The easy oil has passed its peak.

But there are all sorts of other dirty fuels lying a little further underground and a little further out of reach.

After the easy stuff has gone, then they'll just start drilling in areas that weren't economically competitive before. Then they'll start going for the deeper oil in harder to reach deposits.

After all that is gone, there is a vast amount of carbon trapped in the oil-shales and tar-sands of Canada and the like. After that, there's a huge amount of coal that could be turned into oil and after that there are the methane hydrates etc.

Based on these different resources, Ford executives estimate that there is up to 400 years worth of other fossil derived fuels left for us to use!

I take some comfort from the fact that VEGETABLE OIL is soon to be cheaper, and in the longer future much cheaper, than crude oil.

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/ecotech/ecot.htm