By Terry Weiss, Money Morning
President Obama may "dust off old plans" and tap into America's emergency fuel storage to head off rapidly rising oil and gas prices any day now.
That's according to Reuters who named an unknown source with "knowledge of the situation."
Gas prices have, in fact, been rising steadily, climbing on average nearly 20 cents since August 1st. And Brent crude oil prices have jumped to nearly $115 a barrel, their highest level since May.
Still, it's very rare for a president to tap into the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Set up in response to the Saudi oil embargo of 1973, the reserve was established to provide America with additional oil supply only in case of dire emergencies.
As gas and oil prices continue to soar, many are wondering: Is a serious energy crisis on the horizon?
New research suggests there is...
In a newly released documentary, a team of influential economic experts say they have discovered a "frightening pattern" they believe indicates a massive energy catastrophe is imminent. Right now, they say, we're on a countdown clock to disaster, and the ticking is speeding up.
"What this pattern represents is a dangerous countdown clock that's quickly approaching zero," said Keith Fitz-Gerald, a leading economic expert and authority on global resource conflicts who predicted the 2008 oil shock, the credit default swap crisis that helped bring about the recession, and the Greek and European fiscal catastrophe that is still wreaking havoc until this day.
"The resulting chaos is going to crush Americans."
Another member of this team, Dr. Chris Martenson, a global economic trend forecaster, former VP of a Fortune 300, and an internationally recognized expert on the dangers of exponential growth in the economy, explained their findings further:
"We found an identical pattern in global energy systems that guarantees they're going to fail," Martenson said. "This pattern is nearly the same as in any pyramid scheme, one that escalates exponentially fast before it collapses. Governments around the globe are chiefly responsible."
"And what's really disturbing about these findings is that the pattern isn't limited to oil and gas. We found the same catastrophic pattern in our food, water and money supply as well."
According to Martenson, these systems could all implode at the same time.
"Food, water, energy, money. Everything."
Dr. Kent Moors, one of the world's leading energy analysts, who advices 16 world governments on energy matters and who currently serves on two State Department task forces on energy, also voiced concerns over what he and his colleagues uncovered.
"Most frightening of all is how this exact same pattern keeps appearing in virtually every system critical to our society and way of life," Dr. Moors stated.
"It's a pattern that's hard to see unless you understand the way a catastrophe like this gains traction," Dr. Moors says. "At first, it's almost impossible to perceive. Everything looks fine, just like in every pyramid scheme. Yet the insidious growth of the virus keeps doubling in size, over and over again - in shorter and shorter periods of time - until it hits unsustainable levels. And it collapses the system."
Dr. Moors points to Energy Returned On Energy Invested, or EROEI, to illustrate this unnerving pattern.
EROEI shows how much energy is required to produce energy. And right now, the ratio for oil is hitting an alarming number. In the 1930s, for example, it took 1 barrel of energy to get 100 barrels of oil out of the ground. Today, one barrel of energy only gets you 3 barrels of oil out of the ground.
According to Dr. Moors, once the ratio is 1:1 our energy systems will be unsustainable. The cost of oil will no longer justify the production of oil. The incentive to produce it - and consume it - will no longer exist.
And we are dangerously close to that happening now.
"We've got a race against time in our hands that we aren't going to win," Dr. Moors said. And he's not the only one sending warning signals.
The U.S. Joint Forces Command released a study warning of a coming oil crisis that could begin "any minute now."
The investigation quotes General James N. Mattis, a former US Joint Forces Command: "Surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day.
According to polls, the average American is sensing danger. A recent survey found that 61% of Americans believe a catastrophe is looming - yet only 15% feel prepared for such a deeply troubling event.
Fitz-Gerald says people should take immediate steps to protect themselves from what is happening.
"If our research is right," says Fitz-Gerald, "Americans will have to make some tough choices on how they'll go about surviving when basic necessities become nearly unaffordable and the economy becomes dangerously unstable."
"People need to begin to make preparations with their investments, retirement savings, and personal finances before it's too late," says Fitz-Gerald.
