A hint about the size of the tanks required to produce enough avgas and diesel to power the world's transport and chemical industries:

It took several hundred million years for the whole of the world to produce the oil and gas reserves which have already been significantly reduced during the past 100 or so years.

My guess is that, in order to place this industry on a renewable, algae-based footing will require at least several planets' worth of surface area - or several thousand planets.

I have to agree with John on this. Some people here reckon I'm full of it, but even I am not full of enough to power my car.

On the other hand, I am coming to the conclusion that trees & dinosaurs had nothing to do with the oil we harvest today. From what we are seeing on some moons in our solar system, I am starting to believe that all the oil we have, was already here long before the first life sprang into being.

And long before we start producing fuel from flora effectively, we'll be using the huge resource of methane clathrate, as is or converted to a liquid fuel.

The one important thing that Arthur Berman did not cover was the cost
of shale oil & gas. The boss of Mobil has said they are losing their
shirt on shale gas. BHP is also in the same trouble.
The cost of the gas & oil is such that they need a price near $100 to break even.
What happens now is that it is mixed with other oil and so keeps the
market price near $90 US for WTI at Cushing Oklahoma.

Gail Tverberg has an interesting article on just the economic problem with shale.

http://tinyurl.com/buv4zxf

I cannot see it being any difference here. The main problem is that as
more shale oil is introduced we just cannot afford it.
This what is now been labeled as "Economic Peak Oil".
ie production will peak because we cannot afford it.

Fukashima was on the wrong coast, the ring of fire is to the east of
Japan