Author Archives: Gail Tverberg

About Gail Tverberg

My name is Gail Tverberg. I am an actuary interested in finite world issues - oil depletion, natural gas depletion, water shortages, and climate change. Oil limits look very different from what most expect, with high prices leading to recession, and low prices leading to financial problems for oil producers and for oil exporting countries. We are really dealing with a physics problem that affects many parts of the economy at once, including wages and the financial system. I try to look at the overall problem.

A Different View of Venezuela’s Energy Problems

Posted on March 20, 2019

It would be easy to write a story about Venezuela’s energy problems and, in it, focus on the corruption and mismanagement that have taken place. This would make it look like Venezuela’s problems were different from everyone else’s. Taking this … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , | 1,454 Comments

Have We Already Passed World Peak Oil and World Peak Coal?

Posted on February 22, 2019

Most people expect that our signal of an impending reduction in world oil or coal production will be high prices. Looking at historical data (for example, this post and this post), this is precisely the opposite of the correct price … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , | 1,593 Comments

How the Peak Oil story could be “close,” but not quite right

Posted on January 30, 2019

A few years ago, especially in the 2005-2008 period, many people were concerned that the oil supply would run out. They were concerned about high oil prices and a possible need for rationing. The story was often called “Peak Oil.” Peak … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , , | 1,605 Comments

2019: World Economy Is Reaching Growth Limits; Expect Low Oil Prices, Financial Turbulence

Posted on January 9, 2019

Financial markets have been behaving in a very turbulent manner in the last couple of months. The issue, as I see it, is that the world economy is gradually changing from a growth mode to a mode of shrinkage. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , | 2,080 Comments

Electricity won’t save us from our oil problems

Posted on December 20, 2018

Almost everyone seems to believe that our energy problems are primarily oil-related. Electricity will save us. I recently gave a talk to a group of IEEE electricity researchers (primarily engineers) about the current energy situation and how welcoming it is for … Continue reading →

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