The Oil Drum

USGS World Petroleum Assessment

In 2000, the United States Geological Survey issued its World Petroleum Assessment, covering the thirty year period 1995-2025 (Table 1). The resource estimates from this study are widely quoted to support the argument that oil production can continue to expand. (Comments now open!)

This article is about the way in which oil production is going evolve. Will there be a sharp peak, or a long lasting plateau?

Our future is highly dependent on the way in which worldwide crude oil production is going to decline. If it goes rapidly, declining with a few percent each year or more, than it will be very difficult to complete the energy transition without severe economical consequences. If production stabilizes and plateaus for a decade or longer, after which the period of long decline begins, it would provide much greater means to sustain the present economy. Stability is needed to scale up alternative sources of energy sufficiently to replace crude oil during a transition period of decades.

I look also at the modelisation of reserve growth which is an important aspect of modern oil production that is often overlooked in the peak oil community. 

The code in R language is provided at the end of this post.

Printer friendly version in pdf.

This post is the second part in a three piece series about the phenomenon of reserve growth in already found oil fields. Insight in future reserve growth, which is often attributed to advancement in technology, is crucial in determining the peak of conventional oil production. For those not familiar with reserve growth it would be best to read part 1 first:

1. General introduction to reserve growth, what can we learn from the worldwide recovery factor of conventional oil fields?

In this second part various scientific studies about reserve growth in the United States, the North Sea and Russia are analysed. The third part will look at the reliability of the estimate from the United States Geological Survey in their World Petroleum Assessment 2000 with respect to future reserve growth.

The difference in vision between so called "optimists" and pessimists" with respect to the peak in world oil production is often caused by a view of future technological development in the oil industry. This development influences both conventional and unconventional oil production. Only a part of the oil in an oil field can be produced. It is claimed by oil companies and various institutes that technological advancement will increase the recoverable amount, thereby postponing the peak in conventional oil for several decades. In essence this means that the amount of recoverable reserve increases over time due to changes in technology, economy, insights. But also expected recoverable reserves increase over time due to past underestimates. This is why the term is called "reserve growth".

[editor's note, by Dave Cohen] HO is out of town on family business so I took this subject up in his absence.

Dr. Leo P. Drollas, Deputy Director and Chief Economist for the Centre for Global Energy Studies has issued a response to Heading Out's Depletion estimates and the CGES. I feel that Drollas' comments deserve a response.

The argument concerns what is termed "reserves growth" which Drollas defines as

Growing knowledge tends to result in more oil reserves through oilfield extensions and revisions of reserves -- what is commonly known in the industry as `reserves growth' -- as well as through discoveries of new oilfields....

If there are no gross additions to reserves the depletion rate is equal to the world's rate of oil production as a percentage of global proven reserves (2.38% in 2005). However, gross additions have not been zero; indeed, since 1954 they have exceeded the world's production of oil.

The entire comment is below the fold.