Monday July 14, 2008

Matt Simmons goes doomer on CNBC : talks oil, food shortages, Great American Disaster

peakoil.com -> youtube.com :

Matt Simmons, leading peakoiler, author of Twilight in the Desert, former energy advisor to George Bush, and CEO of an energy investment bank, has just gone uber doomer, going on national TV channel CNBC via phone interview to talk about oil and food shortages, $200 oil, and an impending Great American Disaster.

This is a must-watch video, if only to see the jaws drop and eyes pop out on the rest of the on-stage crew as Matt Simmons discusses the oil situation in a way we haven't seen on TV before. The host of the show was at first apologizing and saying that they had to make this interview shorter because they were discussing the billion-dollar collapse of Fannie and Freddie earlier, and at the end, he was so shocked that he stammered that he wished they were back to talking about Fannie and Freddie.

It was supposed to be a debate, the way they usually do in the media, to bring about some "balance" to discuss the crude oil price hitting a record $147.27, so they brought out some young trader to take up the other side, but even he was stunned into silence and only managed to blurt out something about "cyclical" oil prices, and to admit that the traders who were short oil had been caught on the wrong side of the trade.

Also, read the follow-up discussion over at peakoil.com, and simontay78 has got a partial transcript up on his blog. I do not usually link to Youtube videos, and I rarely embed these things, but this is really a must-watch.

See also :

1. The Energy Crisis Has Arrived : Matt Simmons
2. Peak oil forecasters win converts on Wall Street to $200 crude
3. Matthew Simmons calls on regional oil producers to curb output
4. Mexico Cantarell oil production declined at 18% depletion rate in 2007

(2008-07-14 08:34:25 SGT) [Energy] Permalink Comments [1]

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