I doubt we will ever run out of oil. Yes, there is a specific non-renewable supply of it underground, but there is just so much of it and people are only able to consume it at a measurable declining pace. I bet demand will almost completely fall off long before we get anywhere close to running out.
We will run out of oil that is worth extracting, because the cost to extract the next unit will exceed the value provided.
> people are only able to consume it at a measurable declining pace
The pace of global oil consumption has been increasing for a long time, other than a brief period of decline in the late 1970s to early 1980s.
> I bet demand will almost completely fall off long before we get anywhere close to running out.
Over the long term, consumption is going up as are real prices (though the price trend is noisier than consumption.) There's not really consistent with demand declining at all, much ledd heading to the point of completely falling off.
Instead, it shows demand increasing faster than supply.
In the US and Europe consumption is declining. Globally the growth of consumption is declining. Additionally, the US is now (recent estimations) the global dominant exporter of oil recently surpassing Russia. These trends break all traditional projections and are largely due to shifting energy consumption as a result of technological innovation and continued investment in the energy sector. Since the new trends are independent of market demand for oil, as demand for energy overall continues to climb, these new trends may well continue until killed by economic demand such that there is more oil available than people are willing to consume and store.
