Lee Jordan .org.uk

A Birmingham MP today warned of forced power cuts due to a recent explosion at a gas storage facility will leave supplies tight in the UK running into next week. With the recent cold snap forcast to run into next week we could be seeing the lights go out if we as a nation don’t turn off the heating when we don’t need it on.

“In the short term, however, the UK is on a knife edge in terms of gas supplies. An explosion at the country’s main storage field has left the UK with accessible supplies of just two days. If there is prolonged bad weather in the next month, the shortage of gas could lead to power cuts.” Source

Damaged gas rig ‘out for a month’
Also : Peak oil for real

North Birmingham has been hard hit by panic buying of Petrol. I filled up yesterday not out of forward planning, even so half the pumps were dry, I doubt I’ll be filling up for another week and a half perhaps a little more, which is normal for my 70mpg?

“Organisers of the protest, which is planned to start at 6am on Wednesday, said they would not be organising a repeat of blockades which brought Britain to a standstill in 2000. ‘I strongly urge against blockades,’ said Andrew Spence, from the protest group Fuel Lobby.” Source

Firstly this protest isn’t about car drivers, secondly public transport gets taxed as much as a car driver and thirdly many transport companies can’t compete with Europe, because Diesel is so expensive, petrol just caught it up that’s all, we still don’t have the most expensive Unleaded petrol in Europe. I agree the tax on Diesel should come down, but even so petrol reliant activities like volunteer and carer journeys not to mention traveling medical staff, esp in rural areas is just as important as getting those burgers to McDonnalds ….. think about it. It all comes under considerarion when you mention peak oil, some think this is peak oil, some think we have 5 years of headonisim remaining before the real problems start to increase …. live the dream!

The premium pumps are well stocked, if you don’t mind the cost and the wait for the driver in front to get to a wet pump. Read more by clicking the title …

Queues are already forming this Sunday locally, everyone is filling up ahead of this coming week. Only half of the pumps were fully operational today and the price has lowered since last weeks highs. The Government say a response to a protest over the price of fuel would be to actually ration the fuel.

The most expensive station in the country is in .. Wolverhampton : £1:07 and £1:06.9, but what strikes me as odd is the fact that people are blaming the Government for this when they aren’t blaming the Government for British Gas saying bills are going up by 14%. There’s a whole load of “tax” issues that are blinding people on the Petrol issue, one guy said well why does a hurricane affect our prices and I thought oh jees, wake up. Then we get the folks saying, OPEC should drill more, well hello you can’t ask for the impossible they are already over said quotas by about 2mbpd (million barrels per day) and since the iRaq war oil output from that country has dropped drastically due to there being a lack of secuity focus on the feilds. There’s a serious “How dumb are you? if the war was about Oil you did more than fail, you balls it up good and proper” going round in my head and yeah I personally got involved in this sauce recently after 23 years of being addicted to oil by proxy (traveling miles to school, getting my food from a supermarket) but at least my eyes are open.

This is our first taste of the coming energy crisis, it’s simple supply and demand, and we have to deal with it because we can’t ask the impossible, we can’t get what isn’t there, we can only look at living in a more sustainable way, and that means cutting down on internet shopping too! It goes far beyond the forecourts, I wish we would seriously collectivly wake up to reality and act now to change our lifestyles, collectivly, it’s not about petrol, it drills far more deeply into everyday life, we have to look at how we use energy and where we get it from, and dhurh hello, the sun suplies enough energy in one day to power the United States for a week …… where’s the disconnect?

Utillty bills are next, fuel poverty will once again be an issue in the UK.

This news as pump prices fall 2p in my area, with 60% of the country unable to charge more than 99.9p a ltre due to technology restraints.

Two weeks and perhaps we might start to see the chaos of 2000. Thing is yeah this isn’t a worry only to drivers. How did that food you just ate, get to you? Every facet of our modern day life relies on oil. How did your favourite band get to your hometown? Think about it.

“Fuel Lobby has threatened to block all UK refineries on 14 September, as the price of unleaded petrol rose to more than £1 a litre in parts of the UK.” Source

“Organisers of the 2000 fuel protest, which caused severe disruption when refineries were blocked, say they will act again if fuel tax is not cut.” Source

Says US must prevent oil fields from falling into hands of terrorists … and while the country (iRaq) desends into civial war and while the country (America) struggles with Katrina … was the war really worth it, was Saddam a threat that needed to be tackled and how come if the war was about the stability of oil, how come it has shot through the roof in recent months. And if that’s not enough iraq is now and only now a recruitment base because we made it that way and only now are Britons attacking Britions in terrorist attacks, again we made it that way.

Where are we going and what are we doing?

“President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the country’s vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the control of terrorist extremists. The speech was Bush’s third in just over a week defending his Iraq policies, as the White House scrambles to counter growing public concern about the war.” Source

At least over here the shortage of petrol (even to the emergency services) in summer 2000 was a man made event and there was actually tankers ready to roll. With perhaps more than half of America’s oil capacity simply shut down by just one, and it is just one, horendous Atlantic storm, leading to shortage of so called gas, could parts of America feel what we felt in 2000? Sparse shelves and panic buying might, just might become the norm til year end.

“me, I’m trying to stay one step ahead and pick up some food because when the bread and milk trucks can’t fill up, well that’s when it’ll get interesting won’t it” Source

Now I have been reading it could take 5 years for these prices to really affect our pockets. Current world events are masking the fact that supply just cannot keep up with demand (85m barrels a day), this is what the term Peak Oil refers to. Even if you don’t drive, public transport and other forms of private transport, like air travel is gonna feel the pinch first, then anything else derived from oil is gonna become unstable, plastics of all kinds, things we take for granted. How high will it go before it hurts and can we absorb and put up with £1.50 a litre or will govt intervene to prevent fuel poverty?