when will it run out?
The good news is that petrol, oil that is, is probably never going to run out. In fact, there are still vast amounts of the black gold dotted all over this lovely planet of ours, just waiting to be tapped into. Relax, there is an awful lot of oil out there. The bad news is that most of the easy-to-get-at stuff has indeed all ready been got-at. What remains is a lot harder, more expensive and way more damaging to get at.
That’s why BP was drilling in 5000ft of water last year when the Macondo well blew. It’s why Canada has turned 1300 square miles of forest into an open-cast mine that shifts four tons of tarry shale to make one barrel. It’s why Dubya backed drilling in the Arctic. And it’s why experts agree that, as the ‘low-hanging’ easy oil dries up, the time will come when the world is producing as much oil as it ever will. And when exactly do you think that time is? Yep, right about now.
From hereon in, with dwindling flows of oil to the market and ever increasing demand, the price can only go one way, and it ain’t the way we’d all like it to. Factor in the truth the incontrovertible truth that we’re all going to start fighting over it and you get the picture. Who’s going to get the oil – the US, the EU or China? Ouch. If £70 a tank is making you think twice before turning a key, how about £140. Or higher; pick a number? We’ve lived our lives and our petrol fantasies in an era of cheap motion lotion, but the harsh reality is that it’s over.
A principal cause/effect of the financial crisis of 2008 was oil hitting $140 a barrel. A 10% increase in oil prices apparently impacts global GDP by about 0.2% so if the price doubles you’re looking at a 2% knock on GDP and that’s considerably more than what led to the recent downturn. As the world economy moves the demand for oil will increase and this will inevitably lead to the vicious circle of price rises and we’re all in the sticky stuff. No, not oil.
Experts pretty much agree this massive implosion won’t in reality take place until (probably) sometime in the future, maybe 2025 or 2030, and that by then we’ll have replaced the oil-driven economy with something else. But let’s not fool ourselves into ignoring the socio-political damage and upheaval that this will have caused. It’s going to be big and it’s going to be messy and it’s only just around the corner.
Und Google ist wieder an allem schuld, Google ist böse und man hat Google zu hassen.Wie erbärmlich selbstverliebt muss man sein, um so einen Schwachsinn zu po&0&ne#823t;s#8230; naja, schlechter Journalismus eben….