by Kez » Tue 19 May 2009, 15:00:38
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', 'M')y position is that there is far more oil than peakers believe, that the technology and resources to produce this oil exists or will soon exist, and therefore, that production of oil will peak when demand for oil peaks. When that demand-peak will occur, I don't know. It could have been last year, or it might not be for decades. Or we might plateau for decades. Nobody knows.
BTW, you might want to take mental note of the implication of my position: If my position is correct (and of course I believe it is), the price of oil will
fall once production and demand begins to fall, rather than the price
rise as production falls. It might steadily rise for a while, which will encourage new production, and this new production might even be from increasingly expensive sources. But that steady rise in price will encourage people to gradually reduce their consumption and switch to other energy sources (hint: this discussion is in a thread about
gas hydrates *ahem*).
Once the switch-over to other sources really starts to gather steam, oil consumption will decline, and so will production, and oil producers will reduce their prices in a desperate attempt to attract customers, but by now they're pumping much of their oil from the deep waters off the coast of Labrador, so they'll be losing money. Then they'll shut down their more expensive production, but it won't matter because there's no demand for it anyway. Near the end of the Age of Petroleum you'll still have the Saudis and Iraqis pumping out most of the world's oil, but that's only because they're the only ones who can still do it for $15/barrel.
As I see it, and I think as most peak-oil believers see it, there is no realistic speed that would allow us to "switch-over to other sources" in a manner in which oil companies will desperately reduce prices, because there won't be anything close to oil's energy capabilities. Even assuming something does appear, the transportation infrastructure is too large to change with any rapidity, personal and national debt is extremely hindering, engines and consumers are too particular, and corporations and politicians are too greedy.
Electric vehicles in my view are our best bet, but they are a long term bet because of energy creation and storage issues. Even if we could all drive EVs today, batteries will not move trains, planes, tractors, boats, cranes, 18-wheelers, dump-trucks, and most everything bigger than an SUV. Biodiesel can help here, but again, I don't think it will be enough.