Peak Oil is You
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Page added on March 8, 2013
The Economist: Focus Peak oil
THE theory of peak oil, the idea that global crude production may be at or near its limit, is based on the work of M. King Hubbert, a geologist working for Shell in the 1950s. His prediction that oil output in the lower 48 states of America would peak by around 1970 has been adopted and expanded by hydrocarbon doomsayers, who reckon that global production has peaked and the world is running out of oil. But Mr Hubbert’s curve, which neatly fitted American oil production and rightly predicted a peak in 1970, may need to be redrawn according to analysis by BP, a British oil company. The technology that has unlocked huge volumes of gas from American shale beds can also been used to extract oil. As drilling for oil from shale intensifies America looks set for another peak in the next couple of decades. Mr Hubbert’s curve and the peak-oil brigade look out of date.
9 Comments on "The Economist: Focus Peak oil"
J-Gav on Fri, 8th Mar 2013 8:40 pm
More bullshit-bingo from the masters of the universe (The Economist).
hubbertsfreak on Fri, 8th Mar 2013 9:19 pm
Thanks BP, I feel much better. I think I’ll go buy an SUV with a 10 year loan.
Greg Knepp on Fri, 8th Mar 2013 9:28 pm
If you look at the chart you will see that the projected ‘Peak’ is substantially lower than not only the 1970 true peak but the mini-peak of the mid-eighties as well. And cost issues are ignored outright. The article makes no sense.
poaecdotcom on Fri, 8th Mar 2013 9:35 pm
EROEI?
What would that that graph look like if it depicted the net energy available to the economy, as opposed to raw production data.
The level of denial on this issue is overwhelming at times……
Harquebus on Sat, 9th Mar 2013 1:19 am
We’re doomed.
BillT on Sat, 9th Mar 2013 2:48 am
Economists pretending to be scientists. Liars all.
dissident on Sat, 9th Mar 2013 3:44 am
The “theory” of peak oil. LOL. What clowns. It’s like the “theory” of finite volume of anything with finite dimensions or the “theory” of conservation of matter-energy.
Nope, the “theories” and beliefs are what economists and politicians have.
Kenjamkov on Sat, 9th Mar 2013 4:58 am
OMG Hubbard was talking about the stuff that had an EROEI of 50-1, not the sludge 3-1 crap.
MikeE. on Sun, 10th Mar 2013 3:31 am
I believe that the easy oil did indeed peak some time ago. No one has found any cheap oil for a long time now. What we have developed is the technical ability to extract oil at considerable cost from places that Hubbert probably knew existed but thought were not possible to extract oil from or could only be extracted at what seemed to be an absurd cost. If oil is $5/bbl, and the economy is adjusted to that, it seems out of the question to imagine extracting oil at more than $60/bbl.