Time running out for oil, gas reserves

Experts point to coal as possible alternative

World oil discoveries have been steadily declining for decades, while oil consumption has continued to increase dramatically.

Individual oil fields reach a point of peak production, where about half the oil has been retrieved, and production, though it does not stop, declines. And no one argues that only a finite amount of oil exists in the world and that our consumption of it continues to rise.
So, at some point the world’s oil production, the sum of all the individual fields, will peak and demand will exceed production. When that peaking will occur has been the subject of much debate in recent decades. Some experts say the reserves are peaking now. Others argue demand won’t exceed production for another 20 or 30 years.

Regardless of the timing, the known oil reserves will not last through the next 50 years and natural gas reserves are predicted to last only another 80 years, according to Tomasz Wiltowski, an associate director of the Coal Research Center and a professor of mechanical engineering and energy process at Southern Illinois University.

“The only solution right now for today and for the energy industry’s future is coal,” said Wiltowski, who has received more than $3 million in grant money to produce transportation fuels from coal.

Peoria Journal Star