Brian Lockyer
Book review – Hubbert’s Peak - The impending world shortage on oil.
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In the 1950s a geologist by the name of M.King Hubbert made a startling prediction that US oil production would peak in the early 1970s. At first, many people refused to believe him and it was only after a decline in crude oil production in the 1970s that people started taking more of an interest in Hubbert’s ideas and theories and realized the importance of applying them to world oil production. Our oil reserves are fast being depleted thus posing a major crisis of epic proportions which unless the necessary action is taken to reduce our exploitation we may see the complete end of oil production in the near future.
In his book, Hubbert highlights some ideas that may be effective in slowing down the impending world shortage of oil. These ideas range from the creation and implementation of new forms of technology, however, the profitability of the oil business far exceeds that of other investments and therefore many companies would be reluctant to invest in such schemes. Hubbert also examines the possibility of drilling deeper to get to oil that would have been previously inaccessible, however, below the ‘oil window’ there are very limited supplies of oil. Hubbert also examines the idea of drilling new regions of the world in search for additional oil reserves, however most of the world’s oil reserves have already been exploited and further exploration will not reveal much in terms of the location of additional oil reserves. One potential area may be in the South China Sea; exploration however, is for the moment impossible due to political instability. Hubbert also questions whether a speed up in exploration would yield greater results in terms of finding additional oil reserves, however it takes up to ten years to start from scratch in exploring for new reserves which is a long period of time, in short there is nothing we can do to prolong the effects of an impending world oil shortage.
