Here are my notes from the 2009 ASPO-USA Peak Oil Conference, October 11-13, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. Length: 71 pages.

View the Web version below the fold, or download the PDF.

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For Green Chip Stocks last week, I offered some insights from the peak oil study that should inform climate policy.
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For Energy and Capital last week, I took another look at China’s worldwide resource buying spree and explained why it is becoming the prime mover of global demand for oil and other commodities.

[Part 6 of a series of reports on the 2009 ASPO Peak Oil Conference.]

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For Energy and Capital last week, I analyzed the IEA’s 2009 World Energy Outlook and revealed an agency in political shackles, desperate to come clean about peak oil and push the world toward renewables.
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For Energy and Capital this past weekend, I reviewed several presentations from the 2009 ASPO-USA Peak Oil Conference on the energy aspects of national security, and found it unsurprising that gun sales are up sharply.

[Part 5 of a series of reports on the 2009 ASPO Peak Oil Conference.]
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For Green Chip Stocks last week,  I explored some insights about complex systems presented at the 2009 ASPO-USA Peak Oil Conference, including the interdependencies of energy, food, and water.

[Part 4 of a series of reports on the 2009 ASPO Peak Oil Conference.]

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Here is part 2 of my first interview with @JeffreyLin of the stock traders’ web site FINZ.tv. Here’s the video:

Trader Chat: Chris Nelder Pt. 2 – How Will Limited Oil Affect Our Daily Lives?

For last week’s Energy and Capital, I explored some recent research in search of an answer to the question: Can renewables replace fossil fuels?

[Part 3 of a series of reports from the 2009 ASPO Peak Oil Conference.]

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I appeared on the Financial Sense program again yesterday (Oct 30, 2009), and discussed the implications of the Megaprojects study, the problems of the EIA’s supply forecasting as well as the conundrum of oil price forecasting.

You can download the show (1 hour) here: RealPlayer | WinAmp | Windows Media | Mp3

My segment begins at 36:50.

I had the pleasure of chatting with @JeffreyLin last week about the basics of peak oil on the stock traders’ web site FINZ.tv. Here’s the video:

Trader Chat: Chris Nelder Pt. 1 – How Accessible is the Oil That’s Left?

For Green Chip Stocks last week, I explained why oil prices may be trapped on a “narrow ledge,” and why that’s good for cleantech investors. 

[Part 2 of a series of reports from the 2009 ASPO Peak Oil Conference.]

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For last week’s Energy and Capital, I offered my first report of a series from the 2009 ASPO-USA peak oil conference, updating the numbers on supply, demand, peak and the current outlook for oil and gas.

[Part 1 of a series of reports from the 2009 ASPO Peak Oil Conference.]

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Sorry for the delayed post this week–I am just back from the ASPO-USA conference where I was so busy that I had no time for anything else. I have about 69 pages of notes that I will clean up and post to the ASPO site next week, so I have plenty of new material to share with you all.

First I must mention that as I hoped when I wrote this article, Gov. Schwarzenegger did in fact sign SB 32 into law at the last minute last Sunday, which should be a nice shot in the arm for solar projects on commercial buildings in the state. He also signed AB 920, authored by my own district’s Jared Huffman I’m proud to say, which is even more exciting because it will allow residential and small commercial solar systems to get paid by the utilities for producing more power than they consume. Instead of being incentivized to under-size their systems and use up every last watt they produce, as has been the case for many years, they’ll be encouraged to install larger systems and conserve. The positive implications of the bill are broader than most people realize and I will have to find some time to write about it soon.

For Green Chip Stocks last week, I surveyed some recent good news on feed-in tariffs for renewable energy, electric cars, energy monitoring on and off the smart grid, and progress in U.S. energy policy.
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I’m on my way to the annual conference with the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO-USA) this weekend, an event I look forward to all year. I expect to have much to report, so stay tuned! In the meantime…

I’m pleased to announce that I have joined up with logi Energy, a brand-new hedge fund that has some very smart strategies for investing in oil and gas with a specific focus on peak oil. The team was founded by some actual rocket scientists and petroleum geologists(including a couple of longtime contributors to The Oil Drum) as well as seasoned investors and traders, and I’m very excited about the fund’s potential. It’s about time a hedge fund targeted the peak oil event directly.

The logi Energy management team had an interview this week on Jim Puplava’s Financial Sense podcast. On the call was:

• Larry Ortega, CEO
• Dennis Mangan, VP Hedging Operations
• Alex Brown, VP Trading Operations
• Jeffrey Brown, VP Global Oil Supply Analysis
• Chris Nelder, VP Global Oil Transition Analysis

Check it out, and if you are a qualified investor who might be interested in exploring what the fund has to offer, drop me a line.

logi Energy Interview on Financial Sense – posted 10/10/2009

I had a 1-hr. video interview this week with trader extraordinaire Matt Davio (@MissTrade on Twitter) and his buddy Charlie Rich, who has been working on “eco cottages” and sustainable agriculture in Bend, Oregon. Definitely worth a watch if you are interested in the implications of peak oil for food supply, and the issues surrounding sustainable agriculture.

An article yesterday in the UK’s Independent newspaper by Robert Fisk claimed that “In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading.” It set off an immediate firestorm of response and attacks on Fisk’s credibility (one financial analyst I respect called it “a punk piece by a tireless controversialist”) which made for some interesting reading today. Assuming that the rumor hit around noon EST yesterday, then the dollar fell from 76.7 to 76.3 on the report–a negligible move in light of the action of the last week.

Until someone actually names names and provides some authenticated details, it’s impossible to know how true Fisk’s allegations may be. I have heard noises along these lines for at least five years running, and so far have not found any convincing evidence that such moves are an impending reality, so at this point I am not rendering an opinion. I will say that it does seem likely and rational that eventually the dollar will be at least partially displaced as a global reserve currency and/or the currency of choice for the  global oil trade.

In the meantime, it’s worthwhile to remain alert for developments in this story with real credibility. Here is a sampling of responses to the Fisk article I rounded up today, most of which rebut it.
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For Energy and Capital last week, I surveyed the explosion of high speed rail around the world, and prescribed some stiff medicine for the U.S.
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For Green Chip Stocks last week, I separated the policies on climate and energy that work from the ones that don’t, and found the U.S. lagging far behind the rest of the world.
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My respect for CNBC actually gained a few notches this week (raising it from “abysmal tripe” to “almost tolerable”) for two must-watch interviews.
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For Energy and Capital last week, I updated the peak oil debate, refreshed my outlook on oil supply and demand, and reviewed my predictive track record.
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