Will the oil we pump out of the ground leave huge caves?
343734
I know that here in Florida we get monster sink holes from pumping all the water out of the ground, and then the emptied cave collapses. Stands to reason it would work the same way with oil.
542377
Yes.. a "cest" pool.\n\nMy suspicion is the cornerstone Cheney's energy policy (the closed door meeting with energy companies he had in early 2001) was that we were going to have a reason to go into Afghanistan and Iraq. Hooooray for oil!
1096610
No, because it can be produced without petroleum as it was for thousands of years before we invented the combustion engine. People will always try to survive, they wont just lay down and die because they cant but some diesel in the tractor.
1165951
All over the place.  All along the Pacific Coast for example.  There are lots of reasons, not just hiding reserves.  Environmental concern is one reason.  Strategic reserves another.  Why not dry up all the foreign oil before we fully deplete ours?
912031
It shouldn't...at least not in 2020.  There are enough oil supplies to last till 2050.  And we're still finding new oil fields.
373683
Civilization as we know it is coming to an end soon. This is not the wacky proclamation of a doomsday cult, apocalypse bible prophecy sect, or conspiracy theory society. Rather, it is the scientific conclusion of the best paid, most widely-respected geologists, physicists, and investment bankers in the world. These are rational, professional, conservative individuals who are absolutely terrified by a phenomenon known as global "Peak Oil."\n\n"Are We 'Running Out'? I Thought There Was 40 Years of the Stuff Left"\n\nOil will not just "run out" because all oil production follows a bell curve. This is true whether we're talking about an individual field, a country, or on the planet as a whole.  \n\nOil is increasingly plentiful on the upslope of the bell curve, increasingly scarce and expensive on the down slope. The peak of the curve coincides with the point at which the endowment of oil has been 50 percent depleted. Once the peak is passed, oil production begins to go down while cost begins to go up.\n\nIn practical and considerably oversimplified terms, this means that if 2000 was the year of global Peak Oil, worldwide oil production in the year 2020 will be the same as it was in 1980. However, the world’s population in 2020 will be both much larger (approximately twice) and much more industrialized (oil-dependent) than it was in 1980. Consequently, worldwide demand for oil will outpace worldwide production of oil by a significant margin. As a result, the price will skyrocket, oil-dependant economies will crumble, and resource wars will explode.\n\nThe issue is not one of "running out" so much as it is not having enough to keep our economy running. In this regard, the ramifications of Peak Oil for our civilization are similar to the ramifications of dehydration for the human body. The human body is 70 percent water. The body of a 200 pound man thus holds 140 pounds of water. Because water is so crucial to everything the human body does, the man doesn't need to lose all 140 pounds of water weight before collapsing due to dehydration. A loss of as little as 10-15 pounds of water may be enough to kill him.\n\nIn a similar sense, an oil-based economy such as ours doesn't need to deplete its entire reserve of oil before it begins to collapse. A shortfall between demand and supply as little as 10-15 percent is enough to wholly shatter an oil-dependent economy and reduce its citizenry to poverty.\n\nThe effects of even a small drop in production can be devastating. For instance, during the 1970s oil shocks, shortfalls in production as small as 5% caused the price of oil to nearly quadruple. The same thing happened in California a few years ago with natural gas: a production drop of less than 5% caused prices to skyrocket by 400%.\n\nFortunately, those price shocks were only temporary.\n\nThe coming oil shocks won't be so short-lived. They represent the onset of a new, permanent condition. Once the decline gets under way, production will drop (conservatively) by 3% per year, every year.
424640
First, we'll start running out of it.  Prices will go up.  It will be more expensive to drive, and everything will cost more because it takes gas to ship stuff everywhere.  Airplane travel will skyrocket in price because planes use so much gas.\n\nSecond, there will probably be more wars over oil in the Middle East.  Saudi Arabia has so much oil- it seems like a likely target, either through inciting a civil war or from the outside.  The US will probably be involved in whatever war starts, because we need so much oil here and we have such a big military- we feel like we can take what we need without caring about the people who actually die for it.  China may also be involved in some of this conflict, for similar reasons- big military, huge oil consumption.\n\nThird, people's lives will start to change.  If oil is used up, people may start actually using the altnerative technologies we have available- wind, solar, natural gas, and coming up with cheap ways to spread it around.  More hybrid cars, windmills, solar panels, but maybe a new system to dispense natural gas nationwide at gas stations, if that ends up powering our cars.\n\nFourth, eventually the environmental costs of all our oil consumption will start to catch up to us.  Global warming is already a problem: warming means ice melting, and when the polar caps melt the oceans will rise.  Coastlands will be submerged gradually, first with little islands vanishing(already happening) and then with flooding in coastal wetlands and places like Venice (also already happening).  Despite all this extra water around, it's going to be salty water.  Warming also means droughts and desertification as temperatures rise in tropical regions, especially.  Lots of people will die in sub-Saharan Africa because of a lack of clean drinking water (also already happening).  Fertile land will diminish worldwide, and more people will die from starvation than do already.\n\nThe next wars won't be fought over oil, they'll be fought over water.  Look at the American southwest, and the controversy over the Colorado River/ LA and you'll get an idea of how much water rights mean already.  Dams and river diversion will cause international incidents, and we'll have to make some fast advances in desalinization technology if we want to fight back against these rising tides.\n\nIt's not hopeless, just really, really difficult.  And it gets harder the longer we wait to do something about it- so start today and try to conserve oil.
