Two weeks ago I posted a review of an article with an optimistic view on the future availability of oil. Written by R. Aguilera, R. Eggert, C. Gustavo Lagos and J. Tilton and published in the Energy Journal of the International Association of Energy Economists. After a short correspondence Dr. Aguilera and his team have been kind enough to respond to the five points of disagreement I raised in my review. Their response is shown below. I hope our readers can react respectfully as to create a meaningful discussion.

Abstract of Aguilera et al. (2009)
"This study assesses the threat that depletion poses to the availability of petroleum resources. It does so by estimating cumulative availability curves for conventional petroleum (oil, gas, and natural gas liquids) and for three unconventional sources of liquids (heavy oil, oil sands, and oil shale). The analysis extends the important study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (2000) on this topic by taking account of (1) conventional petroleum resources from provinces not assessed by the Survey or other organizations, (2) future reserve growth, (3) unconventional sources of liquids, and (4) production costs. The results indicate that large quantities of conventional and unconventional petroleum resources are available and can be produced at costs substantially below current market prices of around US$120 per barrel. These findings suggest that petroleum resources are likely to last far longer than many are now predicting and that depletion need not drive market prices above the relatively high levels prevailing over the past several years.(Aguilera et al. 2009, page 141)"