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11 Responses to “90 seconds at 9am: Peak oil cover up; Hanover Finance fesses up”

1. andy hamilton Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 8:27 am

   Bernard – your comment above: ” says peak oil is much closer than everyone realises “‘.

   I think you meant to substitute ‘the blinkered masses’ for ‘everyone’………

2. j.s Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 8:36 am

   I thought we were already at/past peak oil… the question is, how steep is the supply curve down the other side

3. Wally Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 8:37 am

   So the bastards have been lying about oil too. Haarrrrrrrhaahaaha. All good news for all electric vehicles. Sooner we make the change the better. Of course Noddyland will be last. What will rapidly rising import bills for oil do to Noddylands property ponzi economy?
   Ooooops…I smell inflation on the wind…anyone wanna buy a dunga property valued by a 14 year old at $500ooo…don’t miss out….the price can only rise.

4. Roger Thompson Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 8:58 am

   Listening to Daniel Yerbin on BBC radio this morning . He suggested that Western economies had passed peak oil usage . That it was China and India whose demand was surging . And China has an energy efficiency policy , which includes many alternatives to oil . Natural gas is the sleeper . Apart from Russia , the USA , Norway , and Eastern Europe has giga-gazillions of the stuff . Therein lies the future .

5. andy hamilton Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 9:18 am

   Roger – if i were you I would not take Yergin (I assume thats who you meant) in the least bit seriously. Throughout the period 2005-2008 he was constantly saying oil was about to drop to $30. As we all know he was spectacularly wrong.

   He is a journo best known for writing The Prize. His pronouncements on the oil price and what has been happening to oil have been laughable. Having now realised that he has the supply side of things spectacularly wrong (as even his erstwhile buddies the IEA realise they have called it spectacularly wrong) he has now switched to trying to predict the demand side.

6. Wally Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 9:19 am

   “To assist this we need to ensure there is no return to a debt-fuelled housing cycle, which would likely bring with it further exchange rate pressure and erosion of competitiveness.” so says Alan Bollard a minute or so ago…which begs the question; why is the RBNZ holding the ocr at 2.5 and porking cheap floating rates which are fuelling the housing bubble? ….doh

7. Philly Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 9:20 am

   Since Hotchkin has his moratorium & is untouchable, there is no incentive to maximise the payout. What would the gain be to Hotchkin & Watson? Since Hanover is dead meat, no one is ever going to ever put another penny into it, so there is no advantage in trying to pretend it was ever going to make money for anyone except Watson & Hotchkin, plus the investment advisors who clipped the ticket.

   The only benefit from the company for Hotchkin & Watson at this point is to just keep rorting every cent they can out of it, & leave the elderly investors to watch in anguish as their “investment” disappears. The willing accomplices are those who recommended that suckers, sorry investors, vote for the moratorium.

   re the IEA whisteblower, it only confirms what Matt Simmons etc have been saying for years.

8. Philly Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 9:30 am

   re the “truckloads of natural oil” theory, this was promoted by Ambrose Evan-Pritchard (the famous geologist, ha ha) in a breathless piece in the Guardian recently. For a debunk of this, try:
   http://www.energybulletin.net/node/50421

   Probably safer to listen to Matt Simmons & Colin Campbell etc, who know a wee bit about what they are talking about…

9. Wally Says:
   November 11th, 2009 at 9:36 am

   I remain perplexed that so many older kiwi could have been so easily guided up the garden path to the killing shed by these suits. In the great collapse of 87, most of those with loot in the current batch of finance rorts were probably between 40 and 60( you would think they had learned something). Yet in recent years they dived in with glee handing over billions to shits who paid themselves bloated salaries for the task of lending on the loot to….themselves! The same stupidity is playing out in the great Kiwi property ponzi rip off which is still in full flight with a stupid govt in support and the RBNZ happy to play along. How can property finance rip off rorts be losing so much on property investments, without the collapse alert flags flying for the stupid to see….people still rush in to borrow and splurge hundreds of thousands on shite property.

10. liberte Says:
    November 12th, 2009 at 10:25 am

    one of the most promising areas of research is oil producing algae

11. John B Says:
    November 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am

    Algae ?

    Where’s the energy balance equations showing the energy coming from ?

    Could only be the sun so we would need most of NZ covered in sludge ponds
    to produce a fraction of our current oil requirements.

    Algae contain oil OK – but that doesn’t mean there’s a free lunch out there.

    The energy has to come from somewhere and at about 1 kw / m^2 of sunshine x about 8 hours /day average times conversion efficiencies in the low double digits it simply won’t stack up for other than small demonstration plants.

    Do the numbers – calculate the energy ex the algae and compare with a barrel of oil.

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