Economics and geology may add up to $10 a gallon gasoline

Economics and geology may add up to $10 a gallon gasoline

By ALLAN DRURY
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: January 25, 2005)

From our archives: Story originally published Oct. 29, 2004.

Drivers who think they’re getting a raw deal at the gas pump these days may look back on the summer of 2004 with great nostalgia if a theory some experts hold proves to be true.

Proponents of the “peak oil” theory warn that the world is close to the day when producers are pulling as much of the commodity out of the ground as supply, geology, economics and drilling technology allow.

They say the dwindling of the precious supply, coupled with the world’s growing demand, will send prices soaring, threatening a way of life in an America hooked on sport utility vehicles, big houses and a plentiful, cheap food supply.

Sick of paying $2 or more for a gallon of regular unleaded? Try $7 to $10. That’s the range some who espouse the theory predict if production peaks by the end of the decade.

And those are the optimists.

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