By Colin J. Campbell,
founder of ASPO, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas
Matt Simmons in Denver at ASPO 8
The unexpected and tragic news of the death of Matt Simmons at the age of 67 has come as a great shock to his many friends and colleagues. But above all, our thoughts are with his wife, Ellen, and their five daughters, to whom we offer our condolences.
Matt had a successful life having co-founded Simmons & Co. International in 1974, an important bank, based in Texas, which specialized in funding oil contractors. He was the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive until 2005 when he took on a less executive role. His intimate knowledge of the oil industry allowed him to witness the nature of depletion and prompted him to pay attention to early studies on Peak Oil. He came to recognize the importance of the subject which will likely go down as a turning point for humanity, given the central role of oil-based energy in the modern world. His training and experience as an investment banker may have encouraged him to look at the imagery to try to come up with a realistic assessment of the true position. This culminated in his book Twilight in the Desert. It evaluated the position of Saudi Arabia, the world’s premier oil supplier, whose production, he concluded, was heading for decline.
He became an active supporter of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (“ASPO”) participating in its conferences and meetings, as well building up a network of informed contacts who could help him with his evaluation. Seeing the gravity of the issue, he did his best to inform the media, becoming increasingly well known for his convincing interviews on radio, television and in dedicated films. He was also a member of the National Petroleum Council, and other official bodies, even having tried to advise President Bush.
Symptomatic of is dedication, he did not simply retire to his charming summer home in Maine but started to think of solutions regarding tidal energy, setting up the Ocean Energy Institute in 2007 to investigate the possibilities.
The world now faces the Dawn of the Second Half of the Oil Age, when production and all that depends upon it declines. He will go down in history as someone who successfully did his utmost to alert people and their governments to what unfolds.