Matt Simmons has published a fascinating overview of past and likely future global oil production. He argues that the “petro-optimists” lack evidence for maintaining that “high” oil prices are an aberration. He firmly believes oil prices are too low.
While he rues the poor and sometimes inconsistent nature of the available oil production statistics, Simmons finds that they nonetheless suggest that production of conventional crude oil peaked in May, 2005. To satisfy the continuing growth in demand the world has relied upon demand destruction through higher prices, the addition of significant …