Oil world in decline

Q&A with State Geologist Vincent Matthews

Vincent Matthews was among the 275 people who attended a conference held in Denver last winter on the topic of the world reaching its peak in oil production. For Matthews, a former petroleum geologist who now directs the Colorado Geological Survey, the topic was not new, as his own research in the late 1990s led him to a similar conclusion: The production of oil and gas that has been the foundation for the world

In 1956, American geologist M. King Hubbert predicted that oil production in the United States alone would peak in 1969. He was off by only a year. But even before that happened, he also predicted that world oil production would peak in about 2000. Some think we may have indeed peaked by now, although others more optimistically project another five, 10 or even 25 years of increasing production in the face of growing demand.

The peak-oil conference was co-sponsored by the Carbondale-based Community Office of Resource Efficiency, directed by Randy Udall, and the City of Denver. Denver