I'm attending the 5th international conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil which is taking place in Pisa, Italy. It's not exactly the kind of political gathering I am used to attending but I was a little supprised to hear that there was a small protest gathered at the enterence to the venue. When there was a refreshment break mid morning I took the opportunity to wander down to say hello and find out what had inspired these people to stand wearing chicken costumes in the intense heat (34 centigrade I think).

Within seconds of talking to them I realised there was something wrong. I spend a lot of time talking to protesters, even NGO types working for Greenpeace etc. The first thing that struck me was that they were american. Nothing to unusual about that, many of the delegate at the conference are american and Pisa itself is full of american tourists (and yankee go home graffiti). I asked them if they had come over especially but they said they were already here and had been contacted by 'the organisation'.

I was given a piece of paper, at first glance a sheet of glance douple sided A4 but infact not the european standard at all but a the north american standard 'letter'. Being heavy on the text I didn't read it there and then but asked them to sum up the gist of their argument. I was meet by silence.
Read the text they said. I asked if they had an opinion and they replied by saying that the organisations position was on the text. Why had they choosen to wear chicken costums I asked but again I was told it was all in the leaflet. For a couple of people standing in the road watching delegates getting driven in by coach, these people didn't seem that keen to talk about the issue that had apparently inspired them to haul themselves out in the heat to protest.

It was clear that I was not going to get much more out of them so I asked if I could photograph them and they were happy for me to do so as long as I sent I picture to 'the organisation'. While snapping a few shots I asked how they had heard of the conference and learned that they had been contacted by 'the organisation'. By now it was fairly obvious that these protesters were hired hands and they admitted to having no history of campaigning at all.

So what is this organisation that called up a couple of young americans in Italy to had out leaflets printed in the USA? Aspect Energy ( http://www.aspectenergy.com/) is the name on the leaflet, an independent oil and gas exploration and investment company based in Denver Colorado.

They appear not to argue that there is no peak to oil (in fact they barely mention any of the arguments put forward on this front at all). Instead they insist that the production rates can still go much higher if only there was enough will and investiment. With crude hitting $78 a barrel this week it's hard to see what more insentive is needed but according to Aspect Energy it's those pesky arabs not pulling their finger out and extracting at the rates managed in the US prior to them maxing out all their reserves way back in the early seventies. Of course, they'd like people to invest more in oil exploration, it's their business but reading their leaflet it is clear that what they really fear the most are 'damaging' regulations and trade protectionism being proposed as possible ways to mitigate against the worst effects of peak oil.

Anyway, I'll be writting more about such as 'depletion protocol' during the next couple of days. In the meantime, enjoy the picture of the chumps in their chicken suits.

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