Exclusive: At current rates of consumption, the U.S. has at least two centuries of oil, report says
Predictions that the U.S. and the world would run out of fossil fuels go back decades, and these predictions have so far turned out to be wrong. A new report shows the U.S. has 227 of oil, 130 years of gas, and 485 years of coal.
The issue is not now, nor has it ever been, about proven reserves. These are political attempts to obfuscate the problem. It has ALWAYS been about flow rates.
Oil doesn't exist as a puddle you suck out with a straw at any rate you want. It must be squeezed out through tiny fractures in a rock. And if you push with too much pressure, the water cuts through and the remaining oil gets stranded.
It annoys me that this has become such a political issue that nobody talks about the real challenges in this.
There is multi directional drilling now and GPR has improved a lot due to advances in computing.
In truth there are so many oil reserves out there we will never run out. I mean the majority of oil found in the oceans is from natural seeps. Natural seeps dwarf the oil released by humanity into the oceans through accidents or other means.