Oil prices were rising steeply before the unrest in the Middle East

Here is the best analysis I have found about what’s been happening on the global oil scene.

It also confirms that peak oil pundits like Canadian economist Jeff Rubin, and Richard Heinberg and dozens of others, have been uncannily accurate.

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Starting to Join the Dots .... finally

Suddenly the world's media is awash with concern that the recent rise in oil prices will stall economic growth worldwide and cause another global recession. Guardian and here  BBC  Wall Street Journal

Finally, even in New Zealand, Brian Fallow economic commentator for the New Zealand Herald expresses concern about the implications for the New Zealand economy from rapidly rising oil prices.

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Ostrich-like Denial Continues

In August 2009 I wrote an opinion piece published in the New Zealand Herald - "Country Oblivious to Next Oil Shock". I opined that “the spike in oil prices to US$147 a barrel in 2008 helped trigger the global recession. And soon after a global economic recovery, the inevitable return to triple-digit oil prices will lead the world right back into recession.”
Back then the oil price was around US$70 a barrel – today Brent Crude is indeed over US $100 – in triple digit territory.

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Peak Oil for Saudi Arabia confirmed by WikiLeaks

Projections by peak oil people that Saudi Arabia oil reserves have been grossly overstated (by 40%) and that the country can no longer prevent world oil prices rising have been confirmed in confidential cables from the US Consulate, released by WikiLeaks

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Auckland airport -- where pigs fly and bring untold prosperity

An Auckland airport report estimates the airport corridor’s contribution to the economy for the next 20 years, but outrageously fails to even mention the future risks to the airline and tourism industries of higher oil prices and/or fuel shortages.

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NZ Survey - Elected Local Councillors Ill-informed on Peak Oil

Becky Wardell at the University of Canterbury has surveyed technical transport staff and elected officials in three representative local councils in New Zealand – (rural, a provincial city and Auckland) to determine what influences them and what their attitudes are to peak oil.

She found that the majority of elected officials had either minor or no concerns about peak oil and only 27% had a major level of concern about peak oil. The level of concern about peak oil amongst technical transport staff was much higher than elected officials, with 65% of them considering peak oil to be of major concern.

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NZ oil and gas in steep decline - Taranaki Report

Venture Taranaki have produced an immaculately presented report entitled "The Wealth Beneath Our Feet". The report is essentially a glossy public relations exercise of trying to talk up the contribution of the oil and gas industry to the local and New Zealand economy.

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