When will oil extraction stop sustaining the illusion of societal stability?

Posted by RRK96@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 29 comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about when oil extraction will no longer be economically viable to the point that it can’t sustain “business as usual.” I’m personally confused because I hear that conventional oil production peaked around 2006, yet global production has been maintained through technological advances and shale oil extraction.

I understand that without oil, we lose the energy underpinning exchange, transportation, and basically the functioning of the modern economy. While we’ve certainly exhausted some of the more easily accessible oil, coal, and natural gas deposits, new oil sources are coming from deeper wells, less porous rock, and other difficult locations, meaning more energy is required just to extract the same amount of oil.

Adding to this, the current geopolitical situation, like tensions with Iran and the potential threat to block the Strait of Hormuz, makes global oil flows even more fragile.

I also have questions about shale oil: when is shale oil production expected to peak? I’ve heard about near-future peak demand due to renewables becoming cheaper, but that feels like hopium and overly optimistic. At the same time, companies like Shell have said their oil production has peaked and will decline every year, which seems to align with the predictions that extracting oil will become increasingly difficult.

Given all this, when do you think oil extraction will reach the point where it can no longer sustain the illusion of societal stability? Are we close, or is technology and new extraction methods still buying us significant time?

[-]

davidclaydepalma2019@reddit

1 They had quite astonishing technical innovations especially in shale.

E.g. they are now injecting destillate leftovers into the wells which boosts the output.

2 Also, shale is generating enormous amounts of natural gas. This can be luiquified for sale or fuel datacenters closeby.

3 As others pointed out, renewables can also improve the eroi.

4 still much potential in southern america and Russia

Bottom line , the production inthe west will continue to expand. Worst case many applications will switch to LNG. At the same time many semis and also a lot of mining and agrar equipment can be electrified.

I wouldnt wait for peak oil if i were you. The iran war will have insane consequences like famine but i would expect a production recovery and maybe even growth of global oil production in the following years. At the same time many will try to get away from Diesel.

It will be a very mixed scenario.

[-]

Awkward_Mastodon4332@reddit

Any links for this: "many semis and also a lot of mining and agrar equipment can be electrified."? I see ag, transport and contruction/mining as being real difficult to electrify.

[-]

davidclaydepalma2019@reddit

Sure

The most promising is https://electrek.co/2025/05/19/catl-battery-swap-electric-semi-tech-cleans-up-the-messy-middle/

Mercedes, Volvo, and MAN are also rising their stakes.

It wont be tomorrow and certainly not a 100% goal, same with mining:

https://www.mining-technology.com/features/australian-miners-power-ahead-with-equipment-electrification/

https://www.cat.com/en_US/by-industry/mining/mining-responsibly/electrification.html

Engine powerhouse Deutz has a non-catalytic hydro engine for construction in the pipeline https://www.deutz.com/en/products/hydrogen-engines/ Fuel costs are minor issue here to it makes sense.

Large Tractors seems to be the biggest problem after all.

Of course batteries and new vehicles take decades, but due to oil extraction improvements we probably wont fall off the peak oil cliff anytime soon unless the Iran thing completly escalates and we lose all oil from middle east. I am certainly no optimist. The global warming catatrophe accelarates also too fast so it does not matter much anyway.

[-]

GardenScared8153@reddit

Realistically, we need remote wireless electricity transfer tech to power heavy equipment, we would be able to power them without batteries. The same can happen to cars and trucks, essentially they'd be connected wirelessly to a grid think ancient obelisks.

[-]

Awkward_Mastodon4332@reddit

Thanks! Most redditors don't supply links. The ebvenings reading is sorted.

[-]

davidclaydepalma2019@reddit

I cannot offer any conclusive reads on this. I was deep into peak oil 3 years ago and I am digging into all electrification solutions ever since.

Electrification mining gives some good results in youtube though.

Kulty@reddit

The issue isn't even energy imho. If you're just looking for energy, that can be got from other sources. It's all the oil and gas derivatives and byproducts, the chemical building blocks for everything from fertilizer to lubricants, plastics, noble gases, that our technological civilization is dependent on to function and we don't have good alternatives for.

ttystikk@reddit

While important, all those byproducts and chemical feedstocks are a small fraction of what's pumped out of the ground. Most of it is for fuel.

