"Most serious scientists worry that the world oil supplies will peak [and then decline]. Peaking of oil can not be predicted accurately, but the event will occur. Peaking turns out to only be clear through a ’rear-view mirror’. By then, an alternative or solution is too late. My analysis leads me to worry that peaking is at hand, not years away. If I am right, the unforeseen consequences are devastating. The facts are too serious to ignore.” (Simmons (2003))

    "Seen from a Middle Eastern perspective, the present global oil situation can be summarised within five major and inescapable trends:

        * The world's super giant and giant oil fields are dying off;
        * There are no more major frontier regions left to explore besides the earth's poles;
        * Production of non-conventional crude oil has been initiated at great costs --- in Venezuela's Orinoco belt, Canada's Athabasca tar sands and ultra-deep waters;
        * Even OPEC's oil production has its limits;
        * No major primary energy rival can possibly take over from oil and gas in the medium term.

    Adding up these five trends, one can envision a global oil crunch at the horizon --- most probably within the present decade....." "...It would take a number of miracles to thwart such a rational scenario. Now, a single miracle is always a possibility, but a series of simultaneous miracles is not --- for there are limits even to God Almighty's mercifulness". (Samsam Bakhtiari, 2002)

    “Crisis looms – When demand for oil outstrips supply”
    “... we could be in for a big shock: we are going to run out of cheap oil. That's not oil per se, but we're approaching the point when global demand for oil will outstrip supply. It is not clear when we will reach this tipping point. The economists say we have about 35 years before oil production peaks, while geologists think we have only a decade. At present the geologists' argument is in the ascendant, having won the backing of some investment banks and oil consultants.”

    “...can a peak in production be anything other than imminent? That question breeds others. How rapidly will production decline after the peak?"

    “Every generation has its taboo, and ours is this: that the resource upon which our lives have been built is running out. We don't talk about it because we cannot imagine it. This is a civilisation in denial.”

    “This is the classical economist's view: something will turn up, when the price of oil is high enough, because something always does. But there isn't anything conceivable that could replace conventional oil, in the same quantities or energy densities, at any meaningful price. We can't mine the oil sands in sufficient quantity because there isn't enough water to process them. We can't grow bio-fuels because there would be no land left to grow food. Solar, hydro, wind, and geothermal don't yield enough energy, hydrogen (from water) takes more energy to make than it can yield, and nuclear fission and fusion are presently off most political agenda. The oil consumed directly and indirectly by the average American is equivalent to the work output of 135 slaves, unfed, unclothed, unhoused, and paid $2 a day between them. When oil gets too expensive, surviving Americans will still obtain energy from alternative sources, but in much smaller amounts and at much higher prices. Westerners will have to live with only a handful of slaves."

    “Has Global Oil Production Peaked?... The question now making the rounds in energy circles: Has production already peaked?"

    "Oil companies are now raising their doubts. They voice it softly, but clearly they are starting to feel if they don't raise any doubts, the public will be hostile to them".