It's Not Peak Oil, Any More ... It's Peak Oil DEMAND -- November 27, 2016

Peak oil demand. From The WSJ: oil industry anticipates day or reckoning. The story may or may not be a "fake story," but certainly the headline is a "fake headline." From the story:

The International Energy Agency, which advises industrialized countries on energy policy, says consumption will continue to rise for decades in its most likely scenario. But that picture shifts radically if governments take further action to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius with more stringent policies like carbon pricing, strict emissions limits and the removal of fossil-fuel subsidies. If that happens, oil demand could peak within the next 10 years, the IEA says. 

The graphic:

Fake headline. We're not going to see peak oil demand in my investing lifetime. 

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Natural Gas: US Now A Net Exporter

Natural gas, new milestone: the US is now -- officially -- a net exporter of natural gas. From The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. has become a net exporter of natural gas, further evidence of the how the domestic oil and gas boom is reshaping the global energy business.

The U.S. has exported an average of 7.4 billion cubic feet a day of gas in November, more than the 7 billion cubic feet a day it has imported, according to S&P Global Platts, an energy trade publisher and data provider. Exports also topped imports for a few days in September, Platts reported. It has been nearly 60 years since the U.S. last shipped out more natural gas than it brought in annually, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The milestone comes less than a year after restrictions on most crude oil exports were lifted, allowing tankers of crude to be freely shipped overseas for the first time nearly half a century, and together they mark a significant and potentially permanent change in the way U.S. energy flows around the world. Overseas producers now have to deal with the growing clout of the U.S. energy industry, which is aggressively looking to ramp up its global market share to help offset a long period of low prices.

Gas exports have risen more than 50% since 2010. The U.S. will ship gas equal to as much as a fifth of its annual consumption abroad by 2020, Citigroup estimates. The Energy Department says the country will be the world’s third-largest producer of liquefied natural gas for export by that year, trailing Australia and Qatar.

 This is a huge story. It's been a recurrent them on the MDW. Start with "The Big Stories." Then to "LNG Exports." Even the Middle East is becoming a major customer for US natural gas.

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Gigantic Tablets

Speaking of the next big thing. From The Wall Street Journal: long a novelty, gigantic tablets are sneaking into the workplace.

The devices—anything bigger than 13 inches, the size of an iPad Pro—are interesting for several reasons. First is the diversity of their uses, from the bowels of cruise ships to your local McDonald’s. The second is that, unlike tablets and other mobile touch-screen devices, no one owns this category yet.