Oil is both a volatile contract to trade and also a volatile conversation piece.
If you listen to the likes of legendary investor Jim Rogers there is no doubt that we are running out of oil in the areas controlled by OPEC. As a result we are having to go further afield to harder to extract locations.
Few areas get people quite so excitable as the Arctic circle and it’s ice levels.
Environmentalists and those with a concern for the planet’s welfare are concerned with melting ice caps and the loss of habitat for polar bears. Especially so after the recent hot US summer, which has led to scientists reporting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean being at its lowest levels ever.
Not everyone is bothered by this. Actually some are jumping for joy. The Vice President of Shell Alaska for one. “I will be one of those persons most cheering for an endless summer in Alaska.”
Up in Alaska on the Chukchi Sea, 09/10/12 at 0430 Alaska standard time, Shell’s oil rig the Noble Discover began drilling the first pilot hole – the first time a drill has touched the sea floor in the Chukchi Sea in more than two decades.
Read more from the National Geographic on US Oil Drilling in Alaska