Envirocomic;
There is no argument about whether peak oil is real or not.
The only argument is when.

When depends on a number of things.
The most important of them is the lies being told by the arabs about
their reserves.

Peak will be later than 2020 if they are telling little fibs.
Peak will be very soon, in the next 2 or 3 years or now if they are telling whoppers.

Aound this basic argument, there are all sorts ifs and buts regarding
future finds and their effect and so on and on.

As a point Australia's oil production peaked in 2000 and is now down
to about 60 % of the maximium flow. That is something that you can
read on the Australian Government Statistions web site.

So the economy rests on the arabs telling us the truth.
Either way we should be stuck in now on mitagation and the
transition to new energy sources.

They didn't mean to lose money, they were hoping to find more oil than they did, besides governments subsidise them, they get tax breaks for exploration. This was widely reported in the press last year.
What is your problem, anything that doesn't fit your narrow view of the world is all bullsh!t, oh and by the way I am just as p!ssed off that there are so many rabid right wing ratbags, spewing their bile out daily in OLO. You never come up with anything constructive just a never ending diatribe of derision and disbelief in anything other than your rosy misplaced view of reality.Anybody who disagrees with you is either a liar or a fool.

Tax breaks for exploration does not equate to the statement "Oil companies and governments spend more on trying to find oil than the value of what they find." Obviously a tax break is given to encourage more exploration. This in theory leads to more dicoveries. Which generates money for the company and the country. If the government got nothing out of the tax breaks why on earth would they give them?

Exploration needs to be encouraged if you're going to find more resources and this is not limited to oil or coal. You probably live in a house, drive a car, have some stuff. Where do you think it all comes from? A lot if it comes out of the ground. If you don't "value" your stuff why do you keep it? You should give it away and go live in a tree. I bet your place is full of stuff made from oil.

alanpoi says:
"You never come up with anything constructive just a never ending diatribe of derision and disbelief in anything other than your rosy misplaced view of reality."
You probably feel this way about a lot of people. Perhaps living in la-la land gives you this perspective.

alanpoi says:
"Anybody who disagrees with you is either a liar or a fool."
Finally something we can agree on.

You really are a total goat

Who cares? We shouldn't be worried about oil running out. The sooner the better. We should be worried about it not running out. The whole point of carbon trading schemes etc is that we don't burn every last drop. There are plenty of good alternatives and the world will not end if we have to pay a bit more for them. Europe already does and it doesn't cause them any problems.

alanpoi writes:
"You really are a total goat"

Ok I see you've lost it now. Don't mind him. He has a soft heart and a head to match.