New Zealand Joins Peak Oil Club - IEA

The International Energy Agency has published it's “New Zealand Energy Review 2010" which confirms that New Zealand's oil and gas production has peaked and will enter a period of rapid decline. This was exactly the conclusion I reached in my earlier posts in January 2011 regarding the Venture Taranaki report, and the presentation by Dr Peter Crabtree of the Ministry of Economic Development to the Petroleum Conference in November 2010

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IMF Warns of Oil Scarcity And End of "Growth"

What is going on? The International Monetary Fund -- a body that states its mission is to "foster global growth and economic stability" has produced a major report which concludes the world has entered an era of oil scarcity, and openly discusses a peak oil scenario in which global GDP doesn't grow, but declines steeply !

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Obama’s Oil Plan Picks Winners – We Can Do That

Last week President Obama released a new Oil Strategy. Like every President before him since Richard Nixon, Obama's aim is to reduce America’s dependence on imported oil. The plan openly picks winners. The strategy has been widely criticised for failing to address the scale and urgency of the end of cheap and abundant oil. But at least it’s a plan, which is 100 steps ahead of where we are here in New Zealand, -  a nation even more dependent on imported oil than the USA.  The New Zealand government has no plan other than to leave it to the market.

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Government’s Energy Strategy -- Grade F for Fail

The government has mistakenly released its Draft Energy Strategy, which is still to be signed off by Cabinet. Despite hundreds of public submissions it remains almost word for word identical with the version published in July 2010.

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Next oil induced recession -- are we there yet?

Research in the US confirms that there is a strong correlation between high oil prices and recessions. Recessions emerge when oil prices reach around $US85 a barrel (currently $US115 a barrel) or when the aggregate cost of oil for the nation equals 5.5% of GDP.

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