The Oil Drum: An Economist Response, Or Is It A Techie Sunday?

Oh, dear it looks as though I have to disagree with an economist again. But this time it is the magazine rather than an individual. As has been pointed out, and to an extent discussed in recent comments thanks to which I was able to read the initial article, the Economist came out with an article this past week that suggested that the current problems with the supply of oil are not really serious, or long-term.

There are several ways to address the issues of the article (you will have to wait a bit for discussion of the author’s book since I only ordered it on Friday), but it appears to me that a primary criticism has to lie in the misunderstanding that the author appears to have about the role of technology and the slow speed with which things happen. I am not going to argue the point that there is still a lot of oil lying around. Yes there is, and even when we have depleted a field, we are leaving perhaps 60% or more of the original oil in place. And yes, given enough money and time we can even get that oil out.
The Oil Drum