The overhyped death of the gasoline engine

Doomsayers have long predicted that petroleum reservoirs would run dry. It comes up whenever supply lags demand or some special interest groups believe such claims will advance their public policy agendas. It will undoubtedly be heard again. So far humans have used about 800 billion barrels of oil. The Earth has proven reserves of nearly 1 trillion barrels. At today's consumption, that would last about 75 years. The petroleum industry also believes there are at least 500 billion additional barrels that could easily be discovered or extracted by improved production methods, a figure that does not take into account midocean exploration.