On a 1972 airplane flight from Europe, I met a Exxon geologist who confided to me in all seriousness that there was only 10 years worth of oil left. He’d had a few drinks and I suspected it was the alcohol talking. During the 1973 oil crisis I recalled what he had said and gave it more serious thought.
Now 40+ years later, due to improved technologies for discovery and recovery, we are producing and consuming more oil than ever. I suspect the undiscovered reserves are larger far than we know.
“I suspect the undiscovered reserves are larger far than we know.”
The big question is whether or not it is a ‘renewable’ resource.
I’m a petroleum Engineer and I’ve been in this business for over 40 years. While I tend to stay more on the production side I’m familiar with most of it and I can say this. There is no way to determine just how much recoverable oil there is under our feet.
What many don’t understand is we don’t just drill until we hit oil, we drill until we hit the zone we want. With my Pebble 821 we drilled through 3 zones to get to the bottom of the Cline Formation just over 8 years ago. Two years ago the production was falling off so I did an acid job on it and the production improved. Two months ago I came up hole and shot perforation into the upper section of the Cline and it came in at about 180 barrels a day and is now down to about 35 per day. When that one plays out I’ll come up hole and hit the zones we passed.
The reason we passed those zones is because they have inherent problems such as too much water or Hydrogen Sulfide but they still produce. I’ve got several wells on the south end of the ranch that are over 40 years old and still producing.