The Age of Oil

(12/1/2008) - (Note: In addition to being a review, this article is a follow-up to  “Peak Oil – When Will it Run Out?.”  If you have read this article, I highly recommend reading this review.)

Theories regarding peak oil tend to be placed on a scale ranging from pessimistic to cornucopian.  Pessimistic doomsayers believe that oil production has peaked and is beginning a ride down a slippery slope of annual 4-5% (or more) reductions in production.  On the other side of the scale, the optimistic cornucopians believe oil production will rise until 2030 and beyond, followed by a long period of constant production.  

Leonardo Maugeri’s The Age of Oil: The Mythology, History, and Future of the World’s Most Controversial Resource falls on the cornucopian side of the scale, though he makes no attempt to predict how much oil we have left.  “Oil resources are finite; this is irrefutable,” says Maugeri.  “But it is equally true that no one knows just how finite they are.  And trying to assess their order of magnitude is a very complicated puzzle.”  The Age of Oil tells the story of the 20th century’s defining resource and discusses different factors that Maugeri believes need to be taken into account, especially by peak oil pessimists, when analyzing the future of this precious resource.