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The National Academies Summit on America's Energy Future Summary of a Meeting (2008) / Chapter Skim
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4 Petroleum and Natural Gas
Pages 31-38

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From page 31...
... "We face a painful transition," said Schlesinger, "to a future in which we hit a limitation, a plateau, in the ability to produce crude oil." Schlesinger pointed out that the concept of "peak oil" -- when production reaches a maximum and begins to decline -- is drawn from geological analogies and ignores such things as technology and the impact of price rises. Nevertheless, supplies of petroleum will be increasingly constrained.
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From page 32...
... manufacturers that have depended on natural gas for direct energy conversion or as a feedstock are being driven overseas. THE HARD TRUTHS ABOUT OIL AND GAS Rod Nelson summarized the conclusions of a major study of the world's oil and natural gas supplies that was done by the National Petroleum Council (NPC)
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From page 33...
... So wind power in developed countries can increase dramatically without substantially changing its proportion in the total. The second hard truth in the 2007 NPC study is that: The world is not running out of energy resources, but there are accumu lating risks to continuing expansion of oil and natural gas production from the conventional sources relied upon historically.
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From page 34...
... An aggregation of the data yielded a midpoint projection of about 100 million barrels per day. The third hard truth in the 2007 NPC study involves energy sources: To mitigate these risks, expansion of all economic energy sources will be required, including coal, nuclear, renewables, and unconventional oil and natural gas.
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From page 35...
... , Analysis of Energy Outlooks, Global Total Liquids Production, for identification FIGURE 4.3  Projectionsshownoil production range from a low of about 80 million bar of other aggregations and outlooks of here. rels in EIA, International Energyof more than 130 Survey of Outlooks.
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From page 36...
... . © National Petroleum Council 2007.
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From page 37...
... graduates." The sixth hard truth identified in the 2007 NPC study deals with carbon emissions. Policies aimed at curbing carbon dioxide emissions will alter the energy mix, increase energy-related costs, and require reductions in demand growth.
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From page 38...
... Each of these topics is discussed in parts III and IV of this report. Nelson's overall conclusion at the summit was that the challenge currently facing the United States regarding oil and natural gas is unprecedented.
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  • liquids production
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  • unconventional sources
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  • involves energy


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