Jack in the Box

So economists are reveling in the discovery of a new patch of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. This patch was discovered through a well nicknamed Jack (a relatively boring name, why not salvation). The wider patch known as the Lower Tertiary has the potential, we're told, to increase the US's reserves by 50% and may contain between 3 and 15 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Experts were quick to hail the discovery as a victory for technology. Before Jack they just couldn't see what was under the sea's floor in the Lower Tertiary. The lesson is one that we've all heard before: that technology will be our salvation and keep all our cars running and our houses warm. We will always defeat the earth no matter what it throws at us. Our ingenuity trumps all challenges. This party isn't over until we say it is.

The Globe and Mail article that reported this new find was quick to scoff at the theory of peak oil that is in vogue these days. Ha ha, the author laughed, looks like you were wrong Hubbert! We're swimming in oil. Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research Inc and a strong opponent of the peak oil theory said of peak oil boosters in the terribly partial article, "This won't convince the bulk of them. For the rest of us, it does serve as a reminder that there are still a lot of things that can still be done.”

Why put so much effort into undermining a theory and be so one sided in your article? Sounds like the evangelicals arguing against the theory of evolution. Peak oil isn't nearly as widely believed as evolution but it's growing in currency every day. Plainly, it just makes sense. Oil is a non-renewable resource, it can't last. Not even our beloved technology can prevent that as much as the highly biased author of this article would hope. We had better get busy thinking of other options.

I wonder if the Globe and Mail will issue an update six months down the road when it's revealed that the Lower Tertiary only contains several million barrels of oil? That's about enough to keep us all going for about 3 hours. Don't bet on it.