Keep an eye on developments in Peru.

Back in May and June, President Alan Garcia passed two decrees that effectively made it easier for oil companies to acquire land belonging to indigenous peoples. Prior to these decrees, it took a 2/3 vote by a Native community to approve oil and gas exploration on its lands. The decree made it so that if only 1/2 of the people at a community meeting voted in favor of allowing exploration, then the applying oil company could proceed.

But this week in a stunning move, Peru's Congress repealed Alan Garcia's decrees. With 58 of 64 property blocks in Peru ( all prospective for oil ) in Native hands, multi-national oil companies may now find it more difficult than ever to get their hands on new explortation ground.

Again, this leads me to re-iterate my notion that Peak Oil (in addition to running out of the stuff) also means that the markets simply cannot get at it thanks to political roadblocks.