[MarkPawelek (OP)]

Consider this slide, Global energy resources (ZetaJoules), prepared by Carlo Rubbi (1984 Nobel laureate).

It's scary just how much oil and gas is still left. We'll surely fry the planet before we've gone half way through it.

[SimpleEngineer]

it what has been told to all since the panic of 'running out of fuel' began.. good fo rhte oil companies to start charging much higher prices though

Plus yes, we have all this nuclear power availability.. but the population are scared of it.

[peppercorn]

The concept of 'Peak Oil' may have done the environmental movement more harm than good in the long run.  The soundbite popularised and picked up by the media should always really have been 'Peak easy-to-recover oil' (read as 'the stuff that more or less shoots out of a hole drilled in the ground')... but then soundbites don't allow for subtle explanation do they.

'Unconventional oil' is now becoming de rigueur for the industry, as oil prices are assured to continue their upward trend. And not all 'oil' is made equal - take for instance oil from Canadian tar sands, which is considerably more carbon intensive than conventional oil.... Described by Prof James Hansen as being effectively 'game over' for climate stability if these 'sands' are fully exploited.

[CliffordK]

In theory, there should be equal amounts of carbon locked up in the Earth & Oxygen in the atmosphere.  If only we could get to all that carbon, we should be able to drive the oxygen percentage down by several percent, if not driving it all the way down to zero.  But, undoubtedly it won't be easily accessible.