Tag Archives: oil price

Crude oil extraction may be well past peak

The situation is far more complex than the models of economists make it seem. World crude oil supply seems to be past peak now; it may be headed down significantly in the next few years. Central banks have been working hard to keep oil prices within an acceptable range for both producers and consumers, but this is becoming increasingly impossible. Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , | 1,883 Comments

Reaching the end of offshored industrialization

Moving industrialization offshore can look like a good idea at first. But as fossil fuel energy supplies deplete, this strategy works less well. Countries doing the mining and manufacturing may be less interested in trading. Also, the broken supply lines of 2020 and 2021 showed that transferring major industries offshore could lead to empty shelves in stores, plus unhappy customers. Continue reading

Posted in Energy policy, Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 2,112 Comments

Should the US add more LNG export approvals?

The US already has a huge amount of LNG export capacity approved but not yet under construction. The likely roadblock is the need for debt financing. One obstacle is the need to find investors willing to make very long commitments–as long as 25 years, considering the time to build the LNG plants, plus the time that they are expected to be in operation. Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , | 2,426 Comments

The Fed Cannot Fix Today’s Energy Inflation Problem

I expect that the rich countries of the world, including the US, Europe, and Japan, are in line to be adversely affected by high interest rates this time. With their high levels of complexity, they are among the most vulnerable to disruption when there is not enough oil to go around.
The problem I see is that rich countries expect to maintain service economies that are fed by huge streams of manufactured goods and raw materials from poorer countries. This pattern appears unsustainable to me, in a world with falling exports because of energy problems.
Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications, News Related Post, oil shortages | Tagged , , , , | 4,007 Comments

Where Energy Modeling Goes Wrong

There are a huge number of people doing energy modeling. In my opinion, nearly all of them are going astray in their modeling because they don’t understand how the economy really operates. The modeling that comes closest to being correct … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Implications | Tagged , , , , | 3,331 Comments