Dude, the oil/energy crisis is chronic and misunderstood. Since practically the discovery of oil people have been incorrectly predicting our supplies, and still do to this day. Oil prices, while fluctuating due to political reasons, have effectively remained constant for the last century. We are constantly getting more efficient and innovative about our oil production methods. Every year more oil is discovered than we consume. There are more than 2 trillion barrels of oil in tar sand flats in canada, it is simply a matter of technology and price to dicate when we start to move to new and different places to produce oil. I will grant you that oil is an ultimately finite resource, but I will laugh at you if you think you can quantify it like every other hysterical moron from the last century.

Personally, I believe that we have [u]ATLEAST[/u] 200 years of oil supplies left. By that time oil will be an archaic means of producing useful energy - I absolutely guarantee this. I find it practically pathetic that people are so stupid and short sighted that they cannot understand that it is impossible to comprehend where we will be as a species in a couple centuries - all they need to do is look at how a start-of-the-19th-century man would conceive us and then remember that we are developing at an accelerating rate to realise that it is pointless to pretend you actually know where we are going! What's even more amazing is that people who think like this have been proven idiots countless times over the course of our history, and yet still they are retarded enough to claim things like democracy is the ultimate government and we will never progress further scientifically than we are now. Totally mind boggling.

If I were you, I would ignore that dim witted bullshit and read this book before you formulate any more ideas:
"The Bottomless Well" - By Peter Huber and Mark Mills

That book will open your eyes to the retardation of this world with respect to energy.

I'm not sure about all this. I've been concerned about gas prices. I mean, I purchased gas a few years ago @ 75¢ and now it's $2.75. That's a rise of (11-3)*100/3 % ! And I live in Texas. I'm sure gas prices around the US are higher.
Let's face it. We're going to be paying a lot for our continued use of gas. Our great leader, President Bush, has announced that our dependence on oil is officially a matter of national concern. I'm sure he wouldn't be leading us down the wrong path.

My great uncle is a well respected expert in the field of oil and oil dependancy and he has been conducting research into this subject matter for 40-or-so odd years . Numerous times at family get togethers, the subject on oil dependancy always pops up. He most recently showed me some research from by some geologists from the 1850s that showed that the world was running out of oil. Another report from the 1920s as well, just after the FIrst World War because many believed that the world was running low on oil because of the massive amount required for the new and emerging technologies of the 20th century. While he agrees it is an issue that oil consumption is high, we still have plenty of oil left in the world. MrFinger, I completely agree with you.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen Uncle Joe for at least 6 months so I don't have any statistics handy. Sorry :(

I'll be happy when the end of the line comes for oil - i shall escape into the canadian backwoods (at least 5,000 miles away but it's worth the effort) and live as a hermit in the forest, living only on Orange-flvoured Geobars, Mentos Fruuit Candies, and anything my finely-honed survival skills catch for me. anyone want to joinme? send me a message and i might help

text books are largely unreliable on subjective stuff yes. problem is that when u are in school it's hard to recognise what is subjective and what isn't.