Proven reserves and how long they will last is an interesting topic. In the 70s we were at “peak oil”
The fact that we are producing more oil now than then gives pause to predictions.
“Proven “ reserves and how long they will last also leaves out technological improvements and to me the most important IMO, oil is not a set amount that we just have to “find”. Oil is being produced by the earth daily, and the term “fossil “ fuels has to be one of the biggest falsehoods ever pushed.
Even as a kid it struck me that oil and gas coming from such depths couldn’t possible be the result of decaying plant matter let alone “dead dinosaur” remains.
Think about the perfect conditions organic matter would have to attain for it to end up thousands of feet below ground and be converted to hydrocarbons , and be in the perfect geological structure to be captured to be able to later be extracted..
Thousands of animals die every year and do they end up 500 let alone 5000 feet deep making oil, or do they rot or are consumed by other animals within weeks.
Also interesting is that as I recall, it was the Soviets who first proposed the abiotic theory of hydro carbon creation, and directed their bases for searching for reserves.
Other discoveries also made me question the “fossil fuel “ narrative, one being the moon Titan, were there vast fields of plant life and dinosaurs roaming that moon at some time that created a moon with such huge amounts of hydrocarbons that dwarf the earths “reserves” so much so that there are literally liquid hydrocarbon oceans?
With that said is it possible that even with the earth producing new hydrocarbon deposits, and/or refreshing old and newly discovered deposits, that demand could still outstrip this production? I would say yes, but even as the 70s predicted “peak oil”, I don’t think we have a clue as to what is down there and how much new deposits are there and being still produced
This is a continuous process, so it’s certainly possible that old oil fields can be or will be renewed over time (or not) and that new oil fields could also be created.
I don’t think the earth will run out or can run out of oil.