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This page contains links to other Web Sites that specialise in Oil, and to a lesser extent Gas, Depletion issues. Although Natural Gas supply seems to be a considerably more pressing problem for the USA in the short - medium term, we know of no Web Sites that specialise in this topic. For more information, see our Gas Depletion section which will be developing throughout 2004.

OIL Depletion - Introduction

The Coming Decline of Oil - A good brief introduction / explanation to the Oil Depletion problem, but unlike both the Colin Campbell articles which follow, contains no explanatory diagrams.

Peak Oil: an Outlook on Crude Oil Depletion by Colin J.Campbell - This introduction / explanation is more comprehensive, excellent graphs and charts and covers all the basics of oil production, consumption and depletion.

Peak Oil - Presentation at the Technical University of Clausthal - Another Colin Campbell introduction. Complementary to the one above.

Coming to Grips With Oil Depletion - Part IV - Very good overview of global oil supplies on a Regional basis by Colin Campbell, the Peak Oil expert and academic the oil companies love to hate. Colin is a founder member of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO). See below.

The Wolf at the Door - the Beginners Guide to Oil Depletion - Excellent new site UK-based with good explanations

Matt Simmons - Twilight In The Desert: The Fading Of Saudi Arabia's Oil (pdf file) - Introduction to Saudi Arabian oil depletion, and Ghawar, the world's largest, and severely depleted, oil field. (September 9, 2004)

OIL Depletion - General

The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO) - ASPO are a group of scientists and others with a technical or business interest in the oil industry. Many contributors are retired which makes it easier for them to speak out.

Oil Depletion Analysis Centre (ODAC) - The Oil Depletion Analysis Centre is the UK (London-based) equivalent of ourselves. Good list of other Web sites (LINKS) and the best list of contemporary articles in the media on Oil Depletion..

Policy Pete - Petroleum Policy and Geopolitics - is an excellent energy news site, with an emphasis on USA oil and gas issues. The natural gas situation in North America is getting very interesting (some might say critical). Prices are leaping, big industrial gas consumers are closing (nitrogen fertilizer producers). Imports are leaping. They are out of gas. Policy pete has the key articles on US gas. The site includes a number of very significant articles and some telling graphs.

The Coming Global Oil Crisis - Web site run by an individual in the USA, with many interesting articles and useful links, statistics, discussion and background material on the peak and decline of oil production.

Die Off Synopsis - "dieoff" puts people off. However the energy synopsis is the most complete list of links you will find on the Web. Essential reading for those who want to understand what's going on.

2004 Facts of the Week - Official site of the USA Dept of Energy, Office of Transportation Technologies. Very interesting graphs on USA oil consumption and production amongst other things.

Favorite Facts of the Week - More facts of the week eg.:

Fact #210: April 1, 2002 - Crude Oil Prices Since 1870
Fact #246: December 9, 2002 - U.S. Oil Imports - Top 10 Countries of Origin (Canada, Saudi Arabia (probably has peaked), Mexico (peaked 2004), Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, UK (peaked 1999), Norway (peaked 2000), Angola, Algeria)
Fact #248: December 23, 2002 - Top Ten Net Petroleum Importing Countries: 2000

2003 Facts of the Week Archive - eg.:

Fact #266: May 5, 2003 - World Oil Reserves, Production, and Consumption, 2002
Fact #297: December 8, 2003 - Imported [USA] Crude Oil : Where Does It Come From ?
Fact #298: December 15, 2003 - OPEC and Persian Gulf Share of U.S. Imports

Die Off home page - This site contains much thought provoking material. Just the title is enough to put people off. The contents are not comforting reading. The connections between resources, human nature and scenarios for the future are discussed here like nowhere else on the web.

Global Public Media Energy Links - Useful and interesting links to other sites.

Life After The Oil Crash - Easy to follow web site. Extensive links and up-to_date news page

OIL Depletion - Comment

Recent speeches and papers presented by Matthew R. Simmons - Apart from being one of the main bankers to the oil industry, Matthew R. Simmons publishes well-researched articles on oil and gas depletion. He is undoubtedly one of the leading experts on oil depletion in Saudia Arabia, a difficult achievement given that Saudi Arabia does not publish any oil statistics in the public domain. All articles are downloadable as PDF files only. Some of the more interesting ones are:

Our Energy Problems Are Serious
The Story of the U.S. and Canada's Natural Gas
Is The Glass Half Empty? Or Half Full?
Challenges For Oil And Gas: Can The Miracle Continue?
How Expensive Is Expensive Oil?
Are The World’s Oil And Gas Supplies Abundant Or Scarce?

The Oil Depletion Resource Page Contains links to seven excellent essays on Oil Depletion, and the future history of Homo Extinctus.

The End of Cheap Oil
USA's Triple Energy Whammy
Methane Madness: A Natural Gas Primer
The End of the Road
A conservative bank sounds the alarm
Energy in the New Economy: The Limits to Growth
Has Production Peaked?

Oil Depletion, David Delaney

Oil Depletion. So, you think there's a lot of oil left?
North American natural gas depletion
Our vulnerability to oil depletion
Why don't economists get it?
What needs to be done
What can you do?

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/102302_campbell.html Recent interview with Colin Campbell by From The Wilderness - Colin tells it as it is.

