The End of Oil?

I read a National Geographic article last year about the end of oil. The substance of the article was that high oil prices are probably going to be permament and that oil would start running out this century. I was skeptical because I read another article in the Wall Street Journal, also last year, about oil executives that featured the politically incorrect ex-CEO of ExxonMobil Lee Raymond who was adamant that oil was here to stay. The former aticle never once interviewed oil executives, which was a mistake because ExxonMobil is the world's richest company by market value. Secondly, if the age of oil is about to be over, why aren't these companies pouring R&D $s into alternative energy resources? It's their money that's at stake. The answer is that oil, along with nuclear energy, produce the most energy per $. BTW, nuclear energy is a (relatively) clean resource (see NEI and EPA information).

I'm not advocating the continuing use of oil. The search for oil and natural gas can be very destructive to the environment, as everyone knows. The point is that we're nowhere near the end of oil.

BTW, the impetus for this blog entry was an ABC 20/20 video I came across. Also see this story about the end of oil (not sure if I agree with all facts, but definitely with the title).