# World Gas/Oil Supply Deplete? When? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-gas-oil-supply-deplete-when/238776 "2004-04-07T16:39:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CrazyFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@CrazyFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyFoo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-gas-oil-supply-deplete-when/238776/1 "2004-04-07T16:39:32Z")
When will the world’s oil and gas supply be depleted? Is there really a way to calculate this with reasonable accuracy? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-gas-oil-supply-deplete-when/238776/2 "2004-04-07T16:54:24Z")
This has been covered a lot already. Bottom line is we won’t run out of oil in the sense that the last well will start sucking air and then it’s all over. Prices will rice as oil companies are forced to get oil in more difficult locations. Oil that was not worth drilling for when it sells for $40 a barrel might be economical when the price doubles or triples. This may boost alternative sources as the cost will then be favorable compared to petroleum. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-gas-oil-supply-deplete-when/238776/3 "2004-04-07T20:48:14Z")
Plus, it’s possible to make [_synthetic_ gasoline on an industrial scale.](http://www.fe.doe.gov/aboutus/history/syntheticfuels_history.html) The Germans did it, in WW II. And I seem to recall that the South Africans did it too, in recent decades.