From the family car to the dream kitchen, fossil fuel companies sold a vision of prosperity that depended on their own products. Grist dug up a century of evidence that shows how they did it.

Oil and gas not only influence how people get around town, but also where they live, how they dress, and how they cook food in their kitchens. This all feels so ordinary that most people don’t notice how pervasive petroleum is, powering our lives while hiding in plain sight. Though it might seem inevitable that we live this way, a Grist investigation found that this idea of what’s “normal” was shaped by decades of advertising, public relations propaganda, and broader efforts to sway American culture, from radio programs to Hollywood films.

Fewer and Fewer countries are self sufficient in Oil.

Denmark used to be a major exporter producing some 400 000 Barrels/day back in 2004. Now down to just 70 000 Barrels a day and it needs 150 000 Barrels/day - so it has to import oil now.

Romania down from 300 000 Barrels/day in the 70s to 50 000 now.

The UK - also a major exporter until two decades ago - down from 2.8 Million Barrels/day to 600 000/day between 1998 and 2026.

Indonesia another previous major exporter went down from 1.7 Million Barrels in 1977 to 600 000 Barrels in 2026. Bali is now experiencing oil shortages while it used to export oil half a century ago.

During the last half century, several dozen countries have reached Peak Oil and produce only a fraction of their peak production.

Yet when we talk about Peak Oil globally, many people claim that we can never reach it because we will find always new oil.

Seems like denial to me.

Many countries have used up most of the oil they have and have not found any additional reserves.

Many others are projected to run out within the next 10-15 years.

Oil is getting harder to extract because we have used up the easiest to get oil.

To claim that we will always find new reserves (that are worth/economical to extract) and therefore Oil can run out in individual countries but never globally, seems like delusion to me.

1. Earth is finite. Therefore the supply of oil is finite.
2. Many countries that used to be major oil exporters 30 or 40 years ago, have turned into oil importers because they have used up most of their oil reserves. The countries with an actual oil surplus are getting fewer.
3. We have used up the easiest oil. Its getting harder and harder to extract.

So its logical to say that at some point we will reach Peak Oil and from that moment onwards the amount of oil we will get out of this planet will continuously decrease. At some point the reserves will be so depleted that it will be uneconomical to get the remaining 20 or 30% still in the ground.

At this point we will have run out of oil.

Why is the concept so hard for some people to understand?

Just because predictions about oil running out were wrong in the 1970s, doesnt mean that we will be able to extract oil indefinitely.