Not just important. Existential. The fuel is just a convenient energy source and can be replaced with alternatives.

romans171@reddit

Plastics use 4-8% of global oil. With 1.7 trillion barrels in proven reserves we would be able to last about 1000 years if we stopped isn’t it for energy. I think by then weight future something out sometime else to use… but we all know we will run out in 50 years if we make it that far.

Got a few typos in there; I recognize them from when I get them too.

But you're correct. It turns out that biochemistry can even substitute pretty much everything in crude oil with other, mostly plant based feedstocks.

Yea, the combo of odd autocorrect and getting older sucks lol.

Pretend-Bat9620@reddit

Norway uses renewable energy to extract oil and gas. Canada uses renewable energy to liquify natural gas. This means the EROI can drop below 1 and these countries can keep exporting.

What will happen before it drops to 1, is oil and gas looking expensive. This is already occurring this year with 20% of the world's supply under threat of destruction.

leisurechef@reddit

Arguably liquid hydrocarbons will still be extracted beyond an EROEI of 1:1 because of their utility & energy density to enable things like jet fuels for flight & hypersonic flight for probably the most obvious application right now, military aviation.

sotek2345@reddit

And don't forget plastics!

Yes. When it comes to fueling armed forces (abroad and at home) even Fischer-tropsch will come in to play. It dosen't matter if you burn a barrel to get a barrel if you have all the barrels

Konradleijon@reddit

Even then there is almost to much oil

I think we've already reached this point. Have you looked at the news lately? America is running a global resource war to control all the oil in order to use it as leverage against anyone who doesn't immediately bow to the edicts of Washington, DC.

Russia has its own reserves and therefore can't be bullied, hence why they're an "enemy" of the US. Same with Iran.

China is even smarter because even though they produce most of the oil they consume, they're the undisputed world leaders in converting from fossil fuel dependency to renewables, chiefly solar PV, wind and reducing demand by building EVs and heat pumps.

NyriasNeo@reddit

"When will oil extraction stop sustaining the illusion of societal stability?"

When we have extracted every last drop that can extracted profitably.

Low_Complex_9841@reddit

You probably can dig references from

https://energyskeptic.com/2026/failing-oil-and-gas-companies-a-sign-of-peak-oil/

I think important part to remember that solar/wind much, much less dense than oil, so collecting devices even if they used to push oil out of the ground still will be massive .. and tied to that application!

Worldometer info, using data from 2018 British Petroleum overview (I think) was pointing at "42 years of oil left" in 2025, other sources put Russia's methane resources at may be 100 years at current consumption rate (but methane is in itself potent greenhouse gas, and permafrost does't care about old clowns on TV ...). Quite enough to make more mess, it seems ...

PS:I think UK space solar startup pointed out oil industry is not as powerful on its own as it seems, because they take like trillion of dollars annually in subsidies for blasting whales with explosive acoustic surveys ... and using other "search for oil/gas by any means known to Men" methods ....

As ot was pointed in theredleft sub, energy is special:

https://www.ruthlesscriticism.com/nuclearenergy.htm

But even without capitalism/growth at 2Kw continuous energy input ( I use like 0.1 Kw but mostly because water pumping, heating, infrastructure not counted, and there is legacy gas stove for food prep ...) you need like 2Tw per billion, 16 Tw per 8 billion, and we not done yet with population curve .....

cppvn@reddit

People here are underestimating electrification of transport. In China, demand for personal transport dropped by almost 5% last year, and their heavy trucking sector is starting to rapidly electrify. Developing economies are already ahead of the US and close to the EU in electric car adoption, according to one of the latest reports from Ember, so I am expecting peak demand to be sooner rather than later. Natural gas will be the last fossil fuel to peak, coal might have already and oil is quite close.

What about buses and trains instead of cars

Electric buses have been quite successful for some time? For trains it's a bit more complicated, electrifying existing lines is quite expensive but now battery electric trains are starting to plug the gaps. Btw India has a completely electrified rail network if I am not mistaken.