Lately I've been reading about the possibility of the world's oil
supply 'peaking out' and the consequences of this to the stucture of
our society (American society, I should say). This reading has included
comments from Matthew Simmons  (bio: "CEO of the Energy Investment
Bank, Simmons & Co. International, with clients including Halliburton
and the World Bank. Simmons is a also a member of the US Council on
Foreign Relations and the National Petroleum Council's Natural Gas
Task Force and, as such, has contributed "insider" perspective and
hard facts to the study of Peak Oil and its effects")
Simmons implies that Saudi Arabia has alread 'peaked', and that if
S.A. peaks then one can safely assume that the world's supply has
peaked.  I am looking for other credible sources of information that
is easy to assimilate (not buried in a sea of technical language) that
also addresses this question.  The question is, basically, how soon?
What are the various arguments over how soon?

---

Clarification of Question by timespacette-ga on 14 Nov 2004 16:08 PST

I noticed a sponsored link (ad) that appeared at the top of this
question:  http://www.gafunds.com/lp6.asp?GOoilpeak
They're counting on 2008 - 2020 and inviting people to look into ways
to profit from this . ..
where's that guy who asked about making a profit from global warming?

will the entrepreneurial mindset never rest?

TS --

You want to get a copy of this article from the Wall Street Journal,
which revives the debate that Dr. Colin Campbell sparked decades ago. 
It's a front page article, so it'll be easy to find.  There are some
excellent charts and graphs in it:

"Dire Prophesy
As Prices Soar, Doomsayers
Provoke Debate on Oil's Future
In a 1970s Echo, Dr. Campbell
Warns Supply Is Drying Up,
But Industry Isn't Worried
Charges of 'Malthusian Bias'"

By JEFFREY BALL 

September 21, 2004; Page A1

---

Note that you can arrange a purchase via http://www.wsj.com

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

thanks omni, that's the kind of thing I was looking for 

I found it at:  http://www.energybulletin.net/2188.html

still, I'd be interested in seeing more views

ts

There are a number of websites out there devoted to the subject of
"Peak Oil", a concept that dates back to geologist M. King Hubbert in
the 1950's.  Do a Google search on "peak oil" and you'll find more
than you care to read!

http://www.hubbertpeak.com/ has a pretty good selection of links to
background, various interpretations, and discussions of implications.


Prof. Ken Deffeyes, a geologist at Princeton, has written a book on
Hubbert's peak, and maintains a website at 
http://www.princeton.edu/hubbert/index.html, which has a number of
links.

http://www.peakoil.org/ is somewhat hysterical, but also has a large
number of links.

When I first discovered the Peak Oil debate on the internet, I
contacted Matt Savinar, author of "The Oil Age is Over: What to Expect
as the World Runs Out of Cheap Oil," and entered into a long e-mail
exchange. Matt's position is one of highly educated and articulate
doomsaying.  He sees no way out, and expects the demise of oil as our
prime energy source to basically unleash the four horsemen of the
apocalypse -- war, famine, pestilence and death.  My own stance is one
of hope for the future and bright expectations for the physical,
mental and spiritual evolution and future of our struggling species. 
I have compiled our e-mail conversation into an article entitled "Oil,
Instinct, Anxiety and Ascension:An E-Mail Exchange with 'Life After
the Oil Crash' Author Matt Savinar," which you can read, if you're
interested, at http://www.christannlund.com/miscmain.htm (scroll about
half-way down the page for the article).

By all means, read up on Peak Oil from numerous sources, but don't
neglect to take in the counterpoint as well.  One very interesting
site is "The Peak Oil Myth" located at
http://www.the7thfire.com/Politics%20and%20History/peak_oil/is_peak_oil_a_myth.htm.
 I don't necessarily endorse the views of Dave McGowan, the author of
that website, but it does a good job of pointing out that that for
every disturbing fact about the coming oil crash out there, there is a
piece of propagandistic malarky attached aimed at makingyou react
"just so...," and to fit neatly into someone's agenda somewhere.  I'm
not discount the reality or gravity of the situation, only cautioning
you not to get "snared" by the way some authors and webmasters are
using the issue to wip people into a frenzy for their own covert
purposes.

Bruce Hamilton, in his excellent treatise on Gasoline, has indicated
that Oil will last for the next 4,000 years. Abiotic theory of oil
indicates that Methane-like matter ever present in the earth's core is
the cause of oil and hence Oil can not exhaust at all. Every time this
doubt raises its head, the oil man walks away with all the money by
increasing its price. I am working in Oil Marketing for the last 26
years and have noted year after year that oil reserves are going up
every year. Please do not worry. Oil will be there for a long time.