Lots of DUers have been introduced to The Oil Drum since the beginning of this disaster.

[Subdivisions]

Well, http://www.theoildrum.com">The Oil Drum is first and foremost a Peak Oil tracking site. They are just as credible about Peak Oil as they have been Deep Water Horizon analysts and a reference for DUers for this on-going disaster. I've been a reader of The Oil Drum for years so I know you can count on their expertise in the area of Peak Oil.

Here is an article that describes the oil production situation, including this list of countries that hare past their peak of production:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5576



Only 14 out of 54 oil producing countries and regions in the world continue to increase production, while 30 are definitely past their production peak, and the remaining 10 appear to have flat or declining production <1>. Put another way, peak oil is real in 61% of the oil producing world when weighted by production. Since 2008 capped a record run for oil prices, most countries and oil companies were trying all-out to increase production. While a handful of producers (think Iraq) might be limited by above-ground factors, the majority of producers simply couldn't do any better in 2008 <2>.

The evidence of the demise of the cheap oil era has become insurmountable. In the face of the highest oil prices on record, the great majority of the world's oil producers were incapable of taking advantage and producing more oil. Many nations including the US saw their oil production peak decades ago - there simply is no turning the clock back. This list shows that we are relying on a small number of countries to keep providing cheap oil. We need to move faster to alternatives and greater energy efficiency, before the last fourteen peak as well.

...snip...

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5576

Note that this was written one year ago. Things have gotten considerably worse since then. It is now almost unanimously postulated that Saudi Arabia is past it's peak. Mexico, our third larget supplier, is crashing.

Peak Oil is NOT a "theory". It's a geological FACT.

The bottom line: We're fucked. We ignored the problem for too long and now we will pay. It is too late for a smoothe transition away from oil. We should have started when Jimmy Carter tried to warn us. We didn't. And now we'll fly right off the cliff like Thelma and Louise. Only this time there will be more than just two people dying.

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. The Oil Drum is an excellent site. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[zazen]

8. and the post-carbon institute's energybulletin.net n/t

[HughMoran]

2. That chart shows the USA as the 3rd largest individual oil producer in the world

It never occurred to me that the US was such a large producer based on what people say.

[Subdivisions]

9. The United States used to be the Saudi Arabia of oil. We only produce half

today what it was when U.S. production peaked in 1970.

Here is a breakdown of the countries that have already peaked:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8566992

[Scurrilous]

3. Thanks for the info.

:thumbsup:

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Tis so ironic then

that the military burns thru 5 million barrels of oil or more to in their effort to grab more oil from other countries
and
that BP is losing all that oil in the Gulf.

[Subdivisions]

6. US military warns oil output may dip causing massive shortages by 2015

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/11/peak-oil-production-supply

The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact.

The energy crisis outlined in a Joint Operating Environment report from the US Joint Forces Command, comes as the price of petrol in Britain reaches record levels and the cost of crude is predicted to soon top $100 a barrel.

"By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day," says the report, which has a foreword by a senior commander, General James N Mattis.

It adds: "While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India."

The US military says its views cannot be taken as US government policy but admits they are meant to provide the Joint Forces with "an intellectual foundation upon which we will construct the concept to guide out future force developments."

...snip...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/apr/11/peak-oil-production-supply

Since we've already passed the point of global oil production, I don't know where they get 2015. But at least they admit there's a problem and they are developing responses to it.

[Cleita]

5. Hi there.

I was without internet last week so I couldn't keep up with the threads watching the oil spill I think my modem self-destructed at thread #22. Thanks for posting. Apparently we are screwed.

[Subdivisions]

7. Hi Cleita! Glad you're back up and running. Yep, we're screwed. It'll be a

matter of surviving the Olduvai plunge now, rather than a mitigation effort.