Possible Rash Actions by New Congress Concern an Oil Industry Economist

Q: Everyone talks about “peak oil,” the idea that the oil that is available to drill will start declining. Is that a problem?

A: The problem is we actually know extremely little about how much oil is in the ground. And that is why we’ve had “peak oil” people since the 1880s saying we’re going to run out of oil.

And they’ve been wrong. In the 1880s, they thought the only oil in the country was in the state of Pennsylvania, and once it ran out, we were out of oil.

Q: Where would reserves of oil be?

A: Partly, it has to do with developing the technologies we need to look in different places. Like in the Gulf of Mexico, we’re looking in deeper waters than we have ever looked (in) before.

It hasn’t been very competitive to go up into the Arctic areas before now. But with the cost of oil what it is and with new technologies, it has become competitive.

The Politico