Gone forever are the days when the world stressed over what would happen when humanity began running out of oil—a fear based on M. King Hubbert’s theory of peak oil—or the point in time at which the maximum rate of petroleum extraction occurred. The North American shale revolution proved that not only are there plenty of hydrocarbons left to fuel humans for centuries, there are plenty of people with substantial grit and ingenuity to find ways to reach these resources. What worries the oil industry today is the idea of peak oil demand—when demand growth for oil and gas resources begins to stagnate and lose ground to other energy sources, such as renewables, due to cost and/or environmental concerns. “There could be a time, and it could be as early as 2035, when we start to see peak oil; not what is sometimes discussed by geologists where we start […]