Sure, look hard enough and the ingredients of cheese are there too.

I can certainly see why so many geologists on oil company pay rolls keep perpetrating myths.

Oh yes, we’re surrounded by conspirators. Did you check under the bed this morning?

Those within the oil industry want nothing more than to destroy it, inside the next 30 years preferably.

You may prefer donuts over danishes but you don’t find either on Titan, Saturns moon. You find huge deposits of hydrocarbon deposits on Titan but no dead dinos or old rotting vedgetation.

Regards geologists looking for oil in million year old rocks i think you’re confusing old rock with producing oil. We find oil bubbling to the surface. Is oil therefore 2 months old?

Namely oil is a product of the Earths mantle and pressure. It seeps up through rocks (passing million year old rock just for being there). Oil is found in rock formations nothing to do with dead Din or forest times. We have not only surpassed all possible quantities of dead Dinos and dead forests but we also discover oil wells are not finite, they just keep (self) refilling.

Regards 1,000 years (and counting) of oil left being “laughable” i think you should have a laugh at the worlds estimated world oil reserves. Every year we consumer more, every year the reserves seem to actually get larger. Yet we still hear the shrill cry of “peak oil”. This of course plays into the hands of those that like a high oil price for a basic commodity coming out of ears.

The UK’s stated oil reserves have been 4 years left. That’s been for each of the last 40 years. We should have run out 36 times by now yet still we’re pumping the black stuff and just increased license explorations for the North Sea to find more. This oil industry, just such a laugh isn’t it?

Saudis stated official reserves were 260 billion barrels. The Saudi oil minister admitted some years ago it was nearer 1.2 Trillion barrels.

Are you disputing my estimates on Saudi or the oil sands or world demand or just calling them “crap” and laughing. If so can you state your estimates rather than reply to fact with laughing gas?

If you can’t see the motive behind the oil industry perpetrating limited reserves or the dead dino myth and hiding real oil reserves then stick to baking donuts. I may put cries of “peak oil” down to the loons of the left but I can certainly see why so many geologists on oil company pay rolls keep perpetrating myths.

I prefer the latest theory not the more dated one and hope you do too.

I prefer donuts over danishes, but I know I’m wrong.

EVERY petro geologist I’ve worked with starts the oil exploration process looking for rock formations, at the very least, in the many many many millions of years old. Strangely enough they find oil at those ages, suggesting the “crackpot” carbon deposit theory is proving it’s worth.

I’m familiar with the abiogenic “theory”, and no-one has discovered anything resembling a commercial resource using that theory. Not to mention those inconvenient diamond-like crystals found in all oil deposits (oh, and the carbon dating) which tend to make the abiogenic theory harder to explain.

It’s also based mostly on a false and unscientific premise from Kudryavtsev that “no one had made oil like substances in the lab from organic matter”.

Even allowing for expodential growth in demand from upcoming Inida and China it’s going to be coming out of our ears for at least another 1,000 years.

This is just laughable. To think some people believe this carp is just incredible.

Phew, that’s a relief. Is there anything we can do to make sure the “replenishment” rate is greater than ~85million barrels per day?

I have to say I’m a bit surprised to discover we’re still living in the Jurassic or Cretaceous periods.

“Peak Oil” is bunkum. Leftie loons appear every 40 years with shrill cries the end of the world in nigh. They came out of the long grass last year aided and abetted by the left leaning Western media as they did in the last big recession in the 70’s. Where are these cretins now for their fabricated looney tunes?

Oil is produced by the Abiotic process, a process deep in the Earths mantle. Namely it is constantly replenishing reserve for mans use. It is sustainable and infinite for mans purposes. It will never run out.

Large hydrocarbon deposits have been found on Titan, one of Saturns moons. Oil is not the result of dead forests or dead Dinos.

Many companies and mainly countries seek their own oil deposits for a novel idea called “energy security”. That’s their choice, and their expense. There has been no danger to secure oil supplies, we’ve enjoyed 100 years of reliable unbroken supply. You couldn’t ask for a more secure or reliable energy source. McDonals will run out of chips before we have oil shortages.

What you do in Saudi is stick a straw in the sand and suck. Not very difficult is it and cheap as chips to extract?

Where do your “petro-connected/contracting clients” get their costs from? Have they got gold plated platinum tipped straws? Looks to me like you’re being shafted over a barrel by industry spin on their costs!

You adjusted for inflation graff is inaccurate. Oil has plodded around $25 a barrel for decades. Adjusted for inflation it should be over $100 a barrel as a matter average today. Instead it barely scrapes above $60 for brief periods.

One minute you argue the Saudis are holding out for higher prices, next you say they spurn cheap Chinese and Indian offers. Connect the dots!

Your average cost rise for oil is based on more expensive to extract (deep sea) oil. The truth is it’s as cheap as ever but the Saudis choose to ‘allow’ competitors to develop knowing full well they could put peddle to the floor at any point with their $1.50 cost base, flood the market with cheap oil and level the competitors inside a year.

Regards Saudi peak oil well we all know the ’strictly audited’ international oil reserves are a joke. This is a game of poker where everyone holds their cards to their chests. World reserves are colossal and getting higher every year. It pays not mention this fact of life.

Did you notice the chart was already corrected for inflation?????????

currency is trashed by Govt printing presses

That sounds like a Conservative talking point rather than a serious argument, but again the oil price chart I gave you was already corrected for inflation.

even supertankers anchored all over the world with billions of gallons of the stuff.

Mostly because the Saudis WILL NOT give the stuff away. A little cabal called OPEC needs to keep a higher and higher minimum price for their economies. The Chinese have made offers for “all” that “supertanker stored” oil at $35-$40/barrel for their reserves but have been knocked back repeatedly. India too.

