Crude World: the Violent Twilight of Oil

 The thought that our world may currently be at peak oil production is an idea widely debated. Irrespective of political and social belief systems, mathematically and pragmatically, a time of peak oil will certainly happen. Known quantities of existing mineral deposits are considered national secrets to oil producing countries, so accurate estimates have not been readily availed. Hard data on remaining oil reserves are elusive, and the speculators can only proffer an educated guess on what is left.

While the US imports more oil from Canada than any other nation in the world, implying a sense of security due to friendly relations, Maass does not see the Alberta tar sands as a viable solution to impending oil shortages. Further, these Alberta hydrocarbon extraction programmes are considered an environmental disaster. Nor do Venezuelan deposits of heavy oil appear likely to succour the ache of exerted supergiant oil fields in the Gulf nations. It’s running out. Saudi Arabia, with twenty-one per cent of the world’s known oil reserves, may have sufficient quantities to last several more generations, but problems related to shortages will start long before the last few drops of petroleum are extracted from the Arabian Peninsula. Read the rest of this entry »