{"id":466515,"date":"2026-08-28T05:31:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T12:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=466515"},"modified":"2026-08-28T05:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T12:31:22","slug":"peak-gas-peak-demand-mckibben-in-fantasy-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=466515","title":{"rendered":"Peak Gas, Peak Demand? McKibben in Fantasy Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
AI generated by Grok<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Master Resource<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Bradley Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is factually correct and mainstream that both oil-and-gas production and energy demand are increasing. But here comes climate alarmist Bill McKibben, climate writer at the New York Times, promoting a false narrative of fossil fuels declining in supply and in demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a strange development. McKibben previously ranted about the lack of climate action in the face of a crisis. He seemed ready to throw in the towel if the political world would not get better. But what is a spent climate alarmist to do? Create a message of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKibben\u2019s is an old page from the energy-subtraction Progressive Left. Remember what Amory Lovins stated nearly a half-century ago?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe long-term prospects of selling more electricity are dismal.\u201d <\/em>[1]<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cProminent exploration experts have recently predicted that total world production of liquid oil will peak by about the end of this decade-or a few years later if production does not rise much-and will decline thereafter.\u201d [2]<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Wrong and wrong\u2013and time and again. But McKibben does not know or want to know this history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peak Demand?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKibben buys into Peak Gas. He states<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

But a report<\/a> out this morning from the good folks at Oil Change International \u2026 makes clear that the industry is running out of the really cheap stuff\u2014the fracked gas from the Permian and Appalachian shales that it\u2019s been pumping for the last two decades. Many of those wells are playing out fast, and now it\u2019s going to need to turn to the more \u201cgeologically complex\u201d Haynesville shale of east Texas and Louisiana, and that will drive up costs\u2014especially since more and more of the gas is, at least theoretically, going to be exported to Asia as the industry builds out massive shipping terminals along the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He quotes from the study:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

If industry succeeds in locking in unprecedented demand for U.S. gas by expanding exports and domestic consumption, U.S. supply may be pushed to its limits. Gas supply can only meet such high levels of demand if prices rise to cover the higher production costs of marginal gas supplies. This connects rising dependence on gas to rising energy costs. U.S. consumers and those in LNG-importing countries must push policymakers to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and accelerate the transition to reliable, affordable renewable energy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cthe easy stuff has been found\u201d refrain\u2013more than a century old\u2013fails to comprehend how high-cost supplies become low-cost with new technology and free market incentives and capital. Resourceship<\/a> under market incentives explains the paradox of increasing \u2018depletable\u2019 supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peak Demand?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mckibben states:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2026 it\u2019s been clear for some time that oil is not a growth industry. The rapid rise of EVs in most of the world undercuts projections of future use\u2014we\u2019re at or near the top of the plateau now, and by 2030 or so the amount of oil we use should be going down.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Not in the U.S., which represents approximately one-fourth of the global economy. And never mind that China is losing money on its (centrally planned) EV program, a burden that might lead to a policy reversal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The narrative that renewables are the future, not fossil fuels, has had a few proponents in the oil industry. \u201cDemand will take a long time to recover if it recovers at all,\u201d remarked Ben van Beurden, CEO, Royal Dutch Shell, six years ago. (July 30, 2020<\/a>) Meanwhile, the world produces and consumes record amounts of oil and gas, with coal not far behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reality bats last. The data will continue to show that consumers are winning out against government climate \u201cmitigation\u201d policies. What will Bill McKibben say next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Footnotes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] <\/strong>Lovins, The Soft Paths: Toward a Durable Peace<\/em> (New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1977, 1979), p.96n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/strong> Lovins, World Energy Strategies: Facts, Issues, and Options<\/em> (New York: Friends of the Earth International, 1975), p. 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is factually correct and mainstream that both oil-and-gas production and energy demand are increasing. <\/p>\n

Bill McKibben, climate writer at the New York Times, promoting a false narrative of fossil fuels declining in supply and in demand.<\/p>\n

McKibben previously ranted about the lack of climate action in the face of a crisis. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":466519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691821050,691818244,691844993,691820439,691819148,691827854],"class_list":["post-466515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bill-mckibben","tag-climate-alarmist","tag-climate-writer","tag-new-york-times","tag-oil-and-gas","tag-progressive-left","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1Xmr","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":319043,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=319043","url_meta":{"origin":466515,"position":0},"title":"The @billmckibben Integrity Test","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/19\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Almost without fail every time there is some oddball or unique weather event, climate alarmists immediately rushed to blame it on climate change whether or not there\u2019s any facts to support it.","rel":"","context":"In \"Bill McKibben\"","block_context":{"text":"Bill McKibben","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=bill-mckibben"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0140920-bill-mckibben-cover-1521.webp?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0140920-bill-mckibben-cover-1521.webp?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0140920-bill-mckibben-cover-1521.webp?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0140920-bill-mckibben-cover-1521.webp?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/0140920-bill-mckibben-cover-1521.webp?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":381234,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=381234","url_meta":{"origin":466515,"position":1},"title":"McKibben\u2019s Math Misstep: Exposing Alarmism\u2019s Historic Innumeracy in Rolling Stone","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/03\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Climate activism has a long history of innumeracy and gaps in baseline scientific knowledge (ask an activist how much warming is projected from now to 2100 in a moderate IPCC scenario \u2013 the flagship warming phenomenon). 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