Peak Oil Questions

WHAT IS PEAK OIL?

Oil is a precious and incredibly limited resource that many even consider to be "black gold". Peak Oil is the theory that some scientists has came up with. The theory forms it's base on the point in time where oil extraction rate starts to max out and the all supplies start to decline. This basically means that, after peaking, the demand of oil would start to increase simultaneously as  supply of it will continue to decrease. 

WHERE IS THE WORLD'S OIL FOUND?

Oil is found in oil reserves in sedimentary basins all over the world and these can be classified into 4 different categories: probable, recoverable, proved and established reserves. 

1. Probable oil reserves – believed to exist with a certainty based on geological information. 
2. Recoverable reserves – both economical and non-economical oil reserves that can be produced with existing technology.
3. Proved reserves – reserves that can be economically produced with a large degree of certainty from known reservoirs using existing technology
4. Established reserves – generally defined as proved reserves with one-half probable reserves. 

However if these facts are applied geographically, the Middle East would be the region that has the largest amount of reserves, owning 55.6% (746 billion barrels) of the world's total oil resource. Second comes North America possessing 15.6% (209.9 billion barrels)

WHO IS HUBBERT AND WHAT IS HIS CURVE?

The Hubbert Curve is normally in the shape of a bell. The Hubbert Curve is a statistical theory of oil production that states the rate of extraction from a particular region. Initially, while there's minimum drilling operations, the production is limited. However, as a larger portion of land are explored, the production gradually approaches peak production. Eventually as the supply for oil depletes, the extraction rates then begins to slow down. 

The Hubbert curve portrays the life cycle of a drilling operation. The predictions presented by the Hubbert Curve shows statistical limitation and is considerably comprehensive. The shape of the curve can be altered by technological improvements or estimated proven oil reserve changes that are realized during the production process.