Saudi oil still costs little different to extract today as 30 years ago ($1.50 per barrel). North Sea or Mexican Gulf oil approx £3.50 per barrel.

Errr… I’ve no idea where you’re getting those figures, but they look nothing like the ones we work with via our petro-connected/contracting clients.

We know the Saudis are pumping at only 50% capacity.

The Saudis (to keep using your example) have never provided auditable proof of their reserves, and they very definitely are trying to preserve a higher price. Many in the industry suspect that have hit a significant peak. Anyone who claims to know rates/reserves is guessing.

Thanks for the links. Doesn’t matter which way you look at the oil price, it’s pants at beating inflation. Consider you need to double your money every 10yrs to stay level and oil, like all commodities (wheat, cocoa, gold etc), underperforms.

The spikes we see at times of recession brings commodities back up to the average trend line for inflation, but only briefly. Gold, silver and oil have been at oil time highs but these still fall quite a ways short of inflation (which suggests gold still has a ways to go).

Regards ‘Nobelled’ Krugman he states “telltale signs of a speculative price boom are missing”. Apart from the tanking of the Dollar there’s no other explanation than what i’d describe as investors seeking safe harbour as their currency is trashed by Govt printing presses combined with speculators piling in to ride the wave.

Krugman gives iron ore as example. But like oil and copper the demand curves are almost flat and the supply plentiful. We’ve oil coming out of our ears, even supertankers anchored all over the world with billions of gallons of the stuff. Sugar has seen a 300% price rise but poor harvets in India and Brazil were cause. Namely there was a shortage of demand. No such luck in either supply or demand to explain the oil price spike to $140+

Regards “there is a much more significant cost floor under current oil production” i presume you’re referring to an averaged global cost floor, including higher costs to extract deep sea oil. An averaged cost base is academic, but not reality. Saudi oil still costs little different to extract today as 30 years ago ($1.50 per barrel). North Sea or Mexican Gulf oil approx £3.50 per barrel.

The market cost just depends on where you choose to buy. We know the Saudis are pumping at only 50% capacity. If they wanted they could floor the accelerator anytime they like and blast all other producers, particularly deep sea companies/countries, out of the water (pun intended).

Back to the drawing board, Honda.

Actually, I did. They are long oversold. I also tried to buy the Audi A-3 diesel in it too was oversold.

I ended up buying a BMW diesel which was sold out but available to order for present production which means mine will be here later this month. Diesels are actually selling better than most people realize.

As to the OP's comment on being dirty, he hasn't looked at diesels that meet the current emissions standards. Run a handkerchief into the exhaust of a new BMW diesel, they run it into the exhaust of a Prius. You won't need two hankies. It will still be clean after being in the exhaust of a BMW diesel. You'll have to throw it away after it comes out of the Prius, though…

The 1.9 litre PD TDIs do/did require VW 505.01 oil. Although since a lot of them are now out of warranty, some people are starting to use 505.00 oil like Mobil 1 Turbo diesel truck.

The current 2.0 litre engine also requires VW 507.00 approved oil. VW dealers are supposed to stock Castrol SLX for the new cars, but there are other oils that meet the 507.00 spec.

Perhaps, in their subconscious way, most Americans actually realize that for the kind of driving they do, the hybrid is a better solution than the diesel

So says the guy who lives in DC… Is that where “most” Americans live? Perhaps in a land of 300,000,000 people there are a few who have a long highway commute? Of my current 15 mile commute, 12 is on the highway. In my last job, it was more like 35 of 45 miles. Would a hybrd have been right for me?

I’m not saying you’re wrong that a hybrid is a good idea as a city car, but not everyone lives and drives in a city, so your “most Americans” statement is a bit myopic.

Thank you for your clarification. I am ignorant in that regard; my knowledge only dates back to 1999 and it only encompasses the US domestic market and some JDM. One thing that I have never seen mentioned here is the possible higher maintenance costs for a diesel. For example, I know that diesel pickup trucks there is a fuel/water separator that must be replaced like a fuel filter and that diesel oil (for the engine) is usually more expensive than oil for gasoline engines. I also don’t know if this is still true but the TDi 1.9 liter sold here a few years ago required a special specification of oil per Volkswagen.

The VW dealers are a mixed bag. The local dealership where I bought the Jetta was a bunch of jerks. The other local dealer where I always had the car seviced was honest, polite and professional.

When we needed a bigger vehicle we didn’t even consider VW. A Jetta Wagon or Passat wagon would be pricey to maintain, and the Routan combines VW’s price premium with Chrysler’s reliability.

Honda may have erred with the Ridgeline and the new Insight, but one thing they have nailed is the minivan.

Perhaps, in their subconscious way, most Americans actually realize that for the kind of driving they do, the hybrid is a better solution than the diesel, leaving aside the diesel’s bad reputation in America from the 1980s (MB’s indestructible 4 and 5-cylinder diesels aside).

As if.

VW diesels may be great, but the dealer experience is so poor and vehicle reliability has been so low that we went no farther down that road.

January: 121
February: 253
March: 269
April: 90
May: 86
June: 187
July: 549
August: 585 (A few hundred of the July/August Prii were promotion cars for the Toyota sponsored 2009 Athletics World Championship in Berlin)
September: 707

The 1- and the 3-series both used to be Top-10 sellers with more than 10,000 units a month until mid-2008.

Now it looks like that:
# 13 BMW 3-series: 5,323
# 16 BMW 1-series: 4,759
# 38 BMW 5-series: 2,219
# 78 BMW X3: 954
# 83 BMW X5: 816
#100 BMW 7-series: 661