797611
Big oil will do anything to stifle new energies. Corruption, pay-offs, bribes to Congressmen, etc.\n\nThe need for new energy sources are increasing by the day.
1123322
Yes.\n\nThe largest reserves are found in the Middle East.  Saudi Arabia has the larges proved oil reserves at 160 billion barrels.  The other Persian Gulf countries of Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait also have some of the largest reserves in the world.  \n\nThe United States originally had a fairly large endowment of oil, much of which was located in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Alaska.  However, the U.S. has already consumed about 2/3 of this original amount making it the largest cumulative producer of oil.  \n\nThe western nations of Venezuela and Mexico also have substantial oil reserves.  In Europe, Russia has the largest oil reserves at 49 billion barrels.  Much of this is located around the Caspian Sea.  The United Kingdom also holds large reserves in the North Sea off the shore of Great Britain.  Other African countries such as Nigeria, Libya, and Algeria also have small amounts of oil reserves.
329170
If things still like now, in the near future, we will not have oil, so the primary source of energy will be the sun, or water or helium, now if all burned hydrocarbons are not enough to kill all living things on the planet, there will be some culture learned, and humans have learn that the old way (think as owners and masters of our world) is not taking us anywhere, we may find a way to keep us balanced in our own world, so if we still using the earth as out own living home, we should be traveling in sail boats, walking and horse carriages, also the need to travel will be reduced by the virtual reality booths at your local 7-eleven that are going to be free stuff by that time.\n\nWeird ??? may be, but at this point can happen.
965674
The global economy is heading into a period called PEAK OIL. This means that we've reached the halfway point in terms of oil production. While there is still roughly 1 trillion barrels of oil left we will enter a period of declining returns. This means that once we reach the peak (nowish, 2010 at the longest) the world will pump out steadily less and less oil every year. This is catastrophic and will shake the foundations of our economy. We need approx 86million B of oil per day. This number gets higher and higher every year as the global economy expands, particularly with the white hot growth and demand from China and India. Pruduction will fall and demand will go up. Prices will skyrocket and there will be shortfalls as the gap widens between the oil available and demand for it. We have already seen the price of oil skyrocket from the low teens a few years back to close to 80. Its happening.\n\nWho will get the oil? The US reached their peak way back in 1970 and have steadily declined since. Now they are importing oil at increasing rates. They are aware of peak oil and need to secure sources for the future. They've done this by force. They are currently building massive military bases in the 2 best areas for oil reserves. (Approx 14 permanent massive bases in Iraq)The middle east, and Afghanistan which is on the doorstep of central asia where massive reserves are located. \n\nThis is why Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded. The US will be able to determine who gets whats left of the most valuable resource on the planet as oil reserves hit a steady decline. The rest is smoke and mirrors.\n\n-could the person that gave me a thumb down. Please post an intelligent rebuttal rather than a thumb down. I'm am shocked at how any educated person could have read what I wrote, then briefly pause in thought before clicking on 'thumb down?!?'
285073
Jacarta Monkey has the right answer. He gets the points for saying it first.\n\nFor as long as the Earth exists it will contain fresh water and hydrocarbon fuel (notice I re-defined these a bit to be more specific), since both are continuously being replenished by biomass and the hydrologic cycle. People will stop drilling and mining hydrocarbons as soon as it becomes uneconomical, which is way before the Earth runs out. The deadline on all of the Earth's resources is about 3-5 billion years from now when the sun expands and destroys the entire Earth. Until then, only poor people will run out of fuel and water, because only humans are greedy enough to purposefully deny basic resources to other living creatures because they can "own" them.
103003
There will be other energies. Only way we will run out of them is if the powers that control them (Oil men in many countries) say to. "Fossil" fuels themselves may not even be quite what we think they are.
717610
We will never be independent until the oil and coal tycoons are no longer in silent power.  Until presidential candidates are no longer allowed to take campaign donations from these companies, no government official will enforce a law for E85, or any other like it.  We should because it is the best for our environment.  We will not need to level entire ridges for coal seams or spill oil and cause much destruction to natural habitat.  The health of the nation will improve, and the earth will be much better for it, but I don't foresee it ever happening in my lifetime.
1095123
Probably. More likely pumping those pipelines.
88647
We will never run out of oil, economics ensures that is the case. As oil becomes harder to get prices will increase, as the price increases people will use less oil. As a result there will always be oil in the ground, there will just be so few people using it that it won’t be worth pumping out.\n\nNobody with any knowledge of the subject has ever suggested that oil will ever run out. That is one point that all sides agree on. The only question is  how much more expensive it will get and how fast.
9597
Ehh.. oil is pumped from just below the surface. The Core is made of Molten Lava, which isn't too useful a fuel source yet ;)\n\nNow, as for the caverns where we find oil, which is what I think that you're thinking of, those just empty gradually over time. Oil deposits aren't usually so large that draining the oil causes destability. It's the same thing as underground aquifers, which are a lot easier to find information on IMO.