The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) is reporting a new monthly peak in crude oil and lease condensates for January 2011 at 75.282 million barrels per day. This is 600,000 barrels more than July, 2008 (74.669 million barrels per day).
These are important for the whole peak oil argument. World oil production is still slowly moving up. It is not declining yet. Claims of peak oil having already occurred in 2008 or 2005 are wrong. Even with Libyan oil production out, there could still be new highs in world oil production.
If world oil production keeps going up slowly to 2018-2025 then so what ?
It means more time for improved biofuels to be created. Algae biofuel or other kinds of synthetic fuel.
It also means more time for more energy efficient cars and trucks to be deployed and for electrification of transportation.
It also means more time for non-fossil fuel energy to be scaled up.
The assertion from Hastings that the weak dollar is responsible for one-third of the total cost for a gallon of gas “sounds very low,” Pento says, adding that a barrel of oil should be closer to the $65 to $70 range if priced properly. “That’s exactly where it would be if we weren’t crumbling our currency,” he says.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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