Peak oil theories wrong, says ExxonMobil boss

*Just an alternative view. Personally I think it's in America's interest to invest into alternatives technologies...no matter the facts behind this.


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20390685-1702,00.html

THE world has an abundant supply of oil, and high petrol prices are just the reality of a globally traded commodity, ExxonMobil Australia chairman Mark Nolan said today.

Mr Nolan used his speech to the Asia Pacific oil and gas conference in Adelaide today to debunk the theory of peak oil, which suggests oil supplies have peaked and will dwindle over the next 20 years.

Such predictions, he said, had been around since the 1920s, particularly at times of high oil prices.

“The fact is that the world has an abundance of oil and there is little question, scientifically, that abundant energy resources exist,” Mr Nolan said.

“According to the US Geological Survey, the earth currently has more than three trillion barrels of conventional, recoverable oil resources.

“So far we have produced one trillion.”

Mr Nolan said the oil industry had always underestimated the extent of global resources and the ability of technology to both extend the life of existing oil and gas fields and find new ones.

“We should not forget that we can recover almost twice as much oil today as when we first discovered it over 100 years ago,” he said.

“And when you consider that a further 10 per cent increase in recoverability will deliver 800 billion barrels of oil to our recoverable total, we have every reason to be sure that the end of oil is nowhere in sight.”

Mr Nolan said that by 2030, conventional fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) would still account for 80 per cent of the world's energy requirements.

But Mr Nolan said it was very difficult to predict what would happen in the future with both crude oil and petrol prices.

“They are both regionally traded commodities, they are priced by the market, priced by the region,” he said.

“The fuel price is ultimately driven by the source of the product, which is the crude price, and of course that is traded regionally and internationally.”

Mr Nolan's comments were endorsed by the president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Eve Sprunt, who said the proponents of peak oil theory often confused oil reserves with available resources.

“When you are talking about reserves, you are only talking about a very small fraction of the total resource base,” she said.

“The reserves are the portion for which the infrastructure is largely in place, the technology is in place and that can be produced at the current oil price.

“But if you are planning for the long-term energy future of your country you need to understand the resource base.”

“The whole name of the game is moving resources into the reserves category.”

Ms Sprunt said high oil prices also presented opportunities such as the viable development of other fuels.

“It's a time when new alternatives emerge,” she said.

 

I thought peak oil was debunked a long time ago?

Saudi's also said that only 18% of the world's supply has been drilled too. Something like that.

 

and microsoft says they have the best os, mac donalds says they have the best food, cisco says the have the best network hardware and so on. however, the oil the discover right now is not so easy&cheap to get like in middle east. i have read canada has some large resources of oil sand, but its to expensive to seperate oil and sand, so you dont get cheaper gas prices. how about carpooling instead, its better for the enviroment

 

Meanwhile:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003257679_oilconsumers14.html

Geesh. $1.15? That'd be back to prices I was paying when I started driving.

 

I live in the 'liberalist' place in the world, and to be honest, no one seems to give fuck about saving the enviroment through action ie they're all driving in SUV's ....all one at a time. Hell, that's just my perception, but to some point it's true.

 

That'd be great news for the aviation industry. The amount of petro that's gone through in a mile is tremendous in comparison to cars, and generally the effects on the industry are in the billions per small changes in petro price. It's bad enough all the old people are being forced to retire (even though I see the rationale in age limitations).

 

Remember a story not too long ago...Southwest prebought like 20million gallons of fuel at a really cheap price; and while the other airlines were buying at the inflated rate, southwest was making a killing cuz of their gamble. I bet, if prices go low again, you'll see more and more airlines do that.

 

I saw on the news today (I forget where) that gas was below 2.00 somewhere (Idaho maybe). It was a quick segment on Fox, but they showed a sign with $1.96 on it.

It's dropping like crazy. Mysteriously, all the moonbats that suggest Bush can control oil prices and blame him when they go up, are suddenly silent as a sunday church fart when prices go down.

 

Alan Colmes suggested conspiracy on Hannity and Colmes last night LOL

I thought Gtech didn't know about silent farts!

 

I guarantee you that.

 

Iowa 1.96

http://www.iowastategasprices.com/

I think $2.00 is about right. Walter Williams made a good assessment I thought a few months back. Given the rate on inflation and gas prices in the 50's, a gallon of gass should be at $2.33 (simply inflation), so $2.00 seems reasonable too. I'd like to see 99 cent gas again (78 when I lived in Georgia back in '98 or '99), but I think that's totally unrealistic.

 

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?zip=65616&m=1&l=1

1.87 in Missouri Lucky bastards.

Here; it was 2.67 yesterday, 2.57 this morning; on the drive home it was 2.53 (same gas station). I do not understand how they decide prices so quickly

 

Silent? You've been paying scam gas prices for so long you actually believe under $2 is some kind of bargain?

Meanwhile exxon continues to continually rake in more profits every quarter than other single company in history.

 

Read a little bit, yo.

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4384

 

No need... i was paying well below $2/gallon before katrina.

 

That sums it up for a lot of your "reasoning" I think

 

Guess what yo-yo, you're an ass!

What objection do you have to companys making a profit? Should they cut their margins to 0 in order to "aid the consumer"

No government or union or anybody should regulate company profits/practises to try and "help" someone else.

 

Yo has a problem with the 10 cents profit that oil companies make on a dollar of gas. While states add on about 45 cents of taxes onto that same dollar, he is silent about. anyone wonder why?

 

Wow... that was deep.

When our entire economy depends on something there is a problem. Especially when greedy companies with monopolies shift prices to squeeze every penny they can out of consumers. Perhaps you'd have no problem with them hiking the price up to $10/gallon and completely shutting down the entire united states work force? Asshole.