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Advisory Board members at ASPO-9 (L-R): Colin Campbell, Chris Skrebowski, Jeff Rubin

Experts from across Europe and around the world gathered in late April for the 9th International Peak Oil Conference (ASPO 9) in Brussels. Being held near the administrative seat of the European Union, the conference adopted the theme of “European Energy Policy in an Era of Expensive Energy” and featured side events with European policymakers. ASPO-USA was well-represented in the line-up of featured speakers and attendees.

Colin Campbell, ASPO International honorary chairman and member of the ASPO-USA Advisory Board, helped open the conference with a retrospective on the peak oil issue from its inception to the present day.  Noted economist, author, and ASPO-USA Advisory Board member Jeff Rubin continued to develop themes from his recent book “Why Your World is About to Get Much Smaller” about the implications of triple-digit oil prices on the global economy. Chris Skrebowski, well-known journalist and ASPO-USA Advisory Board Member, provided updates to his landmark research, leading a session on “Short term Outlook for Oil, Demand, Spare Capacity, Oil Projects.”

Consulting geologist and member of the ASPO-USA Board of Directors Art Berman led a vigorous question and answer session on “frontier fossil fuels”, including deepwater oil, shale gas, and underground coal gasification. Greg Rock, a long-time leader within ASPO-USA now pursuing advanced studies related to peak oil in Sweden, also helped spearhead the ASPO-USA delegation.

ASPO-USA extends its appreciation and congratulations to our friends at ASPO Belgium and ASPO Netherlands, and other conference organizers, speakers, and participants, for what was, by all accounts, an important and successful event. A number of ideas for greater collaboration among different ASPO chapters were discussed during the conference, and ASPO-USA will be continue to pursue and develop strategies to share resources and coordinate efforts with key partners in other countries.

More information on the ASPO 9 conference, including selected presentation documents and video, is available on the ASPO 9 website.