{"id":61530,"date":"2022-01-18T07:44:43","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T12:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=61530"},"modified":"2022-01-18T07:44:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T12:44:43","slug":"cant-live-with-them-cant-live-without-them-the-age-of-fossil-fuel-abundance-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=61530","title":{"rendered":"Can\u2019t live with them, can\u2019t live without them: The age of fossil-fuel abundance is dead"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ds-layout-grid ds-layout-grid--edged layout-article-header\">\n<header class=\"article__header\">\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/finance-and-economics\/the-age-of-fossil-fuel-abundance-is-dead\/21805253\"><span class=\"article__subheadline\" data-test-id=\"Article Subheadline\">Can\u2019t live with them, can\u2019t live without them: <\/span><span class=\"article__headline\" data-test-id=\"Article Headline\">The age of fossil-fuel abundance is dead<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p class=\"article__description\" data-test-id=\"Article Description\"><strong>Dwindling investment in oil, gas and coal mean high prices are here to stay<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article__lead-image\" data-test-id=\"Lead Image\">\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/1280\/720\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1440px) 940px, (min-width: 1080px) 75vw, (min-width: 960px) 90vw, (min-width: 800px) 720px, 95vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/200\/113\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg 200w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/300\/169\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg 300w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/400\/225\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg 400w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/600\/338\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg 600w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/640\/360\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg 640w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/800\/450\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg 800w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/1000\/563\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg 1000w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/1280\/720\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2021\/10\/articles\/main\/20211009_fnp501.jpg 1280w\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"ds-rule layout-article-header__rule\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ds-layout-grid ds-layout-grid--edged layout-article-body\">\n<div class=\"layout-sticky-rail\">\n<div class=\"layout-sticky-rail-advert-wrapper\"><span data-caps=\"initial\">F<\/span><small>or much<\/small>\u00a0of the past half-decade, the operative word in the energy sector was \u201cabundance\u201d. An industry that had long sought to ration the production of fossil fuels to keep prices high suddenly found itself swamped with oversupply, as America\u2019s shale boom lowered the price of oil around the world and clean-energy sources, such as wind and solar, competed with other fuels used for power generation, such as coal and natural gas.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-audio-player\">\n<figure class=\"article-audio-player__figure\"><figcaption>Listen to this story<\/figcaption><audio id=\"audio-player\" class=\"react-audio-player \" title=\"The age of fossil-fuel abundance is dead\" src=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/media-assets\/audio\/073%20Finance%20and%20economics%20-%20Fossil%20fuels-5932df38d0edd0eea52805cabdbd4400.mp3\" preload=\"none\" controls=\"controls\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"article__body-text\">In recent weeks, however, it is a shortage of energy, rather than an abundance of it, that has caught the world\u2019s attention. On the surface, its manifestations are mostly unconnected. Britain\u2019s miffed motorists are suffering from a shortage of lorry drivers to deliver petrol. Power cuts in parts of China partly stem from the country\u2019s attempts to curb emissions. Dwindling coal stocks at power stations in India are linked to a surge in the price of imports of the commodity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body-text\">Yet an underlying factor is expected to worsen the scarcity in the next few years: a slump in investment in oil wells, natural-gas hubs and coal mines. This is partly a hangover from the period of abundance, with years of overinvestment giving rise to more capital discipline. It is also the result of growing pressures to decarbonise. This year the investment shortfall is one of the main reasons prices of all three energy commodities have soared. European gas prices, though volatile, were near record highs as\u00a0<em>The Economist\u00a0<\/em>went to press. Oil crossed $81 a barrel after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (<small>opec<\/small>), and producers such as Russia who are part of the\u00a0<small>opec<\/small>+ alliance, resisted calls to raise output at a meeting on October 4th.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article__body-text-image\">\n<figure>\n<div data-slim=\"1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/608\/1175\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png\" sizes=\"300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/200\/387\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png 200w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/300\/580\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png 300w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/400\/773\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png 400w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/600\/1160\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png 600w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/640\/1237\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png 640w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/800\/1546\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png 800w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/1000\/1933\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png 1000w,https:\/\/www.economist.com\/img\/b\/1280\/2474\/90\/sites\/default\/files\/20211009_FNC564.png 1280w\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can\u2019t live with them, can\u2019t live without them: The age of fossil-fuel abundance is dead Dwindling investment in oil, gas and coal mean high prices are here to stay For much\u00a0of the past half-decade, the operative word in the energy sector was \u201cabundance\u201d. An industry that had long sought to ration the production of fossil [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[328,588,9620],"class_list":["post-61530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-oil","tag-the-economist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61531,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61530\/revisions\/61531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}