In Their Own Words

The recent downturn in oil prices has many news outlets and paid shills for the oil industry stepping up their efforts to deride peak oil theory once again. An unexpected fall tumble of gas prices and an exeptionally warm temperatures to start the winter heating season in much of the USA has many people reverting back into their old ways of thinking and consuming. SUV sales are up in Minnesota here, thanks to an average gas price of around $2.20 per gallon, which now seems very reasonable compared to $3/gallon or higher in 2005.

The pundits and PR types for government and big oil may be telling us everything is OK, but to really understand what they are thinking, consider these quotes:

“The American way of life is non-negotiable“

President George H.W. Bush – 1992

“America is addicted to oil“

President George W Bush – January 2006

“By some estimates, there will be an average of two-percent
annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead,
along with, conservatively, a three-percent natural decline
in production from existing reserves.That means by 2010 we
will need on the order of anadditional 50 million barrels a
day.“

Richard Cheney, CEO, Halliburton – 1999

“Today worldwide we are pumping at least six barrels of oil for every barrel that we find. “

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett R-MD Speech to House of Representatives – March 14, 2005

“Energy will be one of the defining issues of this century. One thing is clear: the era of easy oil is over“

Front Page, Chevron Oil website “www.willyoujoinus.com”

“However, all in all, most would appear to agree that peak oil output is not very far away for all of us. It could take place sometime within the next decade or so, which in fact means that there is not much time left for a world economy to be driven largely by oil. “

Dr. Shokri Ghanem, chairman of the Libyan National Oil Corporation – December 2006

“We are a couple of hurricanes or some geopolitical problems – or a war – away from having a worse problem than we have today.“

Dr. Ali Samsam Bakhtiari, Former Director, National Iranian Oil Company – November 2006