Peak Oil becomes an Issue Again after the IEA Revises its Predictions

Peak Oil becomes an Issue Again after the IEA Revises its Predictions

"Among
the big energy stories of 2013, “peak oil” -- the once-popular notion
that worldwide oil production would soon reach a maximum level and begin
an irreversible decline -- was thoroughly discredited. The explosive
development of shale oil and other unconventional fuels in the United
States helped put it in its grave.

As the year went on, the
eulogies came in fast and furious. “Today, it is probably safe to say we
have slayed ‘peak oil’ once and for all, thanks to the combination of
new shale oil and gas production techniques,” declared Rob Wile, an
energy and economics reporter for Business Insider. Similar comments
from energy experts were commonplace, prompting an R.I.P. headline at
Time.com announcing, “Peak Oil is Dead.”

Not so fast, though.
The present round of eulogies brings to mind Mark Twain’s famous line:
“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Before obits
for peak oil theory pile up too high, let's take a careful look at these
assertions."