HUFFPO: The Coming War with Iran: It's About the Oil, Stupid

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World civilization is based on oil. The world is running out of oil. The oil companies and governments are not telling the truth about how close we are to the end. Dick Cheney knew about peak oil back in 1999 when he spoke to the London Petroleum Institute as Halliburton CEO. He predicted it would come in 2010. After that it's just a matter of years before it runs out. Whoever controls the remaining oil determines who lives and who dies.

Sixty percent of this oil is under a triangular area of the Middle East the size of Kansas. In that speech Cheney said: "The Middle East with two thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies."

This small Middle East triangle encompasses the northeast of Saudi Arabia, all of Iraq and the southwestern part of Iran, along with Kuwait, Qatar and the Emirates. The US controls Iraq. It has friendly governments in the other states.

Iran is the exception. The US now surrounds Iran.

Controlling an area the size of Kansas shouldn't be a problem for the U.S. military, except that it is heavily populated and many people in the triangle don't want the Americans there and are willing to fight.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-lauria/the-coming-war-with-iran_b_96428.html

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Sooner or later, deniers and those who look away not wanting to see the writing on the wall, will awaken to a day when our way of life is forever changed.

Are you ready for the day when, for those of us they're economically bankrupting, the pumps run dry?

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1. The multinational oil companies are looking for states they can rob from.

Countries such as Venezuela and Russia will be able to supply the world until enough renewable energy is developed.

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3. Both countries production has peaked. Venezuela's oil has the

consistency of molasses, that is to say it is heavy sour oil that corrodes our refinery systems. Also, oil that was going to Exxon is now http://business.smh.com.au/venezuela-diverts-exxon-oil-to-china/20080329-22b8.html">being sent to China.

As for Russia:

Peak Oil: “Da” Say Russian Oil Execs

The WSJ reports today on more bleak peak news: Russia could be the newest member of the peak-oil club. The International Energy Agency reported that Russian oil production in the first quarter declined for the first time in a decade. Russian oil executives are gloomy about keeping production steady, let alone increasing output at the world’s No. 2 producer.

That could bring supply-demand fundamentals back into the center of the oil equation. Oil prices reached another record high Tuesday, thanks to the cocktail of usual suspects like strong demand from developing countries and a weak dollar that drives money into commodities like crude.

But as many industry analysts—and even some insiders—have questioned whether global oil production can keep rising to meet ravenous global demand. With OPEC already running at nearly full capacity, non-OPEC countries are the only ones that can pick up the slack. The U.K. and Mexico, by most measures, may have already peaked. The question is whether Russia, whose healthy output in recent years helped meet Asian demand, is next. Lukoil vice-president Leonid Fedun told the WSJ:

he fall also reflects a longer-term trend — the depletion of Siberia’s older fields. “Western Siberia is repeating the fate of Prudhoe Bay, with a time lag of five to six years,” he said. “When the well’s productivity falls, you have to keep drilling more and more. You’ve seen it in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, and now you’re seeing it in Siberia.”

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http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2008/04/15/peak-oil-da-say-russian-oil-execs/

More on Russia:

http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLR_enUS264US264&q=russia+oil+peak&um=1&sa=N&tab=wn

Oh, and Brazil has made some new oil discoveries. It'll take up to 12 years to bring any of the new finds online and, so far, the combined total of all Brazilian oil discoveries, if produced (which is to say whether or not Petrobras can muster investors), will provide less than 2 years of consumption from 35 billion barrels in estimated reserves.

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New oil, even in Brazil, will not alleviate supply concerns in the long term. The majority of companies are still reluctant to spend vast sums of money to extract oil. They fear a replay of the post-1980s bear market that resulted in bankruptcies, foreclosures and over expansion as prices peaked. Although Big Oil cautiously continues to spend more to discover and recover what reserves remain in the world, it’s fair to assume that, apart from what lies off the coast of Brazil, the world has probably juiced whatever significant supplies that exist.

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http://rosemanblog.sovereignsociety.com/2008/04/peak-oil-comes.html

But then, that guy turns right around and contradicts himself in the next paragraph. Oh well, time will tell.

This is a fair summation of the current situation:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080414/oil-prices-set-to-increase-further.htm


Bottom line is this: Can we afford to be on the wrong side of this issue? Just like Global Warming, wouldn't we better off moving forward if we were to take these challenges more seriously? After all, what could it hurt?

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7. What about Candada? There's oil in the sand eh?

In Texas there is a massive building project going to refine the sludge. The oil companies plan on refining every drop. With oil at 110 they can afford to build these new refineries. That sludge is being sold much cheaper on the market.

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2. I posted this article yesterday with the question

which candidate will be more reluctant to kill over oil. Because this is the one issue that informs everyting.

Got one reply.

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4. Sorry 'bout that, I didn't see your post. This issue deserves revisiting. n/t

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5. Don't be sorry

I just find it bizarre that this isn't the huge discussion of the day. What Al Gore is saying about Global Warming is very important, but nuclear bombs exploding in a desperate grab for the planet's remaining oil resources is going to kill us a lot quicker. Maybe that's why the powers that be aren't doing anything about global warming. They know how we're going to die.

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6. Looks like HuffPo is good enough a source when

it comes to politics. But when they start speaking truth to power on the planet's resources, it gets a big fat yawn.