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.)