How much now left?
I seem to be watching virtually every other program on oil and gas, and the other alternative sources of fuel for the future, and possibly for the immediate future. There have been numerous discussions on many fronts: peak oil, production and demand, alternative sources, et al.
And, inspite of being in the oil and gas industry, my guess is as good as any of yours when it comes to how much of viable, tappable and affordable oil is still on this planet. Disclaimer: I am in a service industry that caters to serving the oil and gas companies in engineering their crude into production.
With the oil prices sky rocketing, I don’t think it will be the lack of supply that will finally kill the use of oil, but it will be the price itself. If the price exceeds a certain threshold (we don’t know what it is yet; pundits and industry experts are already saying a $100 a barrel is not too far in the near five years), then it is as good as not affordable at all.
It is in recent months that this idea of the oil is possibly not enough in the world is growing stronger. I saw a few programs in which, there have been good examples where cooking oil is put to use and recycled. But, I think people are not looking at the big picture. I don’t think any other form of fuel is in as much quantity as fossil fuel is, or should I say, was.
With supercharged economies in the developing countries, the worldwide demand, I think, is snowballing a lot faster than people thought it might, in terms of estimating the requirement for new wells to be drilled. Many nations are still keeping their own resources untapped as reserves, but I think if they don’t tap them now, there might not be an industry left to tap them in future. Especially when the world moves on to some alternative fuel. By then, the infrastructure, expertise and all that we have today will be diverted to catering to the new industry.
While I believe in the modern technology and its ability to tap on to a new method of generating energy, I am not really sure what we will have in the future. It has to be in abundance, it has to be producable, stable and storable. And if there is such a thing, then we are already either seeing it or smelling it or drinking it. Is it hydrogen? Is it the power of atoms? Is it water? Nobody knows.
For now, I am trying to enjoy the power of petrol, that I’ve come to love when it gushes through the veins of my charged IC engine, as much now than later for the fear that I may not get to in the near future.