Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production Crunch - WSJ.com

Meanwhile, politics and other forces are delaying projects that could bring more oil on-stream. Continued fighting in Iraq has stymied efforts to revive aging fields, while international sanctions on Iran have kept investments there from moving forward. Rebel attacks in Nigeria and political turmoil in Venezuela have cut into both countries’ output. Big non-OPEC producers such as Mexico and Russia, which have either barred or sidelined international operators, are seeing production slump. The U.S., with a legal moratorium barring exploration in 85% of its offshore waters, is struggling to keep its output steady.

That’s the supply-side. “bring more oil on-stream.” Supply is being reduced by not the availability of Texas tea, but “politics and other forces.” Well, the market, or demand, will eventually steamroll those circle-jerks. It might be hard or tough to get through them, and I feel bad it’ll have to happen, but I feel really bad that I paid a mortgage for eight years and got shafted by the drop in sub-primes and lost about $100,000 in value in six months. C’est la vie, I says to myself, and back to the grindstone.

Demand, well…demand is going to grow. Only a dipstick believes it won’t, or that it’s possible to curb it. Or that it’s worth curbing it. I guess we could retreat from air-conditioning and Google datacenters and personal mobility, but — you go first.

This is another discussion I’m tired of having. When our pocketbooks are overstretched to the point that we don’t give a damn if there’s a platform in sight of Key Westers and we have a refinery down the street, we’ll elect some politicians who will do something about it instead of moronically jaw to the news-show cameras for the teevee. Or not. Maybe the view from the Kennedy compound will be more important to future generations, and they’ll be happy with their daily ration of soy.

Brought to my attention by Peak Oil theory pointer-outer John Robb…