Citigroup: Shale oil fracking has killed peak oil

[joshcryer]

Citigroup: Shale oil fracking has killed peak oil
Peak oil is dead. Or, at the very least, it has been delayed for the foreseeable future, says Citigroup's research and analysis department.

Peak oil is the idea that at some point in time, the world's supply of crude oil will start to run dry, and fuel production will enter a plummeting death spiral. Oil's scarcity will cause prices to soar, putting massive economic strain on our oil-crazy civilisation.

Warnings about the end of oil have only been getting louder since the problem was first raised in the 50s. The US has seen oil production slip steadily since the 1970s, and the globe's conventional, easy-to-drill stuff plateaued sometime around 2004.

But in a research note, Citigroup says that the worrying "peak" of oil production has now risen far into the clouds. Thanks to new technology and a dash of good old-fashioned human ingenuity, we're able to find and extract from more sources of the fuel.

I have been predicting this for years.

[joshcryer]

1. Here is the little report they made:

https://www.citigroupgeo.com/pdf/SEUNHGJJ.pdf

[AnOhioan]

2. It will only delay the inevitable....while poisoning water tables across the land

[Gman]

3. And there's oil in many other places that

That will be cost effective to extract as technology evolves. I've yet to buy into peak oil.

[LuvLoogie]

5. The rendered and refined fat...

of surplus populations, e.g.--the list goes on.

[drm604]

4. Regardless,

we have to find a way to move away from fossil fuels.

[TalkingDog]

6. "...oil shale produces, at best, only slightly more energy than it requires."

http://www.centerwest.org/publications/oilshale/7new/?p=226


So, no, not so much.

[joshcryer]

7. Yeah, but they use on site energy to get it out.

So even if you have a negative EROEI it doesn't matter. That's what's most appalling about this technology. It promises to destroy vast swatchs of pristine BLM land.

The BLM is taking comments on future exploration leases, so, we'll see how it turns out: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/53577949-90/blm-march-shale-tar.html.csp

[JDPriestly]

10. That is what I heard way back when.

The technology should have improved since the time I heard about this. We shall see, but I don't put all that much weight on this considering how quickly the demand for energy has increased and the rate at which global warming is taking over.

[saras]

8. Peak oil is an exponential rise. They "killed" it? Why read further?

Okay, it's Citigroup, and it's public relations, so I know going in that facts or falsehoods, the big picture is going to be a lie, and a costly, dangerous one for the planet.

I know they're making shitloads of money in the short-term from fracking - partly because damaging that much fundamental community stuff is good for the economy in lots of ways that don't have to do with extracting oil.

Therefore this story must be gospel truth.

[joshcryer]

11. That's the title of the Wired article. If you read the very next sentence...

...it says that they merely forestalled it.

[Dead_Parrot]

13. "Death of the Peak Oil Hypothesis" is citi's phrase

Go figure

[joshcryer]

14. Hyperbole, which is why Wired pulled it back a bit.

The actual report just says "we are going to be a major oil producer." And it makes a subtle jab at those saying we're already in Peak Oil. Yes, we've Peaked Conventional Oil, no doubt.

[JDPriestly]

9. Actually, as I recall back in 1973-74,

the beginning of shale oil is the peak of oil overall. Theoretically, there is a lot of oil in the shale, but how much of it will be extracted before the environmental cost is acknowledged to be too great to continue? Hard to say.

[joshcryer]

12. Before the environmental costs are acknowledged, JD?

Probably never?

[JDPriestly]

15. It will get worse.

[Arctic Dave]

16. LOL. Ok, if they say so.

fracking will slow it a little bit at best.

[NickB79]

17. Too bad shale oil doesn't help bring down oil prices globally

We're replacing the cheap conventional wells with more expensive, slower-yielding shale and tar sands production. Even if we can keep pace with increasing global demands (big if there), oil prices will still continue to climb as the old fields peter out.

[Nihil]

18. That's not part of the plan though is it?

1) Oil companies thrive on short-term profit.

2) Financial corporations thrive on short-term profit.

3) Gullible people who can be persuaded that oil will last forever
will continue to provide that short-term profit without making any
attempt to either conserve or replace it.

Smiling faces in #1 & #2 as #3 work themselves into early graves
for the primary purpose of providing short-term profit.

The Plan works (and has been working for decades)!

[Dead_Parrot]

19. BTW, do not read this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002354257

[Nihil]

20. Thanks for the warning.

No thanks for putting a temptation like that in the path of my mouse.

Methinks that the wall between the world of daylight and that of Trollheim have grown thin ...

Alternatively, the understanding of why we are in the current situation is getting stronger.

[ellisonz]

21. What happens when we run out of shale oil?