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It was with a great sense of loss when we heard of Matt Simmons death. We wanted to express our greatest sympathy, and our hearts are truly saddened. Matt Simmons was one of the great pioneers of popularising Peak Oil, and was a great entrepreneur which founded the Ocean Energy Institute. He dedicated all his life to the work and his reaserch. His book, named “Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy”, gave all of us a truth, which was that the world’s oil industy has already arrived the turning-point and we have entered the post oil age. Besides his book, as a global energy expert, his many reaserch presentations and lots of publication materials were a valuable tool for us. His contributions to the world and us will never be forgotten, and all of us will miss him for ever.

Feng Lianyong and other members of ASPO-China
Web: ASPO China
E-mail: fengly@yahoo.cn

British explorer Rockhopper said the latest well to be drilled in the Falkland Islands as part of a controversial exploration programme was found to be a dry hole. Oil exploration in the islands off the coast of South America has sparked protests from Argentina, which claims the British territory.

The drilling of Rockhopper's Ernest prospect was being closely watched after the Sea Lion well, drilled by the company in the same basin in May, made a significant oil discovery, sending Rockhopper's shares soaring by over 500%, Reuters reported.

"The result of Ernest is disappointing, but the well was always designed to investigate an entirely different geological play type from Sea Lion," said Rockhopper's managing director Sam Moody.

The company will now move to carry out further tests on the Sea Lion discovery to help it plan a potential appraisal campaign, Moody said. Ernest reached its target depth of 2240 metres with initial logs confirming that no hydrocarbons had been encountered, said Rockhopper.

Read more: Upstream Online

With chock ASPO International has received the following press release from Laura Russell, Executive Assistant to Matthew R. Simmons, Rockland, Maine:

“Matthew R. Simmons, founder of the Ocean Energy Research Institute in Rockland, Maine, passed away suddenly on Sunday. He is survived by his wife, Ellen, and their five daughters. Mr. Simmons was also former chairman of Simmons & Company International. Details of services are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Ocean Energy Research Institute.”

Matt Simmons support of ASPO has been very important and we will come back with more information.

Kjell Aleklett
President of ASPO International

Read an article in the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/09/AR2010080903555.html

Most officials in both Europe and the UK still believe peak oil is a problem the markets will solve. That's a dangerous game to play with our energy supplies, says Lionel Badal.

Two years ago, the British government was still confident that oil reserves were abundant enough to meet rising demand until at least 2030. In other words, we should not worry. This cheerful message relied on the contested assessments made by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).

However, ever since numerous academic studies and industry reports have demonstrated that sometime within this decade global oil production will start to decline. In short, we are about to reach Peak Oil, and we are completely unprepared. Brace for impact.

Read more: The Ecologist

A new scientific article by M.J.W.A Vanderschuren, T.E. Lane, and J.J. Wakeford has been published in the journal Energy Policy. The article is entitled "Can the South African transport system surmount reduced crude oil availability?" and based on a joint project between ASPO South Africa and university researchers originally carried out for Department of Transport’s National Transport Master Plan.

Abstract:
This paper is based on an elaborate research project carried out in 2008. International ‘Peak Oil’ predictions were translated to the South African context as a basis for the energy analysis. Based on available plans for the implementation of new power plants, and the like, various energy availability scenarios were developed. On the transportation side, the current transport demand (passenger and freight) was combined with fuel efficiency knowledge in the transportation field. Planned or proven international efficiency improvement interventions were assessed regarding their feasibility in the South African context.

Linda Flood from Veckans Affärer [“The Week’s Business”, a Swedish newspaper] has contacted Kjell Aleklett, president of ASPO International, during the summer to discuss BP and the leak in the Gulf of Mexico. They also discussed how the oil companies handle the technology for drilling in deep water and, most importantly, if they have developed technology to cope with “blowouts”. The discussion was also about other large oil spills and Kjell Aleklett pointed out that it is time to make Shell take responsibility for the leaks in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. He personally became aware of that huge problem after meeting Hafsat Abiola-Castello from Nigeria this summer (read the blog on Aleklett’s Energy Mix).

Linda Flood had now written an article with the headline “Many questions hanging over the oil industry” [the article in Swedish].

The Lloyd's insurance market and the highly regarded Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS, known as Chatham House) says Britain needs to be ready for "peak oil" and disrupted energy supplies at a time of soaring fuel demand in China and India, constraints on production caused by the BP oil spill and political moves to cut CO2 to halt global warming.

The insurance market has a major interest in preparedness to counter climate change because of the fear of rising insurance claims related to property damage and business disruption. The review is groundbreaking because it comes from the heart of the City and contains the kind of dire warnings that are more associated with environmental groups or others accused by critics of resorting to hype. It takes a pot shot at the International Energy Agency which has been under fire for apparently under-estimating the threats, noting: "IEA expectations [on crude output] over the last decade have generally gone unmet."

Read more: The Guardian
Read the entire study here: Chatham House

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has ordered a halt to oil exploration operations to save the hydrocarbon wealth in the world's top crude exporting nation for future generations.

"I was heading a cabinet meeting and told them to pray to God the Almighty to give it a long life," King Abdullah told Saudi scholars studying in Washington.

"I told them that I have ordered a halt to all oil explorations so part of this wealth is left for our sons and successors God willing," he said.

A senior oil ministry official said the king's order was not an outright ban but rather meant future exploration activities should be carried out wisely.

Saudi Arabia, the largest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped oil unchanged at 8.26m barrels a day in June. The kingdom is pumping about 209,000 barrels above its target according to Zawya Dow Jones.

The kingdom's recoverable crude oil and condensate reserves stood at 260.1bn barrels at the end of 2009, the world's largest, according to state-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co, or Aramco.

"Drilling in deep-water oil fields remains essential in spite of the moratorium in the US Gulf of Mexico following the BP oil spill", Total boss Christophe de Margerie said. "If we stopped producing in the North Sea, prices would soar."

Other oil executives including Chevron head John Watson similarly have cautioned against imposing bans on drilling in waters over 200 metres deep.

"All this means extra attention, potential additional costs... and this might mean a slight delay before new projects are announced," de Magerie continued. "This can only have a negative impact over oil prices" and push them higher. The price of oil could easily bounce back to $90 per barrel by year end, as the BP well disaster was reducing investments in finding new fields.

Read more: Upstream Online

In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates an extended global moratorium on new drilling in offshore regions could cut potential world offshore output by 800,000 barrels to 900,000 barrels per day by 2015.

The IEA is confident in its estimate that 100,000 bpd to 300,000 bpd could be lost if new projects in the Gulf of Mexico were delayed by one or two years until 2015, said IEA's executive director, Nobuo Tanaka.

"If the same one-year or two-year delay happens globally, to global offshore drilling new projects, if that happens, we calculate it is about 800,000 bpd to 900,000 bpd," Tanaka continued.

"If 1 million bpd is struck out from the market, it's big. It may have a huge impact in the mid to the long term. Premium insurance is moving up, many countries are reviewing regulations and are trying to find out if they may have a similar problem in their operations."

Read more: Upstream