Oil, the engine that drives the global growth and development economy, is the most significant and highly traded commodity worldwide. Since replacing coal in the last century, oil has remained the primary source of global energy. However, there is apprehension that oil production has peaked or will peak in the near future and that imminent drastic depletion will usher in a permanent oil shock era. This paper evaluates the key components of global petroleum resources and supply availability to assess whether the world is running out of oil or running into it. Empirical analysis of global exploration and development performance indicators suggests promising prospects for world petroleum resource development and supply. Over 160 percent of worldwide produced conventional oil reserves were replaced over the last 38 years in the aggregate. The reserves-production ratio has remained above 35 years over the last 20+ years, on average, despite the rapidity of global oil extraction. Empirical evidence also suggests that the crude oil market is not as "tight" as it was in the 1970s when the historical production equivalent year of global reserves fell as low as 27 years in comparison to the estimated life of 40+ years at yearend 2008. The world may be running out of "low-priced oil"; but, this trend is not because of geological exhaustibility. For, economics and technology, in addition, to geology matter in the debate on whether we are running out of oil or running into oil.
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