Just how much oil is really left?

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » 2005-02-03 08:59pm

I have to admit, stuff like this makes me nervous .....

LONDON The struggling Royal Dutch/Shell Group on Thursday slashed another 10 percent from its most important asset, proven oil and gas reserves, rattling investors yet again, and increasing speculation that the company may ultimately have to acquire a better-performing rival to compete with global peers like BP and ChevronTexaco.

The reserve cut, Shell's fifth in a year, came as the company reported record profit, buoyed by high oil prices. Shell said fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled, to $4.48 billion, and that full-year profit rose 48 percent, to $18.5 billion, a record for a British company.

Investors were not impressed. Shell Transport shares closed 8.25 pence lower at 471.75 pence, or $8.89, in London and were trading at $53.55, down 63 cents, in late New York trading.

Shell has been floundering since it first cut its proven reserve levels by 20 percent last January. Despite a massive overhaul that included firing three top executives and a promise to combine its century-old dual company structure into a single firm, market confidence in the company continues to erode.

Executives said after a review of reserves last March that they did not expect additional changes, but this is the third cut since then.

On Thursday, Shell said it would cut 1.4 billion barrels from its proven oil and gas reserves, exceeding the 900 million barrels it warned were under scrutiny in October.

In total, Shell has slashed one-third, or 5.8 billion barrels, from its proven reserve levels at the end of 2002. Outside auditors still need to inspect a final 10 percent of reserves, but executives said they were confident that there were no more surprises ahead.
ahead.

Link

Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba · Post by **Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba** » 2005-02-03 09:58pm

The noose tightens...

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2005-02-03 10:23pm

Actually, this has nothing to do with oil running out and everything to do with Royal Dutch/Shell playing a *ahem* shell game with their investors. To put it another way, they overstated their reserves to inflate the value of the company, and now that they've been caught, they have to change all those numbers. If I recall correctly, some executives are looking at jail time.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-02-03 10:30pm

On the topic of oil and what to do:

Ignore the War on Terror bit and its still a bloody good look at the lack of RENEWABLE resources.

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » 2005-02-03 10:33pm

RedImperator wrote:Actually, this has nothing to do with oil running out and everything to do with Royal Dutch/Shell playing a *ahem* shell game with their investors. To put it another way, they overstated their reserves to inflate the value of the company, and now that they've been caught, they have to change all those numbers. If I recall correctly, some executives are looking at jail time.

My concern is ... who else is playing the 'shell' game? Has the entire industry overstated reserves by 30%? That .... would be bad.

No evidence of that, just looks like we're getting Dutch Enron here ...

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2005-02-04 12:42am

Chmee wrote:Has the entire industry overstated reserves by 30%? That .... would be bad.

No. Chevron, for example, has massively increased the amount of recoverable oil it controls in the last 10 years. They're building a massive compressor (ie. 20 times the size of the next largest compressor ever built) to help them pump oil in Kazhakhstan by keeping the field pressure up. And have you noticed that the price of sulfur has gone down recently? There's so much sulfur in that field that Chevron's selling sulfur as a biproduct has driven the market cost of sulfur down by more than 90%.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2005-02-04 12:47am

RedImperator wrote:Actually, this has nothing to do with oil running out and everything to do with Royal Dutch/Shell playing a *ahem* shell game with their investors. To put it another way, they overstated their reserves to inflate the value of the company, and now that they've been caught, they have to change all those numbers. If I recall correctly, some executives are looking at jail time.

The company has actually already been fined about $150 million by the U.S. and U.K.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-02-04 12:47am

The alarmism over "peak oil" is pointless. They're saying that once we pass "peak oil", oil will become noticeably more expensive. Well no shit, but we'll know that's happening when it starts to happen, and it's not as if passing "peak oil" will lead to the total drainage of the world's oil resources in short order. It will simply force people to be more economical with their use of gasoline.

America's love affair with the giant SUV will no doubt dampen somewhat when gasoline starts costing $6.00 per gallon.

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2005-02-04 12:54am

Indeed. It's not like someone's going to come on TV tomorrow and say "Oil suddenly all gone! THUNDERDOME TIME!"

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2005-02-04 03:23am

Darth Wong wrote:The alarmism over "peak oil" is pointless. They're saying that once we pass "peak oil", oil will become noticeably more expensive. Well no shit, but we'll know that's happening when it starts to happen, and it's not as if passing "peak oil" will lead to the total drainage of the world's oil resources in short order. It will simply force people to be more economical with their use of gasoline.

America's love affair with the giant SUV will no doubt dampen somewhat when gasoline starts costing $6.00 per gallon.

Here in Sweden, gasoline already costs $6.00 per gallon.

We need more fuel efficient vehicles. One thing that really annoys me is how the car companies brags about their powerful engines, but are such engines really necessary? No. Neither are vehicles such as the Hummer and other oversized SUVs. I'm not a opponent of SUVs in general, but they be built more efficiently.