Geopolitical Problems

The New York Times reports on the US Geological Survey's estimate of Arctic oil resources:

At today’s consumption rate of 86 million barrels a day, the potential oil in the Arctic could meet global demand for almost three years.

The article goes on to say that this potential windfall comprises "13 percent of the world's total undiscovered oil." Happy days are here again!

And they're here to stay:

Dr Peter McCabe, from the CSIRO, says predictions of a peak oil phenomenon date back to the 1920s but are no more relevant today than they were then.

He claims it's geopolitical problems in oil-producing countries such as Nigeria and Venezuela that's pushing up oil prices, rather than dwindling supply.

He's right, of course. We all remember the radical Enviropacifislamofemifascists who seized Kuwait's Burgan field, and have refused to let anyone get at a drop of it until Phil Donahue is restored to his rightful place on MSNBC.

Meanwhile, China's Daqing field remains firmly in the clawlike hand of Fu Manchu, despite the best efforts of Nayland Smith and the intrepid Dr. Petrie. And in Mexico, production at the Cantarell field remains lower than average, due to an ongoing struggle between wrestling women and an Aztec mummy.

Similar situations obtain at Ghawar, where sectarian conflict over whether Certs is a breath mint or a candy mint has almost entirely shut down operations, and at Samatlor, where Dostoevskian nihilist intellectuals have been waging a decades-long battle against Tolstoyan prophets of worldly renunciation.

In other news, John McCain has postponed his plan to praise the safety of offshore drilling from atop an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana, due to circumstances beyond his control:

The campaign blamed Hurricane Dolly, which had just crossed the Texas coast with winds reported at 100 miles per hour, or 160 kilometers per hour. It did not mention that an oil tanker had just collided with a barge near New Orleans, shutting down 29 miles of the Mississippi River and sending hundreds of thousands of gallons of heavy fuel oil into the water.