I am only up to section three so this may change my initial outlook. This nothing but a cut and paste report. There has only been a glossing over the 27 provinces in Australia's economic zone that hold a possibility of a super giant field. There is a lot of noise about a large field between NZ and Tas that will be interesting if it is revealed. The biggest problem with Australian fields is the relative secrecy of any discovery made, At most a ten line article in the business section is all that denotes a large find. Bodella South in particular. If it wasn't for the media getting hold of news about Moonie, it would never have been developed. Oil and Gas around the Surat basin has been known about since 1900. Roma had reticulated gas lighting at that time.
The largley US owned exploration companies in Australia will ALWAYS hold out for big tax breaks. (Anyone ever heard of Haliburton?
) The big oil companies do not hold the domestic market in high esteem. The big bucks is shifting bulk petajoules to China for bugger all unit cost. This is criminal, our reserves could keep this country going for another two hundred years and this is just from the NW shelf. Infrastructure costs prohibit this scenario. If we sold every last drop of gas to the US( If Arnie lets them that is) NW Shelf reserves would only last a relative couple of years. Like everywhere on the planet there has been little new infrastructure built.....the report, oh yeah, the report.
Peak oil proponents slag off on anything that isn't light sweet crude. Shale oil, as pointed out by Chimbu Chuckles on another thread could last this planet for a very long time. Technology currently has a low recovery rate. However, like all adaptable creatures technolgy will also find a better way of making a mouse trap. The Canadian fields are HUGE!. Only thing stopping Venezuela is politics, if it changes more money will flow. Who wants to spend a buck and have it nationalised. There is a nice bit in there from BP that shows "Provable" reserves are still increasing compared to production so at the moment it is a good thing. As the price goes up, more fields will MIRRACULOUSLY appear from nowhere. Deep fields in the Gulf of Mexico and off West Africa ( A real biggy there that hasn't even been drilled on yet).
Coal to fuel (like the Germans did in WW2) and gas to fuel using the Fischer-Tropisch method with a modern twist will prove effective. Note, how peak oil shoots this down by trumping with the carbon tax card. Who says it isn't a disincentive to an economy. Brown coal isn't just in Latrobe, try looking under the Simpson Desert National Park and under The Pilliga. The resource is there!
You can smell a certain Qld Nat senator in the bit about Ethanol from cellulous, that is going to force up stock feed prices like you will not believe and isn't realy necessary to meet the 350Ml a year threshold. I personally like to able to make my own brew of biodiesel but is only enough to keep the fourbe going but leaves the big fella that I work with on the pump variety. To feed a working vehicle would have me sourcing feedstock for five days a week to feed a truck on haulage for the full week so economics of time and wages kill it. However, for a price of 25 to 30cpl in the tank it is very economical for a four wheel drive. It smells nice as well as makes me a greeny too
Smells like a fish and chip shop
Biggest competition for feedstock is companies buying the stuff to convert to stockfeed in Japan.
So far I am not impressed with the reporting. Shall read some more