Oil and gas supplies on the decline

Letters

WHILE our entire world’s economic system relies on a constant supply of oil and natural gas, the amount of oil left for extraction is at critical levels, and with the spiraling costs of extraction, I believe an energy crisis is inevitable.
Almost all oil-rich countries have peaked in oil production.
After the peak, production will fall while demand increases due to population growth and increased economic activity because our economic system is geared for growth.
There are no more giant oil fields to be discovered in the world.
Papua New Guinea’s oil and natural gas deposits are only a fraction of the world’s supply.
Despite advanced exploration technology, only smaller and smaller oil fields are being discovered.
We’re consuming three to four barrels of oil for every barrel of oil that is being discovered.
The other two to three barrels that we need come from drawing on existing oil reserves.
The cost of finding and developing new sources of oil has been rising every year.
The spare capacity is declining and most of the oil supply comes from oil wells that are over 30 years old.
Ghawar oil field in Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil well and produces five million barrels of oil per day (a fair percentage of the world’s oil supply and half of Saudi Arabia’s production). It is 60 years old.
Burgan oil field in Kuwait is the world’s second largest and is well over 60 years old.
Production from existing oilfields is declining while world demand is increasing.
China’s oil demand is increasing per year and is the world’s second oil user after the United States.
Other conventional fuels are available but all require the use of oil to be developed but they are considered very bad for the biosphere.
Supply of natural gas is in decline the world over.  A gas well’s production declines very rapidly after its peak.
The non-renewable types of energy  available to the world are oil, natural gas, coal, uranium (nuclear), methane, oil shale, and, oil sand while the renewable are solar power, wind power, bio-fuel, and hydrogen power.
However, while pursuing development of bio-fuel as a clean energy can be a viable option, it can mean we in PNG would have to forego our land and forests because propagation of oil palm and other bio-fuel resource crops will be done on a large scale.
And we just can’t afford that.
Whichever energy our world economic powers decide to develop and use after oil for the sustenance of our economic system may well be a turning point for our world, for better or for worse.

Alois Balar
Baining, ENB