Bartlett (R-MD) Points To GAO Report As Proof That Conventional Oil Peak Has Arrived - Platts

[hatrack]

A draft US Government Accountability Office report finds that, though it is difficult to assess whether the world has reached "peak oil," a large number of experts surveyed for the report believe the world may have reached the peak for conventional petroleum supplies, said Representative Roscoe Bartlett, Republican-Maryland.

Bartlett, who has raised concerns that the world has produced more oil than remains in reserves, ordered the report from GAO -- the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress -- and will release it within the next month.

He said the report authors did not get a fix on how much oil is left in the world because principal oil suppliers would offer no information about how much oil they have left.

"They have no reason to tell us and little reason to be truthful," Bartlett said, so it is "very difficult to determine a date specific" when the world will reach peak oil.

EDIT

http://www.energybulletin.net/26644.html

[pscot]

1. Bartlett deserves some kind of medal

for dogged persistence in the face of blank, brain-dead indifference.

[Javaman]

2. Sadly the GAO is the boyscout in the room that all the repukes ignore. nt

[gravity]

3. Well that could be good news

This will encourage developement in alternative energy sources.

[gravity]

4. Well that could be good news

This will encourage developement in alternative energy sources.

[redqueen]

5. No reason to tell us? NATIONALIZE THEM NOW!

Frickin GRRR!

[amandabeech]

6. Bartlett's not talking about Exxon. He's talking about the OPEC

countries plus Russia and the former Soviet states like Kazakhstan.

Back in the '80s, and perhaps today, OPEC quotas were set as a percentage of reserves. At one point, Saddam Hussein wanted to pump and sell more oil to support his war against Iran. Remember, we were helping him, but he needed more cash.

So what did Saddam do? He upped by a factor of 2 or so the amount of reserves that Iraq sat on. The next year, so did every other OPEC country. For many countries, those numbers have not been revised in response to constant pumping or to announced expansions of old fields or finds of new fields.

At this point, the numbers are entirely speculative. The Saudis, who are the largest producer, appear to lie all the time through their own national oil company Aramco. They kicked out the western oil companies back in the '70s and Exxon may not know any more than anyone else. To the Saudis, the big western oil companies are only customers.

Unfortunately, for the western companies, countries with oil remaining to be pumped who will let them in are getting more and more rare. They're pretty much out of Russia, Saudi, Iran, Kuwait, Venezuela, China. They have the North Sea, Nigeria and other parts of Africa (at least for the time being), the U.S., Canada and Australia. The fields are wearing out everywhere, and they're not finding much new. They're making huge profits now, but really, they're in liquidation and they don't control the markets as much as they used to.