[Peakoil] Shale oil revolution is no such thing

[Keith]

On 13/12/2012, at 9:48 AM, Alex Pollard wrote:

> http://crudeoilpeak.info/us-still-needs-to-import-50-percent-of-its-crude-oil-requirements-despite-increasing-shale-oil-production
>
> "Conclusion
>
> The earlier US shale oil bonanza spin spread by the IEA is now in the
> minds of thousands of planners and government officials. Preparations for
> future oil decline – already overdue – will be further delayed. The new
> EIA data tell a somehow different story but the damage has been done. 

When the irrational exuberance of the IEA report is read through the rose coloured glasses of an ideologue desperate to cherry pick anything to reinforce his prejudices about a totally different topic, climate change, the following is an example of what is churned out breathlessly to the British public. This article, by Nigel Lawson, is then picked up by other ideologues and the self-serving Chinese whisper becomes a living meme: jobs are created, energy becomes more affordable, Britain returns to greatness, the bullying Ruskis are sent packing - there is something here for everyone!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2244822/
"I have never known a technological revolution as momentous as the breakthrough that has now made it economic to extract gas from shale.
 
"....Until recently, the cost of extracting the gas has been prohibitive. But the combination of two innovative technologies — horizontal drilling and fracking to release the natural resources — has changed all that. The consequences are difficult to exaggerate. Not just in terms of the economic benefit of a new and abundant source of relatively cheap energy, but in geopolitical terms, too.
Until now, the West has been heavily dependent for its supplies of oil and gas on an unstable Middle East and an unreliable Russia. Crucially, all that has changed because gas and oil-bearing shale is scattered throughout the world — including in Britain. This has shaken up the old world order — and the global balance of power is being permanently transformed before our eyes.
 
"....For decades, too, Europe has been fearful of the threat that Russia might cut off the gas supplies on which it has relied so heavily. No longer: that era will very soon be over, too. Thanks to the shale gas revolution, the newfound energy independence of the West is a beneficent game-changer in terms of world politics as much as it is in the field of energy economics.
 
" ....These are early days, and....the signs are encouraging. The first large discovery to be explored, the Bowland shale under the Blackpool area of Lancashire, turns out to be a thicker seam than any in the U.S. The company behind the exploration has announced that Blackpool is sitting on one of the biggest shale gas fields in the world — with a reserve of 200 trillion cubic feet lying under the Lancastrian countryside. To put that figure in perspective, it’s enough gas to keep the UK going for 50 years and create more than 5,000 jobs. There are other known deposits throughout a large part of the UK and this promises to be as important for Britain as the discovery and development of North Sea oil. It could even be bigger than that."
-----------------------------
Keith Thomas
myrmecia at gmail.com
074 2929 4146
------------------------------