Pickens: Oil production has peaked

…By saying that oil has


Most analysts agree the slide down the other side of the peak will not be smooth. In 2005, the Department of Energy commissioned a report to examine the impact of peak oil. The Hirsch Report (PDF) named for its lead author, energy adviser Robert Hirsch, puts the problem in stark terms:

The world has never faced a problem like this. Without massive mitigation more than a decade before the fact, the problem will be pervasive and will not be temporary. Previous energy transitions (wood to coal and coal to oil) were gradual and evolutionary; oil peaking will be abrupt and revolutionary.

The report recommended 10 to 20 years of