Oil – How much longer can we sustain our Lifestyle?

Sadad I. Al Husseini, a former head of exploration and production for the state-owned oil company ‘Saudi Aramco’ – made a discovery in the year 2000 through his own research where he concluded that many oil experts “were either misreading the global reserves and oil-production data or obfuscating it”.

Mainstream projections display a steadily rising output of oil which keeps up with global demand – Housseini’s calculations however show a decline in output as early from 2004. In addition, he asserted that this new declining level of production would stay at the same rate for at least 15 years – after which the output of conventional oil would merge into “a gradual but irreversible decline”.

The so called ‘optimistis’ dismiss Housseini’s results and that of other who have come to similar data on the grounds that the Earth still has so much oil yet to be discovered. And where previously a “peak” was predicted in history, new technology surfaced in the oil-field which kept oil output rising.
Nobody really knows ‘how much’ oil the Earth really holds. What we do know is that it is not an infinite reserve which will last us into eternity at the current rate that we are consuming it.
We are not finding oil as easily anymore as all the “elephants” (= very big, easy located oil fields) were discovered decades ago – and what remains of them currently is only a fraction.

The rate at which we are finding new oil fields is declining – and these oil fields are significantly smaller than the old ‘elephants’ everyone was used to. This means that in order to reach the same level of output as before, we have to find x-times more oil fields, which means x-times more oil rigs, which means x-times more expenses = everything gets x-times more expensive. So all we are seeing is decline, decline, decline – yet our consumption is just rising and rising and rising. This is a lethal combination.

 

Even the most ‘optimistic’ of oil professionals believe that if a peak is not in sight in the very near future – that we will hit peak oil before mid-century – which is honestly also not that far away. 

Oil is running out – whether we’re ‘optimists’ or ‘pessimists’ – it’s going to happen, it’s inevitable and 2020 seems to be the year all the data is pointing to.

So we still have time – for now – to change our lifestyle and take a different course will oil production and consumption. 

Let’s have a look at all the various products for which oil is needed:

One 42-gallon barrel of oil creates 19.4 gallons of gasoline. The rest (over half) is used to make things like:

Solvents	Diesel fuel	Motor Oil	Bearing Grease
Ink	Floor Wax	Ballpoint Pens	Football Cleats
Upholstery	Sweaters	Boats	Insecticides
Bicycle Tires	Sports Car Bodies	Nail Polish	Fishing lures
Dresses	Tires	Golf Bags	Perfumes
Cassettes	Dishwasher parts	Tool Boxes	Shoe Polish
Motorcycle Helmet	Caulking	Petroleum Jelly	Transparent Tape
CD Player	Faucet Washers	Antiseptics	Clothesline
Curtains	Food Preservatives	Basketballs	Soap
Vitamin Capsules	Antihistamines	Purses	Shoes
Dashboards	Cortisone	Deodorant	Footballs
Putty	Dyes	Panty Hose	Refrigerant
Percolators	Life Jackets	Rubbing Alcohol	Linings
Skis	TV Cabinets	Shag Rugs	Electrician's Tape
Tool Racks	Car Battery Cases	Epoxy	Paint
Mops	Slacks	Insect Repellent	Oil Filters
Umbrellas	Yarn	Fertilizers	Hair Coloring
Roofing	Toilet Seats	Fishing Rods	Lipstick
Denture Adhesive	Linoleum	Ice Cube Trays	Synthetic Rubber
Speakers	Plastic Wood	Electric Blankets	Glycerin
Tennis Rackets	Rubber Cement	Fishing Boots	Dice
Nylon Rope	Candles	Trash Bags	House Paint
Water Pipes	Hand Lotion	Roller Skates	Surf Boards
Shampoo	Wheels	Paint Rollers	Shower Curtains
Guitar Strings	Luggage	Aspirin	Safety Glasses
Antifreeze	Football Helmets	Awnings	Eyeglasses
Clothes	Toothbrushes	Ice Chests	Footballs
Combs	CD's & DVD's	Paint Brushes	Detergents
Vaporizers	Balloons	Sun Glasses	Tents
Heart Valves	Crayons	Parachutes	Telephones
Enamel	Pillows	Dishes	Cameras
Anesthetics	Artificial Turf	Artificial limbs	Bandages
Dentures	Model Cars	Folding Doors	Hair Curlers
Cold cream	Movie film	Soft Contact lenses	Drinking Cups
Fan Belts	Car Enamel	Shaving Cream	Ammonia
Refrigerators	Golf Balls	Toothpaste	Gasoline

 http://www.ranken-energy.com/Products%20from%20Petroleum.htm

Most of these products are your everyday consumption articles – many of them with which we can go without, or find more environment friendly alternatives.

Within an Equal Money System, we do not propose a drastic decrease in production and consumption of objects of consumerism from the starting point of preference or opinion. We propose drastic measures because we are facing a real life-threatening scenario.

Unless we change our lifestyles and let go of all the products designed for the purpose of consumerism only – or by redesigning and re-engineering products to a level of absolute effectiveness and perfection so that they will actually last so people aren’t forced to keep on re-buying the same items over and over which adds to our waste pile --- we are literally ripping apart the future of the children to come.

Putting a limit to our level of consumption is not a choice – it is a MUST – Equal Money is the Future.

Sources:

-          National Geographic Magazine, June 2008, World Oil Bust pp 86-91

-          http://www.ranken-energy.com/Products%20from%20Petroleum.htm