The Modern World, as we know it, is going to end in the next few decades.
I'm not talking about 2012 or another World War. I'm talking about peak oil and the end of the Oil age. This is not conspiracy theory. This could
happening right now.
Almost every aspect of modern life is dependent on Oil. Transport, mechanised agriculture (Food), energy production, manufacturing and construction
are almost completely reliant on it.
Just for perspective, here’s a list of items made from, or using oil :
Petrol, Diesel, Aviation fuel, Rocket fuel, All Plastics, All paints, All mobile battery technology such as cell phones and laptops, Computer chips,
Fertilizer, Explosives, Car tyres, Certain types of clothing and footwear, Asphalt roads, Detergent, Pharmaceuticals, Solvents, Bearing Grease, Ink,
Insecticide, Food preservatives, Purses, Deodorant, Putty, Dyes, Epoxy, Linoleum, Synthetic rubber, Antifreeze, Balloons and literally hundreds
more..
The importance of Oil in modern life cannot be underestimated. As such, you should be aware that between 40 and 45 countries around the World have
already passed their peak production.
'Peak production', meaning that at no point in the future will those countries ever again be capable of producing the same amount of oil that they did
at their peak. These countries are therefore in production decline, and declining quickly.
Some figures :
www.theoildrum.com...
United States, peaked in 1970.
Iran, peaked in 1974.
Iraq, peaked in 1979.
United Kingdom, peaked in 1999.
Some will tell you that peak oil figures aren’t reliable, and yes, they may vary depending on which reports you happen to read. Personally I think
the problem is likely to be even worse that what’s publicly known, as countries have been known to vastly bump up their estimated reserves to
protect their production quota from OPEC. Country ‘A’ says they have a certain, agreeable number in reserve, and OPEC retains or increases the
quota the country is allowed to produce, thus earning more money for that country. If a country admits it’s production is dwindling, OPEC reduces
the quota to protect the reserves that are still in that country. Of course, if country A bumps itself up, country B may be losing out, and so they
do the same thing. It’s all about getting money into their country.
You’ll note in that list there are only 14 countries listed as ‘growing’ , and those that are have relatively small reserves, with the exception
of Saudi Arabia who have a very large oil field, amounting to 25% of the remaining unrefined Oil in the World. However, this is simply not enough to
go around. There is no doubt that oil is getting harder and harder to find, with 2/3rd’s of the world’s oil currently coming from oil fields
discovered before 1970.
Oil companies are resorting to searching for fields that are deeper and harder to access. This in turn is more expensive and requires the expenditure
of more energy to extract it. Thus, eventually, the net Oil recovered is not worth the energy spent to reach it in the first place. The era of cheap,
abundant energy is almost over.
Given the ever increasing world population and ever increasing demand for oil, it’s usage cannot be sustained into the future. As Oil production
continues to decline, we’ll begin to see economic and sociological repercussions, as all economies are fundamentally linked to Oil. Many believe
that the current recession is a symptom of the production decline, in tandem with overzealous banking practises.
Excellent articles here :
anythingexceptthetruth.blogspot.com...
www.energybulletin.net...
www.commondreams.org...
So why is the World economy fundamentally linked to Oil?
I’ll be quoting Mike Ruppert here because he can explain it far more articulately than I can.
Money is fiat currency. It’s nothing, just paper. In the past, Gold or Silver were used as currency because it’s real, it’s something of value.
Paper has no value. Today, energy(oil) is what backs this meaningless fiat. The world economy is based on petro-dollars, and without the oil, those
dollars are worth nothing. So, Oil is the only real currency in the world economy.
To quote Mike :
“ You cannot print any more money than there is energy to back it up.”
The fractional reserve banking system requires more and more money to be created from thin air and loaned into circulation (with interest) to be
sustainable. It requires infinite growth. However, to have all this extra money in circulation, you also need more energy(Oil) to back it up. But
infinite growth is not compatible with finite energy. As the growth continues, it eventually comes to a point where the declining oil reserves
aren’t enough to back up the amount of petro-dollars in circulation. Right now, the recession has decreased the demand for oil, as recession’s
always do due to decreased construction, travel and various money saving efforts on behalf of companies and individuals alike.
www.bi-me.com...
With decreased demand comes lower oil prices and things balance out for a while. Eventually though, prices will rise as reserves dwindle and again the
economy is plunged into chaos. You may have heard the term ‘double dip’ in relation to the recession. Well this will be a multiple dip or
‘undulating plateau’ recession as the price of oil continues to fluctuate.
This is illustrated below :
As you can see, this plateau is expected to last for what could be 5, 10 or 20 years, but it will continue in a ‘long decline’ until oil reserves
get so low and the price in turn gets high enough that nobody can afford it. This is known as the Oil crash, or collapse.
The world’s population in 2030 will be both much larger (approximately twice as large) and much more industrialised (oil-dependent) than it was in
1980. Consequently, worldwide demand for oil will outpace worldwide production of oil by a significant margin. As a result, the price will skyrocket,
oil dependant economies will crumble, and resource wars will explode.
There will be a gradual, permanent cut-off of fuel for transport and for industrial machinery. Global trade will greatly decline. Agriculture
(massive food shortages) depends heavily on fertilizers and chemicals made from oil and will be greatly affected. Shortages of other goods made from
oil. Therefore, reduction of virtually all business and government activity. Very serious unemployment. Money will be worthless.
Almost everything we’ve taken for granted in our technological age will be gone. There will be a very real threat of starvation for a large part of
the World’s population. Being self sufficient or having local resources will be the only way forward.
Below is a chart showing the Human Races’ population growth in relation to our oil use.

There’s no doubt the increase in population is directly related to our discovery and use of fossil fuel. A momentary blip on our evolutionary path.
For thousands of years the population is believed to have hovered just under the 1 Billion mark, roughly. If it stayed the same for so long, it seems
to me that that’s the natural number of human beings the Earth can comfortably sustain and support. Natural evolution. Many believe a massive
depopulation due to famine and illness is the likely result of this collapse, and is the only way the human race will return to a natural number that
the earth can sustain. It remains to be seen if we can come up with an alternative energy source before this happens, but many experts believe current
alternative energies will fall far short of demand, especially in the face of ever increasing population. It all depends on how accurate the oil
reserve estimates are. If many of the experts are underestimating the reserves then there’s time to do something about this, but whether the
World’s governments will take action remains to be seen.
A few videos for those interested in hearing more :
A prediction of economic decline from 05 based on peak oil.
I realise this has been discussed on ATS before, but I think it’s no harm to have it discussed again, as it seems to have been a while. Anyone who
finds this interesting is welcome to agree, disagree, attempt to debunk it or call me an alarmist, as you like. But regardless of whether this is
happening now, soon or is still some way off, it
WILL happen. I remain hopeful an alternative will be in place by the time the Oil is depleted,
but I’m skeptical that we’ll have enough time given progress so far.
P.S. I’d appreciate if this thread wasn’t used as a vehicle to discuss U.S. Military policy and motivations in the Middle east, thanks.
edit on 18-11-2010 by Project-Sign because: (no reason given)