The Age of Petroleum draws to a close

If oil is the planet’s drug, then cold turkey time is coming up way faster than we think. The moment of ‘peak oil’ – the moment when the maximum global petroleum production has been reached – could be just a few years away according to some estimates. Yet by 2030 the world is projected to need nearly double the quantity we are using now.

The previous thinking said that Saudi Arabia had enough reserves to take care of our future needs but that line has been all but squashed now. The Saudi oil fields have seen their best days and though their reserves are still vast, the idea that they could almost double their output in the next 20 years is simply not feasible.

There is actually not that much easily accessible oil available in the world, and the places where the oil does flow are increasingly going to be the venues where the superpowers will be circling, poised to fight for control.

Radio Netherlands