[Smokin' Joe]

Meanwhile there are some seriously disruptive technologies just over the horizen in the form of electric cars and fourth generation portable nuclear power plants that could just kill the hydrocarbon industry.

They won't be plugging those electric cars in at the nearest current bush. They'll be getting the electricity from a natural gas fueled power plant, most likely. Short of a revolutionary upscaling of LENR, hydrocarbon based energy (not to mention lubricants and synthetics) will be around for a while yet.

[ckilmer]

Short of a revolutionary upscaling of LENR,
..........
Agree. Its the LENR that’s the wild card. (or some other4-6 generation nuclear reactor.)

However, even if natural gas powers the plants that make the electricity that fuel the electric cars—that’s still means there’s falling demand for gas and diesel powered internal combustion engine cars. Just so, natural gas buses and trucks divert demand for fuel away from expensive gasoline or diesel