Forget Peak Oil

BP has discovered a large deposit of oil in the gulf of mexico. Link.

Put this into context. The new oil field contains around 3 billion barrels of oil - 500 million of which are extractable using contemporary technology. 500 million barrels of oil will last the US alone less than 1 year at current useage rates.

The new oil field is one of the deepest oil fields ever discovered which makes it very expensive to extract. The Statfjord oil field in the North Sea contained 5 billion barrels of oil. Thirty years after it was discovered it is almost entirely depleted. As are nearly fifty oil fields in the North Sea.

And, should we really be exploiting more carbon based fuels right now?

On the positive side, the small difference that this (and all the other discoveries of oil over the past 10 years) will make could be put to good use.

Here is a very exciting example of what we could be developing. Link.

There is hope!