...“We are at a world oil production rate right now, which is essentially the peak oil rate and following this point the world’s oil production rate will start a gradual irreversible decline,” said Newendorp. “It isn’t that we are running out of oil. The reason that we are at this peak oil — there are two reasons. One is that for the past 20 years the world has consumed two barrels of oil for every barrel of oil discovered to replace it.

“Oil is a non-renewable energy source, so once you take it out of the ground and burn it, it’s gone. So if you want to keep burning oil, you have to find more of it. That’s one of the two explanations for why the world is at a peak oil rate right now. The other is… for many, many, many years the oil industry worldwide has tabulated the amount of new oil discovered throughout the world in any given year, called a ‘world oil discovery rate.’


“After World War II we were the largest oil producer in the world, we had the most reserves. But that was also when they began finding the very large fields and developing the Middle East. So this ‘world oil discovery rate’ began to increase after World War II because they were starting to drill in the Middle East and find the really big fields. So that discovery rate peaked in 1964 — 44 years ago. Ever since that time, the world has been finding less oil every year, year-by-year.”

From an engineering perspective, Newendorp clarifies the peak oil concept further. He emphasizes that the world is not running out of oil, rather that the oil industry is evenly producing the same amount that is being consumed.

“Most all of the primary oil exploration areas like the Middle East, the North Sea, the U.S. and Mexico have already been drilled up and are on production,” he said. “What we are having to look at — to find new oil — is less productive areas that don’t have the prospects of finding big amounts of oil."