Hubbert's Peak
THE IMPENDING WORLD OIL SHORTAGE
Chapter One
Overview
* * *
Global oil production will probably reach a peak sometime during this
decade. After the peak, the world's production of crude oil will fall,
never to rise again. The world will not run out of energy, but developing
alternative energy sources on a large scale will take at least 10
years. The slowdown in oil production may already be beginning; the
current price fluctuations for crude oil and natural gas may be the preamble
to a major crisis.
In 1956, the geologist M. King Hubbert predicted that U.S. oil
production would peak in the early 1970s. Almost everyone, inside
and outside the oil industry, rejected Hubbert's analysis. The controversy
raged until 1970, when the U.S. production of crude oil started
to fall. Hubbert was right.
Around 1995, several analysts began applying Hubbert's method
to world oil production, and most of them estimate that the peak year
for world oil will be between 2004 and 2008. These ana ... read full excerpt from Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage ebook
