May 2009 Archives

It is widely accepted that the modern world's unquenchable thirst for oil has left mankind facing a dilemma.
We are told that global oil production is nearing its peak, and that soon this most precious of resources will have run out.
As governments scramble to find alternative fuel sources, oil rich nations are enjoying a "black gold" rush.
The future scarcity of oil has handed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a blank cheque and left the oil markets in turmoil.
With the cost of oil soaring past the $100-a-barrell mark, the producers are recording record profits, while the public is facing unprecedented price hikes at the petrol pumps.
We are told that all of this is necessary, a market adjustment, an inconvenience born of the natural clash between decades of excess and a slowdown in oil production.
But there is another theory.
What if this oil peak is a myth, a spook story created by the multi-trillion dollar petrol companies and the oil rich nations that control the supply lines?
What if instead of a scientific, evolutionary fact, the idea of a peak in production is a tool to control the markets and keep pump prices high?
Surely such a conspiracy is unthinkable, who could orchestrate such a complex and dastardly plot?
If it was going to be done, it would require a group with massive sway over global financial markets, influence over the leading governments of the world, a huge amount of cash and a ruthless desire to exploit human suffering and poverty in order to make a profit.
Conspiracy theorists are torn as to who this group may be. The famed "illuminati", a shadowy cabal of New World Order devotees and the oil companies themselves are among the main candidates.
Whoever the conspirators are, the idea that peak oil is nothing more than a money-making myth drives right to the heart of the global economic meltdown we are currently experiencing.
If this is a conspiracy, then everything from politics to finance, from industry to the military is being manipulated, and that is a very worrying thought indeed.