[Star Traveler]

Well..., no "peak-oil" problem, it seems...

[Gordongekko909]

The Hubbard Peak theory has been around for quite a while. Peaks have been predicted with clockwork regularity for the past three decades. Needless to say, they've been wrong every time.

This is no different from global warming, population bombs, or any other alarmist garbage. Will we eventually run out of oil? Yeah. But not for at least a century. And when oil prices cross with those of other energy sources, we switch. My money's on nuclear.

[CaliGangsta]

"Peak food" was debunked hundreds of years ago, some people never learn.

http://www.economyprofessor.com/economictheories/malthusian-population-theory.php

[mc6809e]

Leading petroleum producers, including Saudi Arabia and Exxon Mobil Corp., are aggressively arguing that plenty of crude oil remains for world consumption, a move to counter critics who contend crude output is about to plateau, according to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

What a stupid statement.

There might be enough oil for 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 more years. That's not the point. Peak oil concerns peak production. There may still be plenty of oil even after the production peak. It will just be harder to get at.

The new find in the Gulf of Mexico proves the point. There they had to have platform floating a mile above the sea floor and a drill that went down another four miles to get to the oil.

There may be lost of oil left, but it's less and less easy to get to and that fact has important consequences.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

The really amazing thing is that most of the same people who are in a panic about "peak oil" are also in a panic about "global warming". They just can't seem to put it together that if the first scenario happens; the "greenhouse gas problem" is automatically resolved. They stay up half the night worrying that we'll soon run out of oil. They stay up the rest of the night worrying that we won't be running out of oil soon enough.

[seasoned traditionalist]

"The Glaciers Are Melting. The Earth Temperature Is Increasing. The Oceans Are Cooling. The Rain Forests Are Disapearing, and We Are Running Out Of Oil."

"The End Is Near. Repent All Yee Sinners 'Cuz We's All Gonna Die'--So Sayeth The Lord.

Not too sure about all the Libs/Dims/Socialists/Moozies, but I would imagine that most of us good Conservative Freepers are ready. LOL

[dwntmpo]

I know I allways feel better when Saudi Arabia says everything's gonna be fine..

The remaining 4.7 trillion barrels should be enough to last more than 140 years at current output rates, he said.

Interesting that no one questions the use of "current output rates" in the equation.. I suppose if demand and production remain constant, the peak wouldn't be for another 70 years.. too bad growth curves don't work like that..

[layman]

Abdallah S. Jum'ah argued that the world has more than a century's worth of crude left

Maybe, but as far as I'm concerned the prospect of another century of depending upon unstable suppliers (such as the Mideast and Venezuela) for a commodity critical to our survival is foolish at best and suicidal at worst. The time is now for the development of alternatives, regardless of how many years of oil might remain in the ground.

[snoringbear]

Nope, this mantra has been a ploy, going back to Pres. "Goober" Carter, by lib's to control and manage the general population's lives. Same thing with the environmental movement, all about control of other's behavior. If markets are allowed to prevail, there will be plenty of affordable energy for, well, forever.

[Iris7]

"I think there's a lot of misconceptions of what peak oil is," Raymond, who is leading the U.S. oil study, said in an interview with the business newspaper last week. "The resource base is continually changing, driven by economics and technology."

Indeed. The "peak oil" idea is generally not understood.

Essentially "peak oil" means that as oil gets expensive people shift to substitutes and oil production declines.

It is important to note that the word "oil" in "peak oil" refers only to petroleum, that is, to pumpable liquids. Tar sands and oil shale and other unpumpable deposits are not petroleum. "Coal" and "oil" are only names for parts of a continuum.