Boudreaux on "peak oil"
My friend Don Boudreaux has been on a roll lately, writing some truly important and basic lessons about liberty and free markets. Most of his writings that I post for my readers are letters to editors. Today, we have the chance to read a full-length article that Don wrote for Canada's National Post arguing that "We'll never run out" (of oil).
see "We'll Never Run Out", Don Boudreaux, 9/2/08
http://www.nationalpost.com/story-printer.html?id=760789
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rossputin on 09/07/08 at 02:51:49 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
Yours truly
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09/08/08 @ 06:24:36 am
"News" articles about oil running out because there are only X bbl of recoverable reserves left, nearly always ignore the fact that "recoverable" really means "economically recoverable." None of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil - around 2 MM bbl/day - was recoverable 20 years ago, although geologists had a good idea that it was there.
Also, there is no reason to have more in the way of recoverable reserves on the books than is necessary to appease stockholders, because those reserves are taxable as real property.
I don't know if it's still the case, but oil companies used to be able legally to have two sets of books - one set for the tax man, and one set for the stockholders.