The Biggest Complication in Continuing to Find and Produce Oil

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

All the world's existing oil wells are in aggregate decline of something like 6%, right? Right. And so when we look at part of the complexity that I talked about, the biggest complexity in continuing to find and produce oil is that it's deeper. So a higher and higher percentage of what we produce when we find oil and gas together is natural gas. Conversely, less is crude oil and the crude oil that we find is a lighter grade of crude oil that also has a lower energy density.

On this episode, petroleum geologist Arthur Berman returns to unpack the development and drawbacks of ‘peak oil’. Art explains how our institutions have redefined what is considered oil, which has created an illusion of constantly growing oil production. The reality is that - circa 2023 - fully 40% of what is called oil is comprised of things that are ‘not oil’. What does this imply for global peak oil? Is peak oil, an observation which has been around for decades and repeatedly proven ‘wrong’, even relevant today? Is a specific ‘peak’ date even helpful or should we be focusing on the logical implications of a declining primary resource for global economies? And then, what should we do

About Art Berman:

Arthur E. Berman is a petroleum geologist with 36 years of oil and gas industry experience. He is an expert on U.S. shale plays and is currently consulting for several E&P companies and capital groups in the energy sector.

For Show Notes and More visit https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/54-arthur-berman

To watch this video episode on Youtube → https://youtu.be/CDBJdQnjE2o