The International Monetary Fund & Peak Oil

Richard Ha writes:

I’m at the Peak Oil Conference at the University of Texas at Austin right now.

Energy expert Kurt Cobb (you can always get to his blog, Resource Insights, from a link at right) writes for the Christian Science Monitor, among other outlets, which indicates how far the topics discussed at these ASPO conferences have moved toward the mainstream.

His article about this particular International Monetary Fund study shows some grim possibilities. We don’t have time to waste.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Does the IMF believe we have a peak oil problem?

Does the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believe we have a peak oil problem? The precise answer is that the IMF is currently studying how constraints in world oil supplies might affect economies around the world in two so-called working papers, “The Future of Oil: Geology versus Technology” and “Oil and the World Economy: Some Possible Futures.”

We are admonished by the IMF that opinions expressed in working papers are “those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy.” But the fact that the organization has produced two papers on the subject this year gives some indication of how seriously it is taking the issue….

Read the rest

Kurt Cobb also wrote the book Prelude, a novel about secrets, treachery and the arrival of Peak Oil.

Kurt cobb

This next picture is of Robert Rapier and me. Robert was the lead speaker on the second day of the conference.

Robert rapier & richard ha

These horse statues are at the conference center. The University of Texas at Austin is the home of the Longhorns. It has 65,000 students and is an expansive and impressive campus.

Horses