Frequently Asked Questions
- Climate Change is more important than Peak Oil why are you focusing on the latter?
Members of Groundswell come from diverse backgrounds and disciplines and we understand that both Climate Change and Peak Oil are very important issues that we have to address. In fact they originate from the same systemic source that of living unsustainably. We have to understand that population growth and consumption have huge impacts on our environment. We have to understand that the use and depletion of fossil fuels is causing global warming and that these sources of energy are not infinite. We have to work together to develop solutions that make our communities sustainable in order to adapt to the scarcity of oil and the changing climate.
- New oilfields are being discovered all the time – so why worry?
The answer is: they’re not. The three great oilfields of the world – Cantarell in Mexico, Greater Burgan in Kuwait, Ghawar in Saudi Arabia - are all mature, and the rate of extraction from them is in decline. The same is true for the North Sea, Alaska and Australia. The only big new field is Kashagan (Kazakhstan) due to come on stream in 2008 or 2009. It won’t make up for the declines from other fields and provinces.
We have now reached the point where we use 5 barrels of oil for every one barrel of oil we discover. So the thing we need to worry about is – have we already reached the peak or do we still have time to prepare ourselves?
- The price of oil is dropping. So why worry about 'peak oil'?
The price of oil is volatile. It's affected by economic conditions across the globe, by political upheavals, by the weather, by bottlenecks in the supply chain, by people's spending priorities, and many other things. So the price goes up an down dramatically. What we need to keep an eye on is the price over time. And over time the price has risen remorselessly. Since 2001 the annual rise has been between 18% and 25%. This indicates that supply is not keeping up with demand. The big question is: why?