To peak or not to peak…

19 01 2023

The Great Simplification

Peak Oil – The Hedonic Adjustment

The Great Simplification #54 with Arthur Berman

Nate Hagens

This Week…

Arthur Berman returns to discuss the concept ‘peak oil’, as well as provide an update on where we stand on global oil production vs. the pre-COVID peak. Of most relevance, Art explains how the expansion of what is labeled ‘oil’ by public energy institutions has brought us to a situation today where fully 40% of what we call oil in the USA, is… not oil, but lower heat content products such as NGPLs, ethanol, biofuels and refinery gain. This is a big deal, especially given the refinery situation in USA outlined by Art in his previous appearance on this podcast.

Arthur E. Berman is a petroleum geologist with almost 40 years of oil and gas industry experience. He is an expert on U.S. shale plays and is currently consulting for several E&P companies and capital groups in the energy sector.

Is peak oil, an observation which has been around for decades and repeatedly proven ‘wrong’, still relevant today? Is a specific ‘peak’ even helpful or should we be focusing on the logical implications of a drawdown on finite resources – and how to respond?

And the chart of the day….