Tickling Threes

By Duru

August 23, 2005

 

Just a quick note for today.  I listened to a very interesting interview on NPR with journalist Peter Maass.  He has written (controversial?) pieces on the world's oil situation.  His primary claims of and references to global oil scarcity (primarily peaking Saudi Arabian oil fields) and the mismatch between longer-term supply and demand validate today's racing oil prices and certainly confirm my suspicions that folks still are not "bullish" enough on energy prices.  This interview is well-worth listening to…I know I am going to seek out more materials written by Maass. 

It was a bit ironic that as I listened to this I was wandering around my local area in search of a bank…burning away gas.  I took note of the prices at the gas stations (I have not visited one in a while as I have been avoiding my car a lot lately).  Premium is right up against $2.99, and I can imagine that gas station owners are trying to keep those top prices below $3.00.  I live in one of the most expensive places in the country to buy gas, but I am guessing that somewhere in the Bay Area some hapless station owner has already been forced to break that $3.00 line.  $3.00 is our next psychological barrier.  I can bet that once regular unleaded hits that point in more and more places, we should see a resurgence in complaints about gas prices…and maybe, just maybe, folks will actually begin to change their consumption behaviors.  Apparently, we missed a great opportunity in this latest energy bill to actually encourage conservation or even ramp development efforts on alternative energy sources.  It is also ironic how so many laughed and scoffed when John Kerry, during his presidential campaign, warned us that gas would hit $3.00 by this summer.  Well folks, here we are…enjoy.

(Also see an interesting NPR series on oil issues in Nigeria.)

© DrDuru, 2005