I don't think this is correct. Oil is an exhaustible (i.e.
non-renewable) resource. Peak oil merely states that sooner or later
we will not be able to sustain *the EXISTING level of production* never
mind increasing quantities. Economically viable oil will *sooner or
later run out*. The effect of technical breakthroughs or the infrequent
discovery of new/deeper/unconventional pools /sources of oil does
nothing to negate peak oil but only to affect its timing. In short, the
whole debate over peak oil is not over IF we are going to reach a point
when world oil production begins to DECLINE, but WHEN. The fact is that
conventional world production has plateaued since 2005, despite the
dizzying run-up in prices and non-Opec production has been in absolute
decline.
Paul Phillips
ravi wrote:
On Feb 20, 2008, at 12:18 PM, Sandwichman wrote:
"The whole peak business has to do with the technical capacity to
extract
*ever increasing quantities* of the product economically."
This is excellently stated and in my opinion applies to all "progress"
arguments.
--ravi
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