Bill W.

Winter's Coming for the Boomers: Part 2

James, with all due respect, I must disagree with some of your premises regarding peak oil. Yes, we do in fact have a peak oil situation if, and it's a big IF if you believe the oil companies numbers. Why do I make such a statement? It's because I've learned to never discount my own experiences.

Let me explain. In 1975 and 1976, I was a Project Planning Engineer on working for Brown and Root at the North Slope on the Alaskan Pipeline Project. I helped plan and schedule the gathering units (the pipes running from the wellheads to pump station number one and the separation units, the purpose of the separation units was to separate the natural gas, water, and oil, the natural gas was injected back into the ground, water was discharged into Prudue Bay, and the oil was sent to Pump Station One.

While at the North Slope, I stayed at the BP Hilton, a facility that provided lodging. While there I got to know more than a few geologists from Standard Oil and BP. Anyway, one evening over a few beers I made the statement that the world was running out of natural gas and oil. Well I had these guys ROFLAO. They were amazed that I was that naive. They essentially told me that there is enough natural gas and oil to last the lower 48 states for the next 500 years.