ChevronTexaco CEO banking on peak oil situation

There's been a lot of ink spilled this week about the risk ChevronTexaco's chief exec, David O'Reilly, has taken in paying about $16.4 billion for rival Unocal and its oil resources.

Because Unocal's stock has soared 75 percent over the past year, the thinking goes, ChevronTexaco could find itself with a white elephant on its hands if currently sky-high oil prices end up coming back to earth.

Well, I'm prepared to say this much: O'Reilly isn't stupid. He knows more than most people about world oil markets. So if the head of San Ramon's ChevronTexaco is prepared to gamble more than 16 billion bucks on oil prices staying at stratospheric levels, I'm ready to give him the benefit of the doubt.

And reading between the lines, that means only one thing.

Peak oil.

We're basically there.

(2005-04-08 22:49:51 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

"Taller flats"

"Building up to 40 stories has enabled us to create more value for the land and house more people in a matured estate such as Toa Payoh. Residents can also enjoy a stunning panoramic view."

... the HDB would try to maximise the opportunities to build taller flats where circumstances permitted. Forty-storey flats are about to be completed in Queenstown, while the 50-storey Pinnacle@Duxton will be completed by 2009.

- Mah Bow Tan
Minister for National Development, Singapore

"... the skyscraper - really any building over seven stories - is a product of the cheap energy age. While it is a good thing to make cities dense, the skyscraper tends to represent hypertrophy, excessive growth ... I think we must regard the skyscraper as a still-experimental building type ... it has existed because of conditions made possible by fossil fuels. It remains to be seen how well they will function in a world of fossil fuel scarcity."

- James Howard Kunstler
Author, The Long Emergency

(2005-04-08 10:07:05 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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