Kurt Cobb

Latest articles from Kurt

• Oil Market Complexity Means Prices Make The Story

  Published 22 October 2014 | viewed 5,824 times

  When the world's business editors sent their reporters canvassing to find out what is behind the recent plunge in the world oil price, they were…

• World War III: It's Here And Energy Is Largely Behind It

  Published 16 October 2014 | viewed 10,632 times

  I've been advancing a thesis for several months with friends that World War III is now underway. It's just that it's not the war we…

• Yergin Wins Energy Security Medal Despite Views On LNG And Peak Oil

  Published 07 October 2014 | viewed 6,779 times

  Where is George Orwell when you need him?It is a supreme irony that cornucopian oil industry mouthpiece and consultant Daniel Yergin should receive America's first…

• Orwellian Newspeak And The Oil Industry's Fake Abundance Story

  Published 15 July 2014 | viewed 17,472 times

  When what you are saying is so obviously at odds with the plain truth, it is useful to choose your words carefully to obscure this…

• We Will Never Run Out of Oil (Which is Entirely Beside the Point)

  Published 21 June 2014 | viewed 13,162 times

  Harvard economist Morris Adelman, famous for saying that we will never run out of oil, died last month. What followed the announcement of his death…

• Throwing Energy Away – From Trash to Electricity

  Published 10 June 2014 | viewed 5,360 times

  Philipp Schmidt-Pathmann wakes up every day thinking about trash. What got him thinking about it in the first place is how much of it is…

• Will the Monterey Shale Downgrade Cause Climate Activists to Change Strategy?

  Published 02 June 2014 | viewed 5,062 times

  There is an important hidden lesson for climate activists in the vast downgrade of recoverable oil resources now thought to be available from California's Monterey…

• Could NAFTA Force the Keystone XL Pipeline On the United States?

  Published 09 May 2014 | viewed 4,629 times

  As the Obama administration puts off once again any decision on authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline, there are whispers of another intriguing possibility. If the…

• Did Crude Oil Production Actually Peak in 2005?

  Published 14 April 2014 | viewed 9,338 times

  "Wait a minute," you must be saying. "Haven't we been hearing from the oil industry and from government and international agencies that worldwide oil production…

• Net vs. Gross Energy: Is it Wise to be Complacent?

  Published 17 March 2014 | viewed 6,018 times

  Everyone knows that when a potential employer makes a job offer, the salary or wage he or she proposes isn't what you'll be taking home.…

• 7 Known Energy Facts which are Actually Untrue

  Published 08 January 2014 | viewed 6,884 times

  Mark Twain once said, "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."…

• Will the Mexican Oil Bubble Burst Before its Even Begun?

  Published 31 December 2013 | viewed 14,651 times

  Recent reforms that would open oil exploration and development in Mexico to major oil companies for the first time in decades has the media all…

• What Does Shell’s Decision to Cancel GTL Plant Say about US Shale Gas Boom?

  Published 16 December 2013 | viewed 17,789 times

  When civil rights advocates grew restless because of President Richard Nixon's right-wing rhetoric on the issue of desegregation, then-Attorney General John Mitchell told them, ''Watch…

• Who is to Blame if the US doesn’t Achieve Energy Independence?

  Published 13 December 2013 | viewed 5,957 times

  Will anyone who is currently predicting U.S. energy independence be punished if the story turns out to be wrong? I ask because the story--and that's…

• Sustainability is Only Achievable if New Systems are Better than Old Ones

  Published 05 December 2013 | viewed 8,840 times

  No doubt you know someone who's told you about his or her great aunt who lived to be 98 and never went to a doctor.…

• Does the IEA Know What It’s Talking About?

  Published 21 November 2013 | viewed 4,132 times

  It was as if the International Energy Agency were appearing on the old American television game show To Tell the Truth last week as it…

• Why Risk Management Plays Such a Large Role in our Energy Future

  Published 11 November 2013 | viewed 8,143 times

  Optimistic, but unwarranted, energy supply forecasts permeate the media (courtesy of the oil and gas industry) even as the occasional dire scenario gets coverage. But,…

• The Battle Against Climate Change: Does the World Need Saving?

  Published 05 November 2013 | viewed 71,816 times

  Hardly a day goes by without someone writing or saying that we need to save the Earth. My geologist friends scoff at such language for…

• Helium: Abundant but Unavailable

  Published 30 October 2013 | viewed 25,630 times

  If I had had space, I would have included a subtitle for this piece as follows: Things do not have to run out to become…

• US Energy Independence: The Numbers Don’t Add Up

  Published 22 October 2013 | viewed 19,209 times

  Energy independence sounds good, and that's why politicians and oil company executives love to say the words. It's so easy to say, but oh so…