Until we have a better base for fuel/fertilizers/pharmaceuticals/plastics or something like them/road surfaces/and a host of other things, there will be demand for oil. If for nothing else than to grease the wheels, something which hasn't chnged since the wheel.
A tremendous amount of new technology is just old ideas in a new package.
A nuclear power plant is still boiling water to make steam to turn a wheel (a turbine, a more efficient wheel), to produce electricity.
Just a different 'fire' with more gadgetry, but the same basic concept.
Now, come up with something which will efficiently move along on its own most anywhere, with no moving parts, and you will be making progress, otherwise, you are just making the oxcart go in a different way.
That may happen in the next 50 years.
My grandfather saw from Orville and Wilbur Wright to the moon landings in his lifetime, and I have seen plenty of change since I was a child.
But remember, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
For now, we need today what we need today, and I and others will keep working to provide it.
Actually, those ROP’s are quite normal, we are finding. The density of the sand and limestone is much higher than the Sydney area. (40 miles west on 201) It also is hard to get much background isolation using invert. Everything comes across the MWD gama as one hydrocarbon, if you know what I mean. Our normal background is steadily 4 to 6 thousand units and we have to flare continuously. Trips are also a nightmare. We have to spot 13# mud above the curve to hold it. When we get back on bottom, it’s a full blown kick/emergency and the flares are SPECTACULAR! (50 to 100 feet.)
We have to use a double membrane rotating head to hold it and we must go through the annular preventer and choke to handle the initial flow when we break circulation. It truly is wild........
We achieved those ROP’s ( 40 to 70 fph in the Sydney area) using 9.6# Salt water. Here is much different. Because of the high gas content, we have to use Invert with a YP of at least 14 to stabilize the sands. Our ROP suffers as a result. But what we are finding is that this method is worth the wait.
Of course now we use 29# on the intermediate, but back then,(’80’s) they had lots and lots of cheap casing available because of the Oil field depression going on
At that time, I was in Prudhoe Bay for BP. then.