NZ Defence Report Ignores Peak Oil - US / German Military Warn it’s a Big Threat

The just released Defence White Paper on New Zealand's strategic and security interests to 2025, as Gordon Campbell points out, is long on rhetoric, and short on coherence and detail.  But worse still it fails to even mention a very serious and imminent threat to our security which both the US and German military have warned about - namely the peaking of global oil production leading to dwindling world oil supplies.

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NZ Hits Peak Oil in 2010. Zero oil production by 2023 -- MED official

This year NZ reaches peak oil.  We then face a steep decline in our domestic oil production from currently producing oilfields. This is a double jeopardy for New Zealand's economy as the domestic decline will coincide with global oil supply shocks, rapidly rising oil prices, ushering in a period of sustained recessions - according to a New Zealand Parliament report published last month.

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Mining group believes in tooth fairy -- "New Zealand cushioned against oil shocks"

Straterra, a body representing mining companies has said, "New Zealand is in an excellent position to withstand any future oil shocks, thanks in particular to our lignite and geothermal resources". Straterra was commenting on the Parliament's research unit report called "The Next Oil Shock".  The Report says major international organisations are warning of another supply crunch as soon as 2012.

What planet are these guys on ? Let's be clear -- geo-thermal energy produces electricity. It cannot power New Zealand's internal transport system - or carry our imports and exports -- 99% of which relies on liquid fuels. If our transport systems cannot run efficiently the economy heads south into recession.

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NZ Parliament Report Warns of Imminent Oil Shock

New Zealand is highly vulnerable to oil price shocks that are nearly certain to occur in the next few years according to a research report published by Parliament yesterday. Its an excellent report on peak oil and will be huge wake-up call for government and opposition MP's and their advisers.  It deserves the widest circulation.

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"Peak hype" on New Zealand's offshore oil reserves

There was much hype and hoopla at the recent New Zealand Petroleum Conference about the extent of New Zealand's potential oil and gas reserves. Chris Uruski, a GNS scientist told Chris Laidlaw on Radio NZ's Sunday that we potentially have 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent in New Zealand's offshore exclusive economic zone. He did however put something of a dampener on the excitement by stating "we haven't really got anything sorted on a scientific basis" as to the extent of our oil reserves.

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UK Govt Takes Peak Oil Threat Seriously, but NZ Govt Deep in Denial

The UK's Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has ordered his officials to look at the impact of a 1970s-style oil price spike on the British economy. Mr Huhne warned that a  1970s-style doubling in the price of oil would drain £45billion from the UK economy in two years, hitting investment and jobs. 

Meanwhile our Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee and the NZ government are deep in denial about peak oil and resulting higher oil prices.

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