Jeremy Legget, “former [oil] industry insider”, and now (it should be noted) head of Britain’s biggest independent solar energy company, riffs on peak oil:

The record of oil discovery shows clearly that all is not well. The world’s biggest oil-fields, the giants of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, were discovered way back in the 1930s and 1940s. The last time a major oil province was discovered was in the 1970s. The last time we discovered more oil in a year than was used was a quarter of a century ago. Half the world’s current production comes from the 100 biggest fields, and almost all of these are more than 25 years old.

Interestingly, he also poo-poos the ability of Canada’s Tar Sands to meet the demand:

To melt the tar in Canada you would need to heat much more water than Alberta’s farmers can possibly spare, and burn more Canadian gas than makes the process worthwhile in terms of net energy, even if you care nothing about the greenhouse implications. Even if you do all this, the International Energy Agency expects only 10 million barrels a day by 2030 from unconventional oil sources.

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