Musings

The Last Drops of Oil

As a teenager, looking at gas prices at the $3 mark made my future as a driver rather bleak. Only a couple of years away from getting a drivers license, the thought of not being able to have my own car because of the soaring gas prices is depressing to say the least. I may never be a car-driving senior in high school. At the current rate of events one can only imagine what will become of cars, people who drive them, and of course those already over-pumped oil wells of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia does have the most petroleum reserves in the world; with 260 billion barrels, about 24 percent of the world's total. It also ranks as the largest exporter of oil, mostly to the U.S. The leaders of the Saudi Kingdom are claiming that there is no lack of oil and that they have enough oil to last a "very long time." However, if this is true, that there is such abundance of oil, why are the gas prices still escalating? Saudi Arabia may not be lying, they really may have enough oil to last a while, but will not be enough for everyone.

Given the present consumption rate of oil around the world, and given that the Saudi oil wells may not be able to produce at the same capacity for very long, we have to face the reality which stares us right in the eye; no longer will there be enough oil for everyone to share. That is the start of the post-oil age.

At present, the world needs 84 million barrels a day, and this necessity is barely being met. With the recent rise in prices, and the predictions for little improvement on the current conditions, there is every reason for gasoline prices to exceed $5 a gallon or even more. Peter Maass, ajournalist in the New York Times Magazine makes you think about how close this post-oil age is, "The start of the post-oil age does not begin when the last drop of oil is sucked from under the Arabian desert. It begins when producers are unable to continue increasing their output to meet rising demand. Crunch time comes long before the last drop."

posted by thethoughtless @ 4:18 PM