BBC Confirms the Age of Peak Oil and an Energy Apocalypse Within 10 Years!!!!
 

Time to wake up! This war is about oil and ONLY about oil. Finding Weapons of Mass Distraction or "liberating" the Iraqi people has nothing to do with it. At least one major news organization (BBC) is finally talking about the elephant in the room. Article pasted here and linked at the bottom:




The advocates of war insist it's not about oil. But global oil production is on the brink of terminal decline and when the West begins to run short of supplies - Iraq could be a lifeline.

Wednesday 26 March 7.30pm BBC2
Article


After World War I, the oil companies carved up Iraq. Shell, BP, Exxon and Total all had stakes in the Iraq Petroleum Company. They paid pennies for each barrel of oil and built a pipeline to take it away.

In 1972 the Iraqis nationalised the industry and threw the foreigners out. From then on Western oil companies could only dream of Iraq?s oil reserves - the second largest in the world.

With Saddam Hussein came decades of war followed by sanctions and Iraq's massive reserves lay largely untouched. But with Hussein's regime under threat, at last there was a chance to get back in.

Dwindling discoveries

It's not greed that?s driving big oil companies - it's survival. The rate of oil discovery has been falling ever since the 1960's when 47 billion barrels a year were discovered, mostly in the Middle East.

In the 70's the rate dropped to about 35 billion barrels while the industry concentrated on the North Sea. In the 80's it was Russia?s turn, and the discovery rate dropped to 24 billion. It dropped even further in the 90's as the industry concentrated on West Africa but only found some 14 billion barrels.

Shrinking production

In America, always the greediest consumer of oil, production has been falling for 30 years. Americans guzzle 20 million barrels of oil a day, but now they have to import over 60% of it.

That pattern is being repeated elsewhere. Geologist Dr Colin Campbell predicted a decline in the North Sea several years ago and claims by 2015 Britain may have to import over half its oil needs. "In 1999 Britain went over the top and is declining quite rapidly," he says.

"It's now 17% down in just three years, and this pattern is set to continue. That means that Britain will soon be a net importer, imports have to rise, the costs of the imports have to rise, and even the security of supply is becoming a little uncertain," Campbell adds.

In Norway the government forecasts that in the next ten years its North Sea production will halve. In Argentina oil production has been down for several years and in Columbia, which was a big producer in the 90's, production is now past its peak.

US energy security

When George Bush took power two years ago, his administration was already worried about the vulnerability of America?s oil supplies - the buzzword was ?energy security?.

"I think it?s quite possible that the United States realises the key importance of the Middle East generally to world supply in fact, and especially its own, and that it sees Saddam Hussein as a ready-made villain," points out Campbell.

"It finds this a convenient way in which to establish a military presence in the Middle East - aimed partially at Iraq by all means but with a wider significance to control the production elsewhere there."

The US pushed its allies hard to support military action against Iraq. With resolution 1441 last November they seemed to be making progress. But in December America?s energy security took yet another turn for the worse. Venezuelan oil workers went on strike and oil prices soared - hitting $35 a barrel.

Iraqi oil for Iraqi people

As preparations for war gathered pace there were massive demonstrations around the world. The widespread view that it was all about oil worried the US and British governments so much that they came up with a plan - they would safeguard Iraq?s oil for the Iraqi people.

"We will make sure that Iraq?s natural resources are used for the benefit of their owners, the Iraqi people," President Bush told the world.

But even if the post-Saddam regime retains control of oil exports, at least the boost in Iraqi output will provide a growing supply to the West.

For a war supposedly not about oil, military planners made a high priority of securing the oilfields. Apart from a handful of wells torched by Iraqi troops, the huge southern oilfields were taken largely intact. But other major oil-producing regions are still in Iraqi hands and there is still a danger that, as in Kuwait 12 years ago, massive sabotage may hit oil production for years to come.

Terminal decline

Whatever happens, rebuilding Iraq will be a huge job and only US companies have been invited to bid for contracts.

Opposition leader Dr Salah Al-Shaikhly, of the Iraqi National Accord, admits Britain and America will benefit from helping remove Saddam. "Well definitely those who have helped us, all along, with regime change. Obviously they should have a little edge over the rest. I think even in economics, this is quite acceptable? as well as the politics."

But even if Iraq does boost its oil production ironically the effect could be short lived. Its vast reserves represent just four years of world consumption and by the time Iraqi oil is flowing freely, global oil production may already be in terminal decline.

Campbell thinks the decline will start by 2010. "It starts with a price shock due to control of the market by a few countries, and it is followed by the onset of physical shortage, which just gets worse and worse and worse," he says.

So if alternatives to oil are not found soon the changes could be radical. Unlimited use of cars and cheap flights around the world may well be a thing of the past. While international trade - the very basis of the global economy - will suffer.


It's All About Oil

In about 10 years, solar-powered cars and other "natural" cars will be making a big appearance.

Yes, it's all about oil, but not for the reason you think!

We're going to light the oil on fire and pay Haliburton lots of money to put out fires! Don't you pay attention??

