BBC report.

A British rig is due to begin drilling for oil in the territorial waters of the Falkland Islands, despite strong opposition from Argentina.

The platform has been towed to a point 100km (62 miles) north of the islands in the South Atlantic.

BBC report.

Drilling off the coast of the Falkland Islands will begin next week despite strong opposition from Argentina, the UK territory's government has insisted.

Argentina has said it will widen restrictions on ships heading to the islands to cover all of South America.

Guardian report.

Britain and the Falkland Islands today brushed off Argentinian moves to impede oil and gas exploration in British-controlled waters in the south Atlantic, saying there was no threat to shipping.

The Foreign Office and Falkland authorities said drilling for hydrocarbon deposits would go ahead without disruption despite an Argentinian effort to control traffic between its ports and the islands.

Telegraph report.

Bank of America and Barclays Capital, two leading oil traders, have told clients to brace for crude above $100 (£64) a barrel by next year, before it pushes relentlessly higher over the decade. This is a stark contrast from recessions in the 1980s and 1990s, when it took years to work off excess drilling capacity built in the boom.

[...]

"The groundwork for the next sustained step up in oil prices is now almost complete. Global spare capacity is likely to be reduced to low levels within a relatively short time. The global economic crisis has postponed, but not cancelled, a crunch which would otherwise be starting to bite now," said Barclays.

Telegraph report.

HMS York, a type 42-destroyer, was on a "tight leash" patrolling the seas around the islands in response to rising tensions over British firms oil explorations activities near the Falklands. Argentina has demanded a halt to "illegal" oil drilling around the Falkands and on Wednesday imposed a permit system on ships passed from its ports to the island.

Guardian report, linking to the Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil & Energy Security report.

In the years approaching the credit crunch, whistleblowers were limited to a few insightful economists and financial journalists. Now whistles are blowing again about another grave threat to the global economy and the security of nations. They warn of an oil crunch: an unexpected crash in global production such that supply can no longer meet demand, even if China and India throttle back.

Independent report.

Free-market, anti-climate change think-tanks such as the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in the US and the International Policy Network in the UK have received grants totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds from the multinational energy company ExxonMobil. Both organisations have funded international seminars pulling together climate change deniers from across the globe.

Guardian report.

The idea that we "do have the chance to prepare" looks rather optimistic to me.

"The next five years will see us face another crunch -- the oil crunch. This time, we do have the chance to prepare. The challenge is to use that time well," Branson will say.

Guardian report.

Geological surveys suggest there could be up to 60bn barrels beneath the seabed around the British territory, a bonanza that would transform islands famed for sheep, fish and remoteness.

Telegraph article by David Strahan.

The last time Britain suffered a winter this bitter, the phrase "energy security" meant having a full coal scuttle. Now it's all about natural gas. Forty years ago, few houses had central heating and those that did ran on imported oil. Today, following the North Sea bonanza of the 1970s and 1980s, gas heats almost every home and generates over 40 per cent of our electricity, making Britain the world's fifth largest consumer. Only the US, Canada, Russia and Iran guzzle more.

From the Oil Drum.

Mr. Gabrielli, the CEO of Petrobras, gave a presentation in December 2009 in which he shows world oil capacity, including biofuels, peaking in 2010 due to oil capacity additions from new projects being unable to offset world oil decline rates. Gabrielli states in his presentation that the world needs oil volumes the equivalent of one Saudi Arabia every two years to offset future world oil decline rates.

From Culture Change: peak oil and other shortages.

Modern industrial society is based on a triad of hydrocarbons, metals, and electricity. The three are intricately connected; each is accessible only if the other two are present.