Comments on: There Is Enough Oil…No There Isn't

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:07:10 +0000

well said, Andrew…I agree. We don’t want it to be a shock, but high prices will (hopefully) create a culture of energy efficiency.

By: Andrew Staroscik

Andrew Staroscik — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:27:50 +0000

Proven reserves and peak oil are different things. Proven reserve is an estimate of the total amount of oil available under current conditions (cost of extraction and price). So, it fluctuates directly with price and is always changing. Peak oil is the point at which the rate of oil extraction is maximum. The only way peak oil can increase is with the discovery of more reservoirs. Proven reserves go up every time price does.

Possibly the best thing that could happen in the long run is for oil prices to increase slowly and steadily. As price goes up, alternative technologies become competitive, and help reduce the demand for oil.

By: Sophie

Sophie — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:24:52 +0000

40 years **at the current rate of consumption**.

Although the production doesn’t increase these days, the rate of consumption does, so it might be shorter than 40 years, and during the last of these 40 years, not everyone will have access to oil.