should be ... much tougher to meet when cold weather hits the northern hemisphere this winter," he said, so "prepare for $60."
"Strain the world's productive abilities." In other words, the world may have reached it's maximum oil production, also known as peak oil. Remember, the U.S. reached peak oil in 1970, and domestic production has been declining ever since. Here's a graph showing U.S. oil production since 1973 (best I could find with a quick google):


And the world's chart will probably look similar to this one, with a phase shift of about 35 years. The oil shocks of the 1970's were warnings which were almost completely ignored after a few years. We'll be paying for this big time in the next decade--wars (already), depression, civil unrest throughout the world. As the rapturists say, buckle your seat belts!