How come then that the oil wells in Texas and Oklahoma (those are the ones I am familiar with) have not, to use your words, 'filled up to capacity?' Or is this 'topping up from within' 'phenomenon' only pertinent to certain oil wells ....those in places like the Bering Sea and the Middle East (which are, conveniently, much harder to keep tabs on when it comes to actual - instead of the wildly estimated - levels).
Acoording to many scientists including Thomas Gold, oil is being created every day and is being spilled into the oceans at a rate far greater than what man is using in a day.
Many scientists! Hmmm, that is a relative word. Many means a multitude ....but what if many more disagree? Can you still say 'many scientists?' Anyways, that is base semantics. As for T. Gold. He is a bright person, for sure, but he is still a contrarian. His views are not taken for gospel truth by most in the industry.
Now, does that say anything? Honestly ...no. Just because someone is a contrarian does not mean the person is wrong. Infact, most of the great movers and shakers throughout history have shared one thing in common ....good or bad, they have been contrarians. Each and every one of them. Hence, I am not holding T. Gold's contrarian assertions against him (in fact, I do not dismiss his work. He may very well be onto something).
But making the guy appear like the know-all-end-all authority on the matter of world petroleum reserves, and making his notions appears to be true when they are at best extremely hard to prove theories, is stretching it too far.
But I guess the question of who is right ....T.Gold, or the petro-industry scientific establishment, shall soon be evident. If oil peak is going to occur, and more oil doesn't 'bubble up from the mantle and top up the oil wells,' then I guess the correct group will be evident for all to see. And with China gobbling up more and more oil the results should occur even faster.
Hence it is a waiting game.
That's an understatement. I'd say that nearly everyone in the industry considers him a crackpot.
I'm an optimist and feel that we have not used up even a tenth of all the oil we have on this planet.
I know that oil wells in Ohio that were empty just a few years ago are now near full.
There are many wells in the Texas / Oklahoma area that have also been filled.
I'm sure that we'll figure out a way one way or the other on how to get more oil or get another technolgy to use.