Is the depletion of oil resources faster and more catastrophic than

[CoffeeAnnan]

we are led to believe?I am asking this question because Royal Dutch Shell the oil giant has been forced to revise downwards its estimated oil reserves during the past year.It is likely the other oil giants may have to follow suit.

If this scenario is correct, the scramble to go to war in Iraq and seize its vast oil wealth makes sense.So this war can now be put on a rational basis as naked piracy and all the BS about bringing democracy and Freedom to the benighted and oppressed people of Iraq is just that, BS.

[toddzilla]

1. yes..

personally i don't think it's going to matter who is president when the shit starts hitting the fan.

[kikiek]

2. A guest on Unfiltered earlier this week who wrote a book..sorry

don't recall name of either one..said oil resources will be running out by 2040. China is a big new competition. We wanted everyone to be like us and buy our vehicles that eat gas up without making them more efficient. Guess that's coming back to bite us in the ass. Also the countries with the oil like China better right now, and prefer doing business with them.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Oil is "running out" right now. The peak of production will be before 2010

It's not like the earth is "making more" as we pump it out.....

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Peak Oil may already be here.

Some experts think so.

[CoffeeAnnan]

6. Are people like Cheney and Wolfowitz privy to data that we do not

have that compels them to usurp the oil wealth of other nations under one pretext or another? Is the US going to fight endless wars with other countries to secure its own oil supplies, and more importantly, deny those supplies to rivals like China?

Are we facing a situation where our Democracy may become a thing of the past,if it hasn't already?

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. The dark before the dawn --

The end of oil could be the end of one of the greatest threats to democracy. When energy production cannot be centralized, the result may be the strengthening of local democracies. Bushco would hardly be ruling now if not for oil money.

Then again, it might just be the beginning of the water monopolies.

[kikiek]

7. I don't think I said the earth was. I repeating 1 persons prediction.

[BlueEyedSon]

8. And I was correcting him.

:)

[Gyre]

4. Would that be Mike Ruppert?

who wrote "Crossing the Rubicon".

[kikiek]

9. Michael T Klare Blood and Oil. Says 2010 US resources dried up

to the point that we will need to import 60 pct of our oil. 2040 was the world resources apparently. At any rate I hate those hummers even more. We are screwed if we don't get these people out of power.

[FlemingsGhost]

11. Yes. I believe you understand correctly.

Could you imagine the irrational fear and level of general chaos, if folks knew just what the world was facing? It's probably best they have a fantasy story of shadowy villians and wannabe superhero politicians.

Empty your mind of any political, economic, and historical perspective you may think you grasp, and put yourself in the shoes of the average American. It would freak them out to know the truth.

On edit: typo

[Skittles]

12. yes

the meltdown is beginning with the higher prices. And stealing oil is not the answer.

[elsiesummers]

13. I think you are dead on. For more info read editorial

There is an editorial - google "gold-eagle bear dragon Mauldin" for the link (the first link) or search in the first (earliest) ten posts of my blog for the link.

Anyway - Mauldin is a Republican (though he overall steers clear of politics and sticks with economics - his obsession being an impending world crisis in pension funds) and the Mauldin article is a reprint from Cox - but this particular article really gives a point by point analysis of where the world oil supply stands today.

I think you are right about the Bush war. Naive people point to the low oil production in Iraq - but while production is currently low they have the second largest oil reserve (to Saudi Arabia) in the World.

I find Kerry's comments in the first debate (1)about a Kerry administration having no long term designs on Iraq, along with Kerry's observation (2)about Bush efforts towards 14 permanent military bases in Iraq, extremely telling.

Good energy policy, especially when oil has to be pumped out by using natural gas and prices invariably rise, should be based upon a concept of (1)utilizing new energy technologies (2)conservation and (3)keeping the Alaskan oil reserve in the ground for as long as possible/until we really need it.

Bush wants to occupy/colonize Iraq for the very long haul. He made this very clear in debate one.

From the article I mentioned: my impression is that the quantity of easily and inexpensively available oil is disappearing quickly, but oil that is obtained in a more expensive manner is still around. The article conclusion was that while oil may be speculatively spiking at this time (and will experience a future correction), available oil is and will be, for the forseeable future, in shorter supply, (so the long term trend for oil prices is up).

Another recent Mauldin "Outside the box" letter was a reprint of an email conversation between Bill Gross and Stephen Roach. If you aren't getting this free email and you are interested in economics - you should check out Mauldin's www.frontlinethoughts.com. because, while not all his emails are equal, and they are (when he rarely speaks of politics) more Pub than Dem, he is definitely worth reading.

[BlueEyedSon]

14. More links on this topic:

http://doomsdayreport.com/links.html

[rman]

15. If oil reserves "run out" by 2040...

"Run out" as in "dry wells" - then the peak is now, because production becomes more expensive as wells get depleted. As a rule of thumb, production starts declining when the reseves in a well have been depleted to about half.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. As someone on DU once said before:

If oil is important enough to send our children to die for, it's important enough to nationalize.