Another sign that peak oil is here

Pemex reported a net loss of 2 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter due to lower oil prices and lower export volume.

Compared with the first quarter of 2008, Pemex produced 8 percent less crude oil during the first quarter of 2009 due to crashing production at Mexico's former main field Cantarell.

Cantarell output

Peak quarter, 2005: 2.1 million barrels per day

First quarter, 2008: 1.2 million barrels per day

First quarter, 2009: 0.8 million barrels per day

Here comes chaos. Gasoline at 5 dollars a gallon or more, oil at 200 dollars a barrel or more... followed by crashing as the economy enters yet another recession... a long undulating plateau that may not look too bad as a graph, but is a rollercoaster when you are actually riding the line... Unless conservation is ramped way up and alternative energy is ramped way up, the Limits of Growth and the Malthusian Nightmare will be seen to have been merely postponed. If the US used oil in proportion to its population, it would have to cut oil use by 70 percent to about 5 million barrels per day, which is the amount it used in 1950. Economic output is often in lockstep with energy use. In 1950, US GDP was about 1/5 what it was in 2009. That won't even pay for the cars. We had better hope and pray that accelerating returns in technology and innovation come soon and are spectacular.