LONG TERM WORLD OIL SUPPLY:
Alot was taken into consideration when this was written but I don't think enough was focused on alternative energy resources and the advancement of FUEL CELL technology within the next 5 years and how it will apply to vehicles and overall global transportaion. Another thing not taken into consideration is the increase in Nuclear Energy as an alternative to coal/oil burning power plants, a new item on the table, especially here in Alberta is the talk of a Fussion Reactor. If any of you know what fussion is then you'll know that this is equivilent in temperature as the surface of the sun. Once this type of reactor is started all you need to do to keep it burning is feed it garbage. Face it folks burning garbage and non recyclable materials under fussion temperature's vaporizes anything thrown into it, including engine blocks. This is a very good alternative to recylcing those certain items that use up more energy in the recycling process as opposed to the manufacturing process.
Here is a link to this article
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/p...lsupply04.html
What it all boils down to is this:
The bottom line
Will the world ever physically run out of crude oil?No, but only because it will eventually become very expensive in absence of lower-cost alternatives. When will worldwide production of conventionally reservoired crude oil peak? That will in part depend on the rate of demand growth, which is subject to reduction via both technological advancements in petroleum product usage such as hybrid-powered automobiles and the substitution of new energy source technologies such as hydrogen-fed fuel cells where the hydrogen is obtained, for example, from natural gas, other hydrogen-rich organic compounds, or electrolysis of water. It will also depend in part on the rate at which technological advancement, operating in concert with world oil market economics, accelerates large-scale development of unconventional sources of crude such as tar sands and very heavy oils. Production from some of the Canadian tar sands and Venezuelan heavy oil deposits is already economic and growing.
In any event, the world production peak for conventionally reservoired crude is unlikely to be "right around the corner" as so many other estimators have been predicting. Our analysis shows that it will be closer to the middle of the 21st century than to its beginning. Given the long lead times required for significant mass-market penetration of new energy technologies, this result in no way justifies complacency about both supply-side and demand-side research and development.
Cheers !