Happy Birthday, Peak Oil

Commemorating the 51th Anniversary of Hubbert’s Seminal Speech

Happy Birthday Peak Oil! Commemorating the 51st Anniversary of M. King Hubbert’s Seminal Speech, the Hubbert Tribute site (www.mkinghubbert.com) has released a 1976 video clip of Hubbert speaking about world oil depletion and explaining the concept of peak oil. Several years after his startlingly accurate prediction that the U.S. would peak in 1970 and in the context of the 1970s energy crisis, Hubbert speaks about the theoretical Hubbert curve which suggested a worldwide peak of oil extraction in 1995.


Several years after his startlingly accurate prediction that the U.S. would peak in 1970 and in the context of the 1970s energy crisis, Hubbert speaks about the theoretical Hubbert curve which suggested a worldwide peak of oil extraction in 1995. In the past several years, Hubbert and his predictive model have been roundly criticized by detractors such as CERA (Cambridge Energy Research Associates) because world oil extraction did not peak in 1995 and still has yet to peak.

Hubbert clearly articulates that the OPEC countries had already by 1976 changed their production profiles such that his world production curve would likely be shifted by about ten years. He also speculates that the growth rate at the time could also be flattened in the future which could also change the curve.

The Hubbert Tribute Site