An urban legend to comfort America: oil is oil, even if it is not oil

…A common reply to warnings about peak oil is that we have vast reserves of oil. True, but misleading and of limited significance over short- and medium-term horizons.

When the world relied mostly on oil from the wonderful super-giant fields, the distinction between different types of oil was trivial except to those in the oil business. Sweet, sour, deep — these were technical terms. Now that these conventional sources are peaking, we must turn to unconventional sources. Calling unconventional sources ”oil” leads to serious confusion.

More accurately seen, there is a spectrum of petroleum resources beyond conventionals. Peak oil is a transitional period during which we move…

* from reliance on relatively scarce, cheap, and easily tapped conventional oil

* to more abundant, expensive, and difficult to exploit unconventional sources (and alternative energy).

Fabius Maximus