You were being sarcastic; but, until very recently, a lot of people (likely a large majority) believed in “peak oil”, and thought it wise to preserve domestic supplies, by buying more and more foreign oil and gas. That was even the case in Canada, until the magnitude of oil-sands reserves finally sunk in.
There was as much proof for 'peak oil' as there is for 'man made global warming' and the same people push them both.
I never believed that there was such a thing as 'fossil fuel' made from the bones of the dead animals.