9
The Future
Conventional crude oil resources comprise all crude oil that is
technically producible from reservoirs through a well bore using any
primary, secondary, and enhanced recovery method (Chapter 1).
This definition excludes liquids produced from mined deposits or
created liquids such as liquids from natural gas. Furthermore, conventional crude oil is a large but finite volume insofar as all or very
nearly all of major oil-bearing basins are identified, and production is clearly past its peak in some of the basins (Campbell and
Laherrère, 1998).
Crude oil had influenced major changes in the trading and
economic status of the United States over the past six decades
(Table 9.1), and whether the status that existed in the 1950s can ever
be rejuvenated is unlikely. The United States has come not only to
rely on crude oil but the nation is also addicted to crude oil. Cures
for this addition are possible, such as a reduction in the amount
of oil required for daily life, but will take time and are unlikely to
succeed in the near term. The misfortunes of the United States are
rooted in the depletion of the domestic oil reserves — the resource
that made the United States the most powerful nation in history.
245
An Introduction to Petroleum Technology, Economics, and Politics
by James G. Speight
Copyright © 2011 Scrivener Publishing LLC.