Well Haliburton and company will surely make a killing in modernizing the oil fields and rebuilding Iraq. So will all of Bush's other buddies.

But when are people going to see through all the political rhetoric and the candy-coated propaganda that the US media doles out in spades?

The general philosophy in America seems to be:

"I don't care how many innocent women and children around the world need to be slaughtered for me to maintain my standard of living. I just wanna drive my SUV. The rest of the world can go fuck itself!"

Well, it's an interesting philosophy but sooner or later the rest of the world might bite back!

I don't want the oil so I can drive an SUV. I want it so I can fill my bathtub and soak in it.

I don't care how many people have to die for me to take an oil bath.

If we weren't lighting the oil on fire so Bush's buddies could get rich putting out fires, I could probably get enough oil to fill the nearby pond with it and swim in the shit. Bastards.

Saddam is a prick and needs to die.

Taking the oil is just a added treat.

Your attempt at humor hits the nail on the head with a very ironic and telling image.


We Americans are oil-pigs and might as well want the stuff to bathe in while the rest of the world is plundered and burned for our comforts.

Yeeehaaaa!

But as the article lucidly points out, either way it will be the begining of the end within 10 years. And no - man will not become extinct. But "Petroleum Man" will become extinct. Think Mad Max - that will be the state of the world for at least 20-30 years while technological adjustments are made to ween ourselves off of oil. That's not something that can happen overnight. It's not just fuel we are talking about. Every mechanical device in the world requires an oil-based lubricant to function. EVERY aspect of life will be impacted.

But there is a potential replacement for oil - the body's natural lubricant, synovial fluid! Hee. Hee. Imagine that? We might have to farm humans for lubrication.

To paraphrase Charlton Heston in Solyant Green:

"Industrial Lubricants is People!!!!"

Taking the oil is the main course.

Saddam Hussein is our convenient creation (we armed and supported him for decades, like Noriega and so many others) that we essentially groomed for this very purpose.

*oink oink*

Now get in the synovial fluid harvester so I can drive to the store in an hour.

Enough

I agree. Enough hypocracy! No more War for Oil!

"Saddam Hussein is our convenient creation (we armed and supported him for decades, like Noriega and so many others) that we essentially groomed for this very purpose."


Do you feel the same way about Stalin. Going by rationale of people like you, we are responsible for communism.

do these guys take into account that as supply drops the price will increase which leads to subsitutes? which means it could take even longer for oil to be depleted.

It is about oil, but not Sadaam's oil, it's about a guy that has taken aggressive action towards MOST of his neighbors, who hold a majority of the world's oil. killed 10s of 1000s of his own people and would be a nasty foe if he conquered the entire Middle east.... Which he believes is "rightfully" his...

You can stop right there.

:1orglaugh

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :glugglug

If there's not enough oil left to make some gas so I can drive my new 5 miles per gallon Diablo next year I'm gonna be pissed!

Just liek in the 80's, when we thought we'd have flying cars in the year 2000, the only flying cars i see are... wait, there ARE NO FLYING CARS!

No I don't feel the same way about Stalin. We never armed Stalin and Stalin was never our puppet.

Saddam and Noriega, on the other hand, we armed to the teeth, got them to do a lot of our dirty work, and then used them for our own greedy, strategic purposes.

Wanton, the right thing done for the wrong reason (if that is so) is still the right thing.

Yeah right. Would you prefer it was "Fox News states...". When I want balatant, Nazi-style propaganda I will tune into Fox News for a good laugh. BBC is also controlled by similar Western elitists but to their credit they do occaisionally give more "raw" and unfiltered news since they are not a for-profit behemoth like Fox or CNN.

Fox News..... Zeig Heil!! Long Live Furher Bush!!

I would agree with the logic of that statement. However, I do not think the "right" thing will be achieved out of this Iraq thing.

..and if you heard Rumsfelf and Powell recently, they are laying the ground work for a "quick" strike into Syria and Iran next. I can assure you that the wrong thing will ultimately be achieved - the end to any semblence of world peace.

If you think we are going into Syria or Iraq next, I'll call you an ass right now, and you can call me an ass if I'm wrong.

Iraq is a state which, if they had weapons of mass destruction, might give them to terrorists. If it turns out that they didn't have any (unlikely, since they had supplied their soldiers with protective gear), then they deserve to go down for wasting the UN's time for 12 years.

<h1><font face="ariel "size="+6"><b>INVADE CUBA!!</b></font></h1>

Ok. You're an ass.

:winkwink:

The exact same argument that can be made about Iraq, "They might have WMD and might give them to terrorists" can be made about Syria, Iran and scores of other countries. Bush already laid the ground work for the so-called "axis of evil" of Iraq, North Korea and Iran. He is priming the public for an eventual invasion of those countries as well. You just wait. You will see. But by then, the US media will have blanketed the airwaves with so much propaganda that the public will be lulled into these invasions as well.

hey wonton, do you drive a prius or an insight?


maybe you drive a nice vintage v-dub bus...

oh yeah, who cares about oil anyways!

have your car converted to alcohol. all of them. they run cooler, cleaner, and FASTER.

alchohol is a renewable energy source. yum.