OIL Depletion - Other Organisations

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) - Home page. Official site of the USA government. Many of the links in our website are to here, but the site is so big it is easy to get lost. The EIA is good on historical information, but be wary of any future predictions relating to crude oil.

International Petroleum Monthly - Home Page - Part of the EIA web site above. Monthly/annual statistics on crude oil for all the major producers. Sections on: Oil Chronology, Oil Production, Net Oil Imports, Oil Demand, Oil Stocks, Oil Balance.

International Petroleum Monthly - Oil Production - Summary data of oil production for all major oil producers, monthly and annual.

OIL Depletion - Conferences, Newsletters, Journals

asponews.org - Link to a site which publishes the ASPO newsletters. The ASPO newsletters feature scientific articles, news, comment on the unfolding depletion picture, and country oil production analysis.

Hubbert Centre Newsletters - (1996 - 2002, pdf files) eg. :

Forecasting Global Oil Supply 2000-2050, Colin J. Campbell
The World's Giant Oil Fields, Matthew Simmons
Peak Oil - A Turning Point for Mankind. Colin J. Campbell

ASPO First International Workshop - Proceedings of the (world's) First International Workshop on Oil Depletion [organised by ASPO], held at Uppsala in Sweden in 2002.

ASPO Second International Workshop - Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Oil Depletion [organised by ASPO], held in Paris, May 2003 eg. :

The North Sea - A Victim of Depletion by Chris Skrebowski
Oil Prophets: Looking at World Oil Studies Over Time by Steve Andrews - one of the main criticisms against the current oil peak scenarios is that "people" have been predicting a peak in global oil production for decades and it has never happened. Steve scientifically reviews all the predictions he could get his hands on, and comes to the conclusion that those (the minority) who new what they were talking about were right.

ENERGY - "...There will be particular focus on upstream oil & gas - North Sea and international, and on the vibrant new world of renewables." This commercial site is almost unique in that it is very easy to navigate and free. Contains some very interesting articles eg. :

Drillers set alarm bells ringing (Energy Eye, page 4) - "With self-sufficiency in gas [in the UK] due to end next year or in 2005 and oil roughly a year or two later, watch the UK balance of payments wobble and collapse."
Saudi Oil Prosperity set to evaporate (page 12) - "The world's swing producer [Saudi Arabia] has peaked. They never had any more than these great fields. They have sacrificed years of future livelihood by being the most responsible producer of oil in the world."
Iraq: Land of opportunity - or not! (page 12) - "..Geologically, there is no impediment to raising output to 6 million barrels [per day]"

energiekrise.de - Link to a private German site which includes the ASPO newsletters.

Hope for the Future

Before The Wells Run Dry - In 2002, Richard Douthwaite organised a conference in Ireland to discuss alternative enrgy futures. No oil means horses will make a big comeback !

UK Government

In 2001 the UK government started a review of energy policy in the UK till 2050. The report fails to address the keys issues of falling discovery and depletion. No formal assessment of future oil production is included. The report does not indicate that government will be making sufficient preparations for the decline of oil and gas. The white paper that resulted is equally ineffective.

Government policy is designed to increase our oil dependence. Big schemes that will increase demand for oil are advocated including big new airports, big new roads, and vast new areas of car-dependent suburban housing. It seems unlikely that government is entirely unaware, perhaps they want to avoid panic. If you don't deal with depletion then depletion will deal with you:

http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2002/energy/report/index.htm

Air travel needs cheap oil. Even the most optimistic assessment of peak oil (like that from oil company Shell) predicts decline after 25 years. The government air travel consultation makes no mention of depletion or the end of cheap oil, and forecasts a doubling in passenger numbers to 2030. For more jokes about growth in air travel see:

http://www.aviation.dft.gov.uk/consult/airconsult/

The oil companies replies to the government energy review are interesting. The BP UK gas figures are revealing:

www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2001/energy/submissions/BP2.pdf
www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2001/energy/submissions/shell.pdf
www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2001/energy/submissions/exxonmobil.pdf

http://www.dti.gov.uk/sectors_iep.html - Just to prove that the UK government has really got its finger on the Oil Depletion pulse, it has launched a scheme called PILOT. Here are the highlights, but first click here to see the actual oil production records for the UK in the North Sea over the last few years/months:

"Ambitious and measurable targets were set to meet this vision:

A production level of 3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2010 [no chance]
A sustained investment level of £3 billion per year
A 50% increase in the value of industry-related exports (by 2005) [unlikely]
An additional revenue of £1 billion from new businesses [no chance]
100,000 more jobs than there would otherwise have been in 2010 [dream on]
prolonged self-sufficiency in oil and gas for the UK [no chance]"

Articles

The oil industry's magazine Petroleum Review predicts that global oil demand will outstrip oil production permanently from 2007. Bye-bye cheap air flights and private pensions, hello economic depression, high unemployment and property-value crash.

Oil and Gas - a Short Period of History for Great Britain - The UK Dept of Trade and Industry publishes data that predicts more or less no North Sea crude oil production (UK Sector) by 2020.

Oil prices ... fiscal folly beings at Fifty-Five - Andrew McKillop predicts the coming high oil prices will lead to sudden and high increases in interest rates, sooner rather than later.

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Last updated: December 10, 2004