Reply #6: 8 billion barrels is about 22 million a day, but that is still a lot of... [View All]

[whistle]

...oil. How many trillions of barrels of oil are in known reserves around the world? I seem to recall a figure of 3 trillion, but I can't remember the source.

If that is accurate and the world is using 32 billion barrels a year (8 / .25) then the current reserves being used at a constant rate would give us about 93.8 years (3,000,000,000,000nr / 32,000,000,000 usage).

If I understand "peak oil", that is the point at which demand outstrips the ability to discover and tap new supplies which adds to the known reserves. The Alaskan North East shelf reserve is known, but still untapped, so going into that field does not add to the reserve pool. Only finding yet undiscovered sources of new oil is the only way the reserve pool can be increased. By that definition we are now at or past "peak oil"! And given that fact, the national policy of the U.S. and for that matter all nations of the world is to conserve oil and reduce consumption and find alternatives now.