What’s with Oil? The Probable Status of the Resource

Uses of Petroleum Figure Figure

Figure 3 - Texas oil production, 1935 to 2005 Source: Railroad Commission of Texas

Figure 4 - Mathematical relations involved in the complete cycle of production of any exhaustible resource from Hubbert, M. King (1956), Pub. No. 95, Shell Development Co. Exploration and Production Research Division

Figure 5 - Hypothetical production from 8 wells shown individually and cumulatively (“Hubbert Curve”) as a function of time. Source:

Figure 6 - Hubbert linearization of Texas petroleum production showing percent of Q at peak production. From Brown, Jeffrey J., (2006). Texas and US Lower 48 Oil Production as a Model for Saudi Arabia and the World

Figure 7 - Historical oil and condensate production in Oklahoma Source: Claxton (2001), Oil and Gas Information, Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

Figure 8 - California oil production showing cumulative production to 1998 and a Hubbert distribution ultimate recoverable production of 36 billion barrels Source: from USEIA data?

Figure 9 Hubbert linearization of US lower 48 production From Brown, Jeffrey J., (2006). Texas and US Lower 48 Oil Production as a Model for Saudi Arabia and the World

Figure 10 - Historic and forecast Alaska North Slope Production Source: US National Energy Technology Laboratory, 2005

Figure 11 - Upstream production costs per barrel of oil equivalent

Figure 12 - US Petroleum Production 1954 to 2006 Source: US Energy Information Administration (2006 )

Figure 13 - US Crude oil production vs drilling activity Source: New York Times (2007) from US Energy Administration Data

Figure 14 - Hubbert linearization of Saudi Arabian production including but not limited to Ghawar From Brown, Jeffrey J., (2006). Texas and US Lower 48 Oil Production as a Model for Saudi Arabia and the World

Figure 15 - Linearization of Kuwaiti Oil Production Data from American Petroleum Institute (via Jean Laherrere), 2005(?) and BP Statistical Review of World Energy

Figure 16 - Hubbert linearization, Cantarell, Mexico The Oil Drum, 2006, Discussions About Energy and Our Future at story/2006/1/20/193723/259

Figure 17 Hubbert linearization of total Mexican production The Oil Drum, Discussions About Energy and Our Future at story/2006/1/20/193723/259

Figure 18 - Oil producing countries past peak production, 2007

Figure 19 - Oil production from the Majors, 1997 to 2007 Compilation by Energy Watch Group 2007

Figure 20 History of petroleum discoveries (proven + probable) versus production IHS Energy, 2005

Figure 21 Chevron advertisement, circa 2006

Figure 22 - Typical production pattern for an oil region Source: IHS Energy, 2005

Figure 23 - Shell oil shale extraction technology Source: en/downloads/shell_for_businesses/exploration_production/icp_fact_sheet_final.pdf

Table 1 - US Government ultimate recovery estimates Source: US Energy Information Administration (2005) from US Geological Survey Analysis (2000)

Figure 24 - Hubbert linearization of world production Source: The Oil Drum, Discussions About Energy and Our Future at story/2006/1/20/193723/259

Figure 25 - Advertisement by Chevron, circa 2005.

Figure 26 - Figure from US Geological Survey Open File Report (2000) US Geological Survey Open File Report (Magoon, 2000, modified from Campbell and Laherrere 1998)

Figure 27 - Oil + natural gas production profiles based on data through 2006 Source: Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, most recently reproduced in Newsletter No. 85, January 2008

Figure 28 - US Energy Information Administration petroleum production scenarios (2004) based on 2000 USGS estimates Sources as shown

Figure 29 - World Petroleum Production 1/2001 – 11/2007 Compiled by author from US Energy Information Administration data published January 2008, includes natural gas liquids

Figure 30 - World petroleum production (left scale) and price in $2006 (right scale) Source: The author from US Energy Information Administration data, 2006 and 2007

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