So, to recap:
The world’s oil supply will run out sometime between 15 years from now and never. Glad we got that cleared up.
Well, some questions just can’t be answered easily or with much accuracy. This is why every time the TV (which never lies) says a number of “X years” for oil supply, you can stop listening at that point, go outside, and look at the stars.
Well according to the OPEC faq, in 1996 there were 1,047,200 million barrels of proven crude oil reserves, of which 76.6 per cent was in OPEC Member Countries. It also said the total world consumption of crude oil in 1996 was 71.7 million barrels per day (there are 42 US gallons in a barrel, or 159 litres).
The faq says OPEC’s oil reserves are sufficient to last another 80 years at the current rate of production.
Every deep discussion should have a little Walt Whitman in it. Thanks, Anthracite.
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