Peak Oil in the Headlines

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World Crude Oil Production Projected to Peak a Decade Sooner

Alternative energy efforts received a bit of a boon this week from a study published in the American Chemical Society's journal Energy & Fuels, which revealed conventional crude oil production might peak in 2014--a decade sooner than other predictions have indicated.


The study, from scientists in Kuwait, is based on a modified version of the Hubbert model, which accurately predicted that oil production would peak in 1970 in the U.S. The "multicyclic Hubbert" model takes into account the complexities of oil production cycles in countries, which can be influenced by technological advancements, politics, economic conditions, and regulations.


Many Countries Have Peaked Already
Ibrahim Nashawi and colleagues assessed oil production trends in 47 major oil-producing countries, which supply most of the world's crude oil. Notably, some of the countries have already hit their peak. Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Russia, Norway, the U.K., China, Iran, and Indonesia have all peaked, according to the researchers' calculations.


But there are many countries which are expected to peak after 2014, most notably OPEC member countries, which are expected to peak in 2026; the non-OPEC countries included in this study peaked in 2006.

When the American Chemical Society announces this, will the media notice? They haven't noticed when so many others have talked about the end.

Are we ready to face this? Still so dependent on cars, plastic....