Bilderbergers on Peak Oil

lifeaftertheoilcrash.net -> onlinejournal.com :

No idea on whether this "sources said", "according to sources" type of reporting is at all close to what they did discuss (keeping in mind the usual reporting standards), but here goes :

The annual secret meeting of the Bilderberg group determines many of the headlines and news developments you will read about in the coming months. But the Establishment media completely black it out. With the exception of half-a-dozen high-ranking members of the press who are sworn to secrecy, few have ever heard of the exclusive and secretive group called The Bilderbergers.

The discussions they will engage in this year, from deciding how the world should deal with European-American relations, the Middle East powder keg, the Iraq war, the global economy and how to stave off war in Iran, and the consensus they reach, will influence the course of Western civilization and the future of the entire planet. This meeting takes place behind closed doors in total secrecy, protected by a phalanx of armed guards.

... an American Bilderberger expressed concern over the skyrocketing price of oil. One oil industry insider at the meeting remarked that growth is not possible without energy and that, according to all indicators, the world's energy supply is coming to an end much faster than the world leaders have anticipated. According to sources, Bilderbergers estimate the extractable world's oil supply to be at a maximum of 35 years under current economic development and population. However, one of the representatives of an oil cartel remarked that we must factor into the equation, both the population explosion and economic growth and demand for oil in China and India. Under the revised conditions, there is apparently only enough oil to last for 20 years. No oil spells the end of the world's financial system. So much has already been acknowledged by The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, two periodicals who are regularly present at the annual Bilderberg conference ...

- Interested readers should follow the links above, see the photos, and come to your own conclusions. For me, the interesting thing is that some of the world's richest and most powerful people *may* be discussing peak oil. The rest, well, that's up to the conspiracy theory folks to dissect.

Exxon Mobil on Peak Oil

lifeaftertheoilcrash.net -> thebulletin.org

Exxon Mobil has reportedly acknowledged Peak Oil :

Without any press conferences, grand announcements, or hyperbolic advertising campaigns, the Exxon Mobil Corporation, one of the world's largest publicly owned petroleum companies, has quietly joined the ranks of those who are predicting an impending plateau in non-OPEC oil production. Their report, The Outlook for Energy: A 2030 View, forecasts a peak in just five years.

... all the more reason that the public should heed the silent alarm sounded by the ExxonMobil report, which is more credible than other predictions for several reasons. First and foremost is that the source is ExxonMobil. No oil company, much less one with so much managerial, scientific, and engineering talent, has ever discussed peak oil production before. Given the profound implications of this forecast, it must have been published only after a thorough review ...

(2005-05-25 23:14:05 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Kuala Lumpur trip

Last weekend was a long one, with the Vesak Day holiday falling on Sunday and hence Monday being a public holiday. So Biow and I brought Ken and our maid Janette along on a trip to Kuala Lumpur (aka "KL").

We stayed at the Berjaya Times Square, a huge 7.5 million square feet complex containing a hotel, convention centre, and a shopping mall with its own indoor theme park (roller coaster video (554K) - XViD codec required). The shopping mall, with an area of over 3 million sq ft, takes up 10 floors and is 3 times larger than Singapore's Suntec City.

First thing Sunday morning, we went to visit the Petronas Twin Towers, the tallest buildings in the world, at least till the completion of the Taiwan 101 Tower. Even with upcoming taller buildings, at 452m each, they will still remain the world's tallest twin towers. The photo above is taken from the 41st floor Skybridge linking the two towers. Biow's friend Suzanne helped us to queue for an hour and 10 minutes for the tickets since early morning, and each group of about 15 people were only allowed around 10 minutes on the bridge itself.

The Skybridge visit was at 2.15 pm, and we finished waiting for the queue at around 10 am or so. So we filled in the time in between to visit the Petrosains Discovery Centre, situated within the Twin Towers / KLCC complex itself. It's sort of like the Singapore Science Centre, but with a focus on Malaysia's oil and gas industry. Even for a Peak Oil'er like myself, it was pretty educational. The trip takes you through the entire process, from the dinosaur age, geology, exploration, the upstream process all the way to downstream where the fuel gets to the pumps - they even had an actual petrol pump in there. Unlike some other places, nothing is dumbed down in any way, real displays are used - from pipeline sections, oil well drilling core samples to the mud (!!) used in drilling. They even had Jurassic-Park like ember samples with insects embedded inside. There's a "hydrocarbon walkway" explaining the molecules making up the common plastics (the 1-7 numbering for PET bottles, and other types of plastics) and fuels (propane is C3H8, etc). Lots to absorb in there, and the displays are quite well done.

Click here for the photo gallery.

After-thoughts : Soaring towers, huge building complexes. Monuments to cheap energy. Jim Kunstler's "experimental building type" remark comes to mind. In the very long run, will these be the Egyptian pyramids or Easter Island statues of tomorrow? Well, at least I'm glad to have had a chance to visit, it's not that far (yet!), though the Skybridge tour took only all of 10 minutes .. :)

(2005-05-25 13:13:51 SGT) [Musings] Permalink

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