Oljeoptimism möter verkligheten

Jag skrev om oljeoptimisten Daniel Yergin och hans sanslöst inskränkta artikel i WSJ. Det är skönt att se att det finns reaktioner. Harward Business Review är ett starkt varumärke, men såklart med något mer begränsad räckvidd än WSJ. På HBRs blogg finns ett bra bemötande av Yergins svada. Tyvärr lär dock författarna inte bli inbjudna till talkshows där de får marknadsföra sina böcker på samma sätt som Yergin.

Här kommer några utdrag ur artikeln:

“Daniel Yergin’s typically sunny outlook on oil in his recent Wall Street Journal piece, “There Will Be Oil,” suggested that technology and new energy discoveries would avert any of the economic disasters portended by peak oil. We found Mr. Yergin’s dismissal of these risks premature and repetitive. After all, he has asserted since 2004 that global oil production was nothing to worry about, and that there would be few effects on the economy.

As Shell, Chevron, Total, the IEA, and a host of other serious observers have openly declared since 2005, the age of cheap and easy oil has ended. The “oil” that’s left is progressively expensive, difficult, risky, marginal, and fraught with secondary effects like increasing carbon emissions, demand for water, and competition with food.

A wide spectrum of agnostic analysts with decades of distinguished service in the oil industry and its press have addressed this. We like the formulation of petroleum economist Chris Skrebowski, which defines peak oil as the point where “the cost of incremental supply exceeds the price economies can pay without destroying growth at a given point in time.”

The connection between oil shocks and recessions has been understood for decades. We have ample historical evidence that when petroleum expenditures reach 5% of GDP, recession typically follows. Annual energy expenditures rose from 6.2% of U.S. GDP in 2002 to a painful 9.8% in 2008, which was immediately followed by an economic crash. And now oil is sending energy expenditures back above 9% of GDP, just as we see fresh indications that the recession persists. This is not a coincidence.

Peak oil poses a host of systemic risks to the global economy, and will increasingly disrupt supply chains in our globalized world. Contra to Yergin’s view that Ricardian Comparative Advantage will produce abundant oil for export, oil-producing nations will continue to feed their domestic populations, leaving less for sale on world markets. OECD consumers will be increasingly priced out of oil markets as their disposable income adjusts downward to reflect energy costs.”

Författarna har också skrivit ett kompletterande inlägg på GetREALlist där de också länkar till ett antal bra bemötande av Yergins artikel (bla vår svenska nestor Kjell Aleklett),  En annan rolig detalj i sammanhanget är ASPO USAs vadslagningsutmaning riktad mot Yergins analysverksamhet. 100 000 USD står på spel, om bara Yergin hade vågat anta utmaningen!

Kanske en idé för svenska ASPO att ta efter? Utmana tex Marian Radetzkis på en oljeprisprognos. Enkla pengar, men inte minst möjlighet till lite uppmärksamhet!