It has often been said that even without a price on carbon there will be a meaningful shift to renewable energy sources once global oil supply peaks.

Roberts is vice-chairman of renewable energy investments within CIBC's wholesale banking group. He says the big petroleum companies are making some investments in green energy, such a solar, wind and biofuels, but it's a "drop in the bucket" compared to the money being spent on the exploration, drilling and extraction of unconventional - i.e. heavy - oil.

Until there is a meaningful price on carbon in North America and China, oil companies will continue along this path. They'll go further, deeper and thicker. They'll take on more financial risk and take more chances with the environment. They'll scrape the bottom of the barrel, and they'll make generous profits doing it.

Toyota Motor Corp. reported Friday that Japan production in April fell 74.5 per cent to 79,341 vehicles while its global production declined 48 per cent to 346,297 vehicles.

Auto production works in a unique method in that different factories produce different parts, and oftentimes supply is exclusive to a few choice factories. This causes significant problems when there is a sudden rise in demand for these parts, or if production must be halted, as was the case with the 2011 Japanese Earthquake.

Japanese Auto Dealers sell around 9,000 models per month in Canada alone; Honda's production has fallen 81%, producing 14,168 vehicles in April 2011.

Kevin Hall of McClatchy wrote about Wikileaks releases showing that the Saudis were concerned about oil market speculation leading to unduly high prices in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, we wrote that the Saudis said they did not see tightness in the market, and they also warned that prices were excessive.

The wikileaks releases confirm the fact that the Saudis were not attempting to shift the blame to speculators while privately enjoying profit, but were genuinely concerned over the effect that speculators had on spiking market prices. 2007/2008 saw a jump in oil prices that was unprecedented at the time; in 2007 alone, the price of oil was $58.74/Bbl in February, reaching $65.08/Bbl by June of the same year.

Ultimately this merely reaffirms anxieties that oil prices are likely at the whim of speculators rather than actual market availability. Unfortunately, markets are partially based on faith in one's investments; It would be wise in the future to trust the Saudi reports and take into consideration that everyone in the worldwide oil market- including western businesses- are in it for the money.