The recent rises in the cost of crude oil and petrol faltered yesterday with several oil companies announcing price cuts to coincide with the opening of the Motor Show in London tomorrow (23 July 2008).

Four pence was knocked off the price of a litre of petrol following the fall in the price of crude oil from $147 a barrel earlier in the month to around $130 yesterday.

It comes just days after the Government announced it would not be implementing a planned 2p a litre increase in fuel duty.

The Government caved in to the road lobby after noisy protests from tabloid newspapers, "motorists" groups and lorry firms who argued that prices in Britain were too high.

Now the fear is that the fall in the price of oil – although probably temporary – will be used by the Government as an excuse not to face up the need to improve public transport and to invest heavily in high-speed rail, electrification and many other rail projects.

Many experts estimate that from now on, the world will have to cope with dwindling supplies of oil and an end to "cheap energy".

Some predict doom and gloom, bankrupt airlines and tourist companies, and a series of recessions going on for 50 years.

Others are looking for fool's gold in the shape of hydrogen-powered vehicles, biofuels, and "clean" coal.

Railfuture believes that scarce energy supplies should be preserved for use on the most efficient mode of transport – railways. In that way, we can retain the best of modern living without wasting the oil in cars which are both polluting and energy-inefficient compared to trains.

Experts in America are already looking towards a post-petroleum age.

For more info, see:
Film about Peak Oil Part 1

Film about Peak Oil Part 2

And for information about how Cuba survived as its oil suppplies were cut by half when the Soviet Union collapsed see:

Lessons from Cuba