Peak Oil - Are We There Yet?

Off-topic
1

Interested to read Darrylj’s thread on the increasing price of petrol - a lot of people are saying that 2008 is the year we hit ‘peak oil’ - when production can no longer meet demand and oil supply goes into steep decline - with massive implications for the oil driven way of life we are used to. It has been argued that oil producing companies have been over-estimating their reserves for years - this has stalled attempts to develop alternative sources of energy - the easily tapped reserves are now running out and the oil crisis is happening more quickly and much sooner than we expected (i.e. now) - with the implication that there will not be enough time to adapt the existing oil dependent infrastructure to alternative fuel sources.

If this subject interests you at all this is a good thread:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4172?gclid=CJyC97eLnZQCFRU7EAodj1VxtA

2

I know nothing about the subject but my hunch is that it is all a conspiracy to start tapping into the huge reserves of oil in Antartica. :ermm:

3

You might well be almost right. (Or spot on.)

Some years back, I was told by an oil man that there are some very large known reserves out there but they are not economic deposits.

Once the price of a barrel of crude hurts the world economies, he said, then they are “high yield money”.

I remember the bit in quotes as it was crap English. But then he was …

So Antartica it is, or Canada up towards the North West passage, or where ever off shore and difficult.

4

Interesting article from the Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/world-oil-supplies-are-set-to-run-out-faster-than-expected-warn-scientists-453068.html