[Peakoil] What peak oil?

[W & C Steensby]

Anyone notice this post from Azizonomics via a Zerohedge guest post?

What Peak Oil?  (http://azizonomics.com/2012/06/16/what-peak-oil/)

Extracts:

Is peak oil imminent? Lots of people seem to think so. The data (released by BP a company who have a vested interest in oil scarcity) don’t agree. Proved reserves keep increasing.

The argument that the vast majority of counted reserves are economically inaccessible is fundamentally flawed. In the long run there is only one equation that really matters in determining whether oil is extractable, and that is whether there is a net energy gain; whether energy-in exceeds energy-out. If there’s a net energy gain, it’s feasible. Certainly, we are moving toward a higher cost of energy extraction. Shale oil (for example) has a lower net energy gain than conventional oil, but still typically produces five times as much energy as is consumed in extraction.

So no. I’m not lying awake at night worrying about imminent peak oil. There’s plenty of extractable oil, and renewable energy will eventually supplement and replace it.

If there’s an imminent energy crisis, it will be man-made. It will come out of the United States’ dependency on foreign oil. Or out of an environmental catastrophe caused by mismanagement and graft (protected cartels like the energy industry always lead to mismanagement). Or out of excessive red tape. Or war.

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A lot there that flies right in the face of the accepted wisdom of this and other discussion groups.

Regards,
Walter