The Race Against Time: What Happens When Oil Run Out?

By: Josiah Sadnick

Fossil fuels are nonrenewable. Once our world's fossil fuels run out, they can’t ever again be retrieved or used. Oil is a famous and most used up form of fossil fuel and some other common examples of fossil fuels are natural gas and petroleum. These resources were made 100 millions years ago before dinosaurs roamed the earth! However, even though fossil fuels are highly valuable and are quickly running out!

A lot of people wonder when our world’s supply of oil is going to run out and the Hubbert Curve answers this question. The Hubbert Curve was invented by a Shell geologist named Marion King Hubbert in 1956. This theory explains that first oil companies discover and drain large oil fields that are easy to exploit. After these easy sources run out, they resort to smaller and deeper oil fields where oil is harder to extract. So of course, the easier to obtain sources and more abundant oil fields are quickly running out. To make this even worse, oil companies are making new forms of technology to use up more oil fields that previously were unavailable and unused. Fracking, a common technique like this, has increased the United States concentration and thus use of oil. Fracking allows the extortion of shale oil, a type of oil that was previously inaccessible. All of these factors lead to peak oil- the final point where the maximum amount of oil is extracted. From after this point, the total amount of oil available decreases. Peak oil is projected to occur in 2028, in only 4 years!

Fortunately, the world has realized that oil is non-renewable and has measures to decrease its dependence on oil. Organizations like OPEC have made measures to stop its over extraction. The easiest way to decrease the use of fossil fuels like oil is to decrease its value. Energy will always be needed, but renewable sources, like solar, wind, and tidal energy can be good substitutes of energy. 7.5% of energy is used in the form of renewable energy while (roughly around) 30% of the world's energy is used as oil. Renewable sources are being more used, but there is still a noticeable gap. There needs to be a lot less dependence on oil, and more dependence on alternative renewable sources to save our world's oil.