Ippoippo

Despite four years of high oil prices, this report sees increasing market tightness beyond 2010,” the IEA said. “It is possible that the supply crunch could be deferred, but not by much.

Well, that’s what the IEA are now saying.

There was a fair bit of reporting out there… but obviously important stuff like this has not hit mainstream news because Eastenders and Big Brother are even more important

Anyway, reports from The Times, Reuters, and The Telegraph.

The IEA trimmed its forecast for supply from non-OPEC producers by 800,000 bpd in 2011, partly because of project delays, and touched on the thorny subject that oil supplies are nearing a peak.

“Certainly our forecast suggests that the non-OPEC, conventional crude component of global production appears, for now, to have reached an effective plateau, rather than a peak,” the report said.

Ahhh, I see, a Plateau ehhh One I seriously doubt will lead into a substantial upward climb again.

This Friday, I learnt a number of valuable lessons (which I will no doubt forget).

Myself and a number of work colleagues had booked for afternoon off so we could venture off down the canal, and a enjoy a few beverages in the various pubs near to where I work. However, muppet that I am decided that I should work that afternoon. I mean, project isn’t progressing as planned, so being the good employer that I am I decided to stay in the office.

Lesson No1: If you have booked time off… take it. Don’t bloody change it.

Come the end of the day, feeling rather annoyed with things, I thought I’d catch up with said colleagues who had now been drinking for a good 4-ish hours. Feeling somewhat self-conscious that I was rather sober in comparison, I then proceeded to drink at relatively high pace.

Lesson No2: If you mates are ahead of you, so be it… it’s yer own bloody fault for being a plonker at not leaving the office at the same time as them.

Well, things were all going well…. until the evening drew to a close. Ahhh, not feeling so well now. Not feeling at all well. Damn.
I suppose I provided much enjoyment to my colleagues as they took the piss out of me

Lesson No3: You are a lightweight! Your collegues may be able to put away x pints… you can’t! You ain’t in Japan anymore! - A country where you weren’t a lightweight.

… just days after writing about it being pear-shaped for Abe and the Japanese government, it gets worse and worse.

Some stuff on the BBC about the upcoming elections in Japan. Here and here.

It got me thinking. Koizumi, the previous PM, was very media savy… whereas Abe is considered quite dour and boring (even if it was thought he was quite clever and intellectual). So, the media savy one leaves, and it all goes pear-shaped for the government.

Hmmm, I wonder if this will be repeated here in the UK, with Blair (Koizumi) and Brown (Abe).

In other Japan news, Japanese air traffic controller are introducing further English language tests. Ummm, why weren’t they doing this before. This follows on from ANA and JAL introducing extra tests for their pilots a little while back.

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And finally, in unrelated news. As I sit here in the office, having a mini-break, whilst doing some extra hours (boo-hiss!), I get a text message from Yuko. She’s acting like a giddy school kid at the moment, because David Tennent (aka Dr. Who) has showed up where Yuko works. Not sure if they are filming stuff up there, or if he was passing by. No doubt I’ll hear all about it when I get home though