PEAK OIL

#5 How Important are New Oil Discoveries?
Experts are of the opinion that it is important not to rely on finding undiscovered
resources. Matthew R. Simmons, former energy adviser to the Bush government and
advocate of the peak oil theory, believes that all big oil fields have already been found and
are being exploited. 214 There are still new oil discoveries, but these tend to be small fields
with a lower production volume. What is more, new oil fields are increasingly difficult and
expensive to develop.
Discoveries of new oil reserves reached their highest in the 1960s. Since then, both the
number and size of newly discovered fields have continued to decrease. There is a growing
gap between discovery and consumption. In the words of geologist Colin J. Campbell, “We
now find one barrel … for every four we consume”. 215
Figure 12: Annual Oil Discoveries
Figure 12 – Glossary
Milliarden Barrel pro Jahr billions of barrels per year
Technisch mögliche Ölförderung technically possible oil production
Tatsächliche Ölförderung actual oil production
Prognose prediction
Jährliche Erdölfunde (10 Jahresmittel) annual oil discoveries (10-year average)
Source: www.energiekrise.de
214 The discovery trends of recent years also make clear that there will not be any major new discoveries in future.
215 Cf. Colin J. Campbell, “Die Erschöpfung der Weltölreserven”, talk at Clausthal University of Technology (December 2010), www.energycrisis.org/de/vortrag.html
(accessed on 14 October 2010)
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