http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/have-we-reached-peak-oil Opposing Views - Have We Reached Peak Oil? http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/rising-prices-will-avoid-the-end-of-abundance There are two questions--have we reached peak oil, and will we run out of oil? I'm not willing to admit that we have done enough exploration to say that we have reached peak oil. We keep finding new fields and better ways to get oil out of the... Diana Furchtgott-Roth Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:10:03 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/rising-prices-will-avoid-the-end-of-abundance http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/same-as-your-previous-argument This argument says "There is more oil to be had, producing it will keep prices down." This repeats "As Oil Prices Rise, Drilling In Difficult Places Becomes Worthwhile", only there is an additional obstacle holding up production. Dr. Marcel Schoppers Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:06:36 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/same-as-your-previous-argument http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/once-daily-supply-shrinks-below-daily-demand-reserves-are-irrelevant There are indeed very large reserves of "heavy" oil, and some deep-sea oil. Canada's Athabasca Tar Sands are estimated to contain 1.7 trillion (1.7 million million) barrels of "heavy crude" oil, a quantity comparable to the entire world's known... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:06:27 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/once-daily-supply-shrinks-below-daily-demand-reserves-are-irrelevant http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/some-resources-are-finite-being-forced-to-switch-is-not-pleasant The fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal) are non-renewable (with a replacement time of hundreds of millions of years) and as such are indisputably finite. Their extraction absolutely will cease some day. But long before extraction ceases (“oil... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:06:25 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/counters/some-resources-are-finite-being-forced-to-switch-is-not-pleasant http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/we-are-not-fully-exploiting-american-resources We have vast untapped resources in America that we have been unable to extract—not because they are not there, but because of environmental concerns. We want to be energy independent, but we don’t want to use our oil and gas. With... Diana Furchtgott-Roth Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:24:34 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/we-are-not-fully-exploiting-american-resources http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/as-oil-prices-rise-drilling-in-difficult-places-becomes-worthwhile With prices as of this writing at $126 per barrel, drilling in tar sands and shale becomes worthwhile. New, environmentally-sound drilling techniques are invented in order to get at oil in out-of-the way places. We know that we have large reserves... Diana Furchtgott-Roth Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:24:17 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/as-oil-prices-rise-drilling-in-difficult-places-becomes-worthwhile http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/for-millennia-people-have-erroneously-thought-resources-were-finite The Romans thought that civilization would come to an end because they would run out of copper.  People have always said we would run out of oil, but known reserves are higher than ever. In 1964, it was predicted that 44-112 million barrels... Diana Furchtgott-Roth Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:23:58 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/for-millennia-people-have-erroneously-thought-resources-were-finite http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/alternatives-and-infrastructure-costs We’re stuck on oil because that was rational: everything else is less useful or more expensive. But now, we’ll have to find alternatives for most of the oil-based infrastructure built up during the 20th century. The task before us... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:23:50 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/alternatives-and-infrastructure-costs http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/inevitable-consequences-the-end-of-abundance There is nothing we know of now that carries so much energy per unit volume or per unit weight, as oil (except explosives). Oil is irreplaceable in large forms of transportation including aircrafts, military vehicles, trucks, and container shipping... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:23:46 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/inevitable-consequences-the-end-of-abundance http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/oil-discovery-and-production-understood-in-gory-detail Sizes of oil fields are measured very carefully and with a lot of technology. But oil reserves are usually exaggerated: oil companies' shares are worth more for larger reserves, and OPEC countries can sell more oil if they have more. (When this... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:23:03 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/oil-discovery-and-production-understood-in-gory-detail http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/hubbert-s-peak In 1956, by hand-fitting and hand-integrating the “logistics curve” to... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:22:52 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/hubbert-s-peak http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-nature-of-the-problem Oil exploration is an expensive and time-consuming process. The largest oil fields get found first, meaning the first oil that’s produced is the easiest. Once production ramps up, however, the remaining oil is harder to find, harder to pu... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:22:09 -0800 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/the-nature-of-the-problem http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/everything-depends-on-when-and-how-fast Of the few who understand the consequences of Peak Oil, most go to extremes. Either Peak Oil won't happen at all because "technology" will rise to the challenge, or Peak Oil will cause the world to end in chaos, starvation, war, and a small fraction... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:34:14 -0700 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/everything-depends-on-when-and-how-fast http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/oil-is-the-first-wave-of-an-even-bigger-problem-2 Even if we do manage to dodge the oil-and-gas depletion bullet, then comes a coal-depletion bullet, and a bullet for depletion of fertile land (well under way), and more bullets for depletion of silver, platinum, nickel, crystals, marble... Dr. Marcel Schoppers Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:34:10 -0700 http://www.opposingviews.com/arguments/oil-is-the-first-wave-of-an-even-bigger-problem-2