Commentary By Ron Beasley
As I reported here peak oil has gone from a tin foil hat theory to common wisdom in the last couple of years. Well the US Military in on board.
US military warns oil output may dip causing massive shortages by 2015
The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact.
The energy crisis outlined in a Joint Operating Environment report from the US Joint Forces Command, comes as the price of petrol in Britain reaches record levels and the cost of crude is predicted to soon top $100 a barrel.
"By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day," says the report, which has a foreword by a senior commander, General James N Mattis.
It adds: "While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India."
We are already fighting natural resources wars and the military knows that shortages will only make conflict more likely. And we are not just talking about oil - even bigger battles may be fought over water and arable land. The earth is not able to support overpopulation now and less oil can only mean it can support even less. Thomas Friedman's flat earth will become a lot less flat without fuel for the ships the move products around the globe.
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