Scientists have criticized a major review of the world's remaining oil reserves, warning that the end of oil is coming sooner than governments and oil companies are prepared to admit.

BP's Statistical Review of World Energy, published yesterday, appears to show that the world still has enough "proven" reserves to provide 40 years of consumption at current rates. The assessment, based on officially reported figures, has once again pushed back the estimate of when the world will run dry.

However, scientists led by the London-based Oil Depletion Analysis Centre, say that global production of oil is set to peak in the next four years before entering a steepening decline which will have massive consequences for the world economy and the way that we live our lives.

http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_te...cle2656034.ece

 

Yeah, yeah. We've lived without oil before. Scientists get paid to say whatever the funding groups pay them to say.

 

BS, total BS.

 

I think Al Gore is behind that release

 

If we stop changing our oil at 3K when it is still good we could make it last longer.

 

Yes, but if 40 years is optimistic, as BP scientists state, that is still within my life time. Also, consumption rates are only going to go up so that 40 years is not even realistic. This does not mean that the world is going to run out of oil in the next 40 years but it does mean that in the next 10-15 a point of no return is going to be crossed wherein those countries that have already aggressively started to wean themselves off of oil as a major source of fuel will be far better off strategically than those attempting to start the weaning process after the panic button has been pushed.

 

Don't look now everyone....but I think the sky is falling!!!!

Duke

 

There are two sets of scientists in the story, one getting paid probably by some tree hugging group and the other by BP. Personally I would not completely believe either but I suspect that the more generous numbers are going to come from one of the largest petroleum companies in the world. Oil is not a renewable resource and the US consumes more of it than anyone else in the world. To think that we are just going to keep going along like we always have is ridicules. If BP thinks we have 40 years left of “easy” oil that probably means we have about 20 before things get really bad. The sky is falling comment is very accurate IMHO with most of these global warming, oil is running out, we are going to kill Earth, scientists but what caught my attention was BP’s estimate.

 

I really see it as another excuse for BP or Big Oil in general to jack up prices so the close to retirement age ceo's can richen up their pensions.

 

Which is even more incentive to find a competing fuel to oil and I don't believe ethanol is the answer. It would just be nice to have good open debate without big oil being the puppet mater for our politicians.

 

True. The only place ethanol works is Brazil because they have tropical farmland enough to sustain enormous sugar cane crops. They produce their own fuel and only import a small percentage of oil. That will never work here because of our climate.

 

why doesnt they big companies and the government give up and quit hidding all the new technology

 

We could never use up the worlds oil supply. Do your 'own' independent research on the net. All we are losing is the capacity to refine it.

 

Ahhhh, more "peak oil" BS... classic!

 

Ya know, way back inthe 70s, they said we only had enough oil to last til the 90s, and that was the reason the price went up so high (oil embargo). We are now almost twenty years past 1990. Good thing they are keeping on top of that one,eh?