In last weekend’s Observer Henry Porter joined the ranks of mainstream commentators taking on board the peakist position. In an opinion piece on how we ‘must all risk
becoming ‘environmental bores’ Porter argues that “…to see the crisis coming and not act would be worse than denying climate change.’ Porter goes much further than the
usual call for an ethical response to the climate crisis:“But the fascinating point for students of synchronicity is that the approaching energy crisis is going to force green standards on us all. It won’t matter what Charles Moore or
Dick Cheney think about the science of climate change. In a couple of years’ time it will be second nature, for example, to regard the waste generated by supermarket
packaging and the ferrying of strawberries and mangoes from one end of the planet to the other as irresponsible, let alone ludicrously uneconomic.

Actually, as George Soros made clear during a discussion at the LSE two weeks ago, the crisis is upon us. It is possible that world oil production has already peaked: no
giant oil field has been found for decades and some of the big oil companies have been forced to restate their reserves downward, while others report declining production.

The second strand of his argument is that with major supplies of oil and gas either being run by ambitious men such as Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Vladimir Putin, or
being threatened by turbulence in the Middle East and west and sub-Saharan Africa, the West could suddenly find itself with just a few months’ supply.”

I’m sure a first for the profile of the peak oil debate last week - peak oil in the Daily Mail!
Edinburgh: ‘Prices are going to go way higher - $100 isn’t very expensive.’”

Ali Bakhtiari, former senior adviser for the National Iranian Oil Company and fellow member of ASPO warned at a meeting of international Antarctic specialists in Tasmania
last week that declining oil reserves and soaring prices could see desperate nations overturning a ban on drilling in Antarctica. Whilst currently there is no international
pressure to overturn the Madrid Protocol, which bans mining in Antartica, Bakhtiari sought to highlight:
“…crude oil is the master domino in our world. The oil domino is being slowly tumbled and all other dominoes are going to go the same way.”

Bakhtiari predicted the world’s oil production rate would peak this year at 81 million barrels per day and decline to roughly 55 million barrels per day by 2020, pitching oil
prices to “stratospheric levels”.

“In the next 14 years, if my predictions are correct, one third of today’s oil supply will be gone. Wait until you see these pressures that are coming up,” Bakhtiari said. Source