Light. Sweet. Crude.

At Chapters today, a book caught my eye.
So I sat down with it.
[With the book. Not my eye. Well, technically I sat down with my eye also, of course, but….. aww hell, forget it….]
This book is called, A Thousand Barrels A Second: The Coming Oil Break Point And The Challenges Facing An Energy Dependent World.
To me, that is a very arresting, intriguing title. It stopped me in my tracks.
And so I picked it off the display shelf and read on the dustjacket: “In 2006, world oil consumption will exceed one thousand barrels per second.”
What?
Per second?
That is craziness!

-- Are today’s high oil and gas prices part of a routine business cycle, or are there more profound forces at play?
-- Have we entered a new multi-polar world where energy is the primary source of geopolitical tension?
-- Are hybrid vehicles our only solution against high gasoline prices?
-- Is China’s growing thirst for energy sustainable?
-- What sort of global landscape will emerge from the turmoil?
-- Which government policies work and which do not?
-- Will nuclear power and coal save the day – again?

These are the type of questions that the author, Peter Tertzakian, addresses in the book.
I was fascinated… mesmerized, as I read the first words of Chapter One:

We’re not running out of oil. There is plenty of oil left in the ground to last us many decades, if not longer. We are, however, running short of cheap oil, especially the desirable grade of oil that flows easily and is devoid of sulfur, otherwise known as “light sweet crude.” Our reliance on that cheap oil runs deeper and is more entrenched than most of us are aware, and because its supply is getting tight at a time when global demand is accelerating, a great change is underway that will put pressure on our lifestyles and our world.

And further down the page… get this:

Every time we flick on a light switch, turn up the heat, or start up our car, a vast and complex energy supply chain kicks into gear. To fuel and power our lifestyles, the world in 2005 draws from these supply chains to consume 85 million barrels of oil, 240 cubic billion cubic feet of natural gas, 14 million tons of coal, and 500,000 pounds of uranium every single day.

Every single day!
It is mind-boggling.
Half a million barrels every eight minutes?
And by the way, the word “barrel” translates to 42 U.S. gallons, or 35 imperial gallons…. or for us metric-Canucks, shivering away in our year-round igloos, 159 liters.
[So the Canadian version of this book would be called… uhhh…. One Hundred And Fifty-Nine Thousand Liters A Second.]
No matter which way you pour it… that’s a helluva lotta crude!

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