The price of oil
The world will not run out of oil and natural
gas anytime soon. The international price of a barrel of oil has ranged from
$40 to $150 over recent years due to shifts in demand, issues with delivery, constraints
on exploration and refining, improvements in exploration, hydraulic fracturing,
and erratic energy policy with poor management of government owned reserves.
Proven reserves are enough for 120 years at
the present level of consumption. Reserves would be only half depleted with
prices tripling after a century. Potential reserves extend for centuries.
Governments own most of the mineral rights in
the world. Environmental policies restrict energy development. Investors in
alternative energy lobby for subsidies and for taxes on hydrocarbons. The large
unpredictable changes in the price of oil and gas are due to politics.