Cornell University prof says peak oil could be pushed out 50-100 years
Cornell University geology professor Muawia Barazangi claims that the time of "peak oil" in the Middle East could readily be pushed out another 50-100 years by updating drilling and pumping strategies. During a recent speech, he showed maps illustrating where he thinks there are still huge amounts of unrecovered oil. Although some researchers believe we will reach "peak oil", the point at which oil production will begin to decline, within the next twenty years, Barazangi, believes there is a lot more untapped oil in the ground.
Earth and atmospheric sciences professor Rick Allmendinger is more skeptical. He believes that although more oil will be discovered, few will be of the huge type found in the Persian Gulf region, new finds will get harder and be smaller. The problem with this whole argument is that even if more oil is found, the whole world needs to be focused on using less of it. The combustion of fossil fuels continues to pump carbon into the atmosphere, that was previously trapped in the ground. The efforts need to be redirected from fossil fuel discovery to carbon neutral energy creation.
[Cornell University Chronicle Online via Hugg]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony Belding 9:15PM (2/01/2007)
IF he's right, this would be good news. It means after we stop burning oil as fuel (soon, I hope!) there will still be a lot left to support the petrochemical industry into the future -- plastics, solvents, paint, pesticides, fertilizer, etc. It no longer makes a lot of sense to take this valuable resource and simply burn it up. Even without Peak Oil knocking at our door, there are still plenty of reasons to move away from gasoline-powered vehicles.
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Tim 2:52PM (2/01/2007)
Peak oil can happen at anytime. It only takes some whacko to decide to launch nuclear or biological weapons because he thinks his neighbors are infidels or that they are out to get him. Today, tomorrow, next week... Peak Oil is Irrelevant!!
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ronilateral-registrations 4:36PM (2/01/2007)
Peak oil means you can't pump out of the ground any faster. Whether you can't meet demand is a separate question. As long as world demand for the product is constantly increasing Peak oil is very relevant.
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Tim 9:29AM (2/02/2007)
ronilateral-registrations- I was referring to the U.S. need to rid ourselves of our addiction to foreign oil for security reasons. I believe that middle-east instability is a more imminent threat than global warming. I don't like the fact that our very economic future is being held hostage. That's also why I'm also concerned about possible future lithium cartels and our exchanging the oil addiction for a Hydrogen addiction. The vast majority of H2 comes from another byproduct of Oil, “Natural” gas. From one frying pan into another…
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Peter 11:54AM (2/02/2007)
Alright! Now I can get back to wasting gas with reckless abandon!
Seriously, even if peak oil is pushed out by 50 years, we still need to conserve it because everyone agrees that we are going to run out of oil someday.
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Doug R 8:25PM (2/02/2007)
Of course an earth and atmospheric science professor knows more about the supply of oil than a Cornell U. geologist. What a load! Talk about grasping for ground to stand on.
I'm guessing Rick Allmendinger hasn't heard of the huge find in the Gulf recently? The colossal, self imposed ignorance of the environmental movement (or should I say bowel movement) knows no bounds. "I perceive it to be true, therefore it is."
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