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The end of ‘easy oil’
The end of 'easy oil'
Peak-oil theorists have long contended that the first half of the world’s oil to be extracted and consumed will be the easy half. What is easy-oil? What they are referring to, of course, is the oil that is found on shore or near to shore, close to the surface, concentrated in large reservoirs; oil that is found in friendly, safe, and welcoming places. The other half is the tough oil. What is tough oil? They mean oil that is buried far offshore, deep underground; oil scattered in small, hard-to-find reservoirs; oil that must be obtained from unfriendly, politically dangerous and hazardous places.
What all this means is that we are rapidly approaching the end of easy oil and we are entering the era of tough oil.
Peak-oil theorists have argued that the half of world’s oil supply would be “easy oil,” while the other half would be “tough.”
Do you agree that we are approaching the end of easy oil, and entering the era of tough oil?
Next, we will see how tough oil is extracted and harvested, mainly in the form of shale gas and tight oil.
This article is from the online course:
Global Resource Politics: the Past, Present and Future of Oil, Gas and Shale
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This article is from the free online
Global Resource Politics: the Past, Present and Future of Oil, Gas and Shale
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