Think about the oil crisis. The 1970s, which some of us remember, were the era of scarcity. Unless the US makes a timely adjustment before world oil becomes very scarce and expensive in the 1980s, the nation's economic security and the American way of life will be gravely endangered. The world's proven oil reserves are about half again as large today as they were in the 1970s, and more than ten times as large as in 1950. It is as if using up oil has somehow created more.
Gasoline prices are lower than ever in history.
And no one doubts that the recent price increases in natural gas are the result of criminal activity and not declining resources. The technology of discovery and recovery of crude oil has improved so much that we now can find and pump far more oil than anyone ever thought was even there. There is little doubt that this process of making wine out of water will continue in the oil business for decades. In fact, the most common view of scientists today is that demand for oil will peter out well before any serious crimp is felt in the supply. Something cheaper and cleaner, perhaps the hydrogen-based fuel cell, will come along, and the oil age will end with large amounts of oil left unwanted in the ground.