World Oil Facts in review from 2004-2007

World oil consumption = about 80 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2006

United States consumption = 20 million bpd

That’s 5% of the world’s population consuming 25% of the world’s oil resource. This is an unsustainable ratio. With other countries industrializing today (ie India & China) there is a finite supply of physical resource (hydrocarbon & mineral & water). This finite supply makes it impossible to bring the rest of the world up to U.S. levels of consumption, although many economists today will argue just the opposite.

Some Quotes:

"…There were only two credible reasons for invading Iraq: control over oil and preservation of the dollar as the world's reserve currency." Indirectly, then, oil money is bankrolling U.S. deficit spending. Paul Donovan, a global economist for UBS Investment Bank in London, estimates that petrodollars, mostly channeled through Asia and Europe, are funding up to 45% of the U.S. current account deficit."
- Business Week, March 13th, 2006

"…Oil is the lifeblood of modern civilization. It fuels the vast majority of the world’s mechanized transportation equipment – Automobiles, trucks, airplanes, trains, ships, farm equipment, the military, etc. Oil is also the primary feedstock for many of the chemicals that are essential to modern life. This study deals with the upcoming physical shortage of world conventional oil -- an event that has the potential to inflict disruptions and hardships on the economies of every count.

At that point world conventional oil production will have peaked and begin to decline. In 2003, the world consumed just under 80 million barrels per day (MM bpd) of oil. U.S. consumption was almost 20 MM bpd, two-thirds of which was in the transportation sector. The U.S. has a fleet of about 210 million automobiles and light trucks (vans, pick-ups, and SUVs).

The earth’s endowment of oil is finite and demand for oil continues to increase with time. Accordingly, geologists know that at some future date, conventional oil supply will no longer be capable of satisfying world demand."
– 2005 Hircsh Report for the Department of Defense

The follow charts help explain the reality of our situation:

Breakdown of the US national budget: Properly categorizing the national budget. Social Security is not part of the actual national revenue, but it is used in the official chart, which makes the military (defense) spending look a whole lot smaller. This chart takes that into account.

Federal Budget Expenditures: This is the published chart showing Social Security. Which is not part of the actual GDP, but it is reported as part of the GDP and has the effect of making our Military Expenditures “look” smaller.

Country Distribution 2005 - The USA is responsible for 48% of the world’s total military forces, distantly followed by the UK, France, Japan and China with only4–5% each.

Instrumental Temperature Record –Shows the average mean temperature variance in the Earth’s temp over the past 150 years. Look on my Blog for the description. http://justusstilus.blogspot.com/2007/08/heat-increase.html

US oil Production curve 1930-2040 : Shows the actual Production of Oil for the USA. We peaked in our domestic oil production just after 1971. From then on out we produced less & less each year, needing to import more & more foreign oil each year.

ASPO Peak Oil Chart 2006 - Shows the total amount of oil resource that is produced each year for the world. Gboe = giga or Billon Barrels. So the top of the chart is 50 Billion Barrels per year. That is A LOT OF OIL!!

Oil Prices – self-explanatory. 10 year oil price trend.

Oil Discovery Trends – This is for the World. The last large oil discoveries peaked in the 1960’s. The black line is our production of this ‘discovered’ oil. As world use demands an increase in daily production, we run into a problem. We are NOT finding more oil to keep raising the use. (production = use, since we use every drop we produce)

US Military Bases in the Middle East – if I lived in Iran, I’d be very concerned about US Imperialism. Some of the $520Billion dollars per year at work. We might properly account for our pump price with these costs factored in. This is a chart from 2005. The point is our presence is not democratic and it's no accident that the demonization of Iran with "secret Nuclear programs" was popular in US media. As of 2007 there are 737 U.S. Military Bases around the globe, that equals Global Empire.

Average Global Temp - This is taken from Ice Core samples from the past 1000 years.

Gas Prices Around the World : The United States is near the Bottom of the chart of world gas prices. This is abnormally low for a major importer compared to other importing countries. Our economy requires cheap gas to run. If our prices where more reflective of the actual cost, our economy would not be about to support the debt loads it currently has.

Oil Consumption and GDP - Gross Domestic Product directly follows oil consumption. From 1970 – 2006. Oil is the lifeblood of our economy.

Google Earth map of world oil consumption. This is pretty cool. Yes, that’s the United States (5% of the world’s population) sticking way out there in consumption.

2006 budget for the United States. This is the most accurate breakdown of America’s finances I could find. Note how little is spent on education, the environment, science and health...

Summary:

The point here is to understand our relationship to oil in regards to Economics, Politics, and Military. The US Dollar is tied to oil, the name PetroDollar describes. The GDP of the country is tied to oil use, How we spend our money shows the reality of our intent as a nation. With more than 2,500,000 U.S. personnel serving across the planet and

military bases spread across each continent, it's time to face up to
the fact that our American democracy has spawned a global empire, dwarfing all others in it’s consumption and military exploits over energy, specifically oil.

Historically our wars have been resource wars. They go unacknowledged as such in our history for the glorification of the state. The Hirsch Report of 2004, 2005, and 2006 clearly states our situation and likely scenarios for the US. In a 2006 interview with Mr. Hirsch in Washington DC we received the following quote: “If we do nothing to change the course we’re on, the last scenario is one I wish not to talk of, but is entitled Deprivation & War .”

My next post will discuss what a concerned person can do. But first, get informed, and that's not going to happen by reading the Times or watching CNN.