I see liquid fuels hit an all time high of 97 mbpd in August 2015. I wonder if
1) it will never exceed 100 mbpd let alone reach 110
2) it will fall alarmingly to say 80 mbpd in year X
Maybe year X could be somewhere in the 2030-2040 period. If so it will dramatically raise the cost of food and flying. Presumably by then we will have cheap battery cars with enough range to do what we want.

I think we are living in fool's paradise with the current low oil price. Clearly the market responds to short term influences not the big picture of a finite commodity being quickly depleted. My hunch is that instead of a smooth transition to oil alternatives there will be a call for a return to the 'good old days' like 2016. Rather than let fuel price rises create an incentive for alternatives there will be calls to cut fuel excise.

Are you meaning Oz excise ? This market is small beer and yet has one of the largest range of car models. Individual companies have small market share. Incentives here are probably irrelevant to car makers, oil producers and renewables. Powdered metals as car-fuel may be a goer with iron already set-up for China delivery.

Sorry, don't see any of this, just a public voting with their feet for alternatives that finally free them from the grasp on their short and curlies, by an industry that will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs in order to maximise profits regardless of the economic harm that behavior will surely cause!

Those days are long gone, now all they have left as a strategy, is cornering market share and the spread of entirely disingenuous misinformation. Or if you will articles like this?

In around the next fifteen years, electric gas powered, ceramic cell and rapid recharge battery powered electric cars/vehicles, will replace the old carbon producing petrol diesel powered transport options of yesteryear. And a better place to throw 10 trillion at!

And given we and other energy consumers have copious ultracheap gas; all that the oil industry can do is moderate their profit demands to compete and slow down the inevitable change for as long as possible.

Simply put, the stone age didn't end for lack of stone!

The days of captive energy markets are all but over! Read it and weep!
Rhrosty.

Actually this article confirms what some commentators have been saying for years, that the oil production "plateau/peak" is the result of under investment by OPEC, rather than any underlying problem with the resource.

Rantings about electric cars and speculations about the future of oil prices are just then - forecasts are unlikely to be right on either account. They haven't been yet.

Curmudgeon as a shill for the "business as usual" crowd, and given your paid employment with the AFR and its reliance on big business advertising, your stance is seen for what it is.

Here is a nice quote: "By our calculations it will require additional debt formation of $39 trillion over the next decade to keep petroleum production operating. Where that funding will originate from, when it is very unlikely to ever be repaid, will be of tantamount importance. It will take very strong-willed societies to make such sacrifices. If those sacrifices are not made, the integrated global production system will have disappeared by 2026. 2016 will be witness to the beginning of this event with dramatically increasing closures and bankruptcies throughout the world’s petroleum industry.”
The Hill’s Group — “an association of consulting petroleum engineers and professional project managers”

I would rather consider their advice than your "opinion" Curmudgeon.

Global conventional oil production peaked in 2005, no if's, no but's.

US fracking is on a fast road to bankruptcy, it does not bode well for liquid fuels moving forward particularly with people like Curmudgeon being, unfortunately, listened to.

Physical reality and time is not on our side and political will, influenced by vested interests, will ensure this will turn into a disaster if business as usual continues for much longer.

For some very interesting developments in the worlds potential energy future, I recommend watching these short 'TED Talks'

http://youtu.be/zhBymLCRIU8

And,

http://youtu.be/ghhgUmGBjX8

Cheers Geoff