Editing Petroleum (section)

=== Peak oil ===
{{Main|Peak oil}}
[[Peak oil]] is a term applied to the projection that future petroleum production, whether for individual oil wells, entire oil fields, whole countries, or worldwide production, will eventually peak and then decline at a similar rate to the rate of increase before the peak as these reserves are exhausted.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Islam |first=M. R. |chapter=New Methods of Petroleum Sludge Disposal and Utilization |date=1995 |title=Asphaltenes |pages=219–235 |location=Boston |publisher=Springer US |doi=10.1007/978-1-4757-9293-5_8 |isbn=978-1-4757-9295-9}}</ref> The peak of oil discoveries was in 1965, and oil production per year has surpassed oil discoveries every year since 1980.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Campbell CJ |date=December 2000 |title=Peak Oil Presentation at the Technical University of Clausthal |url=http://energycrisis.org/de/lecture.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705152332/http://energycrisis.org/de/lecture.html |archive-date=July 5, 2007}}</ref>

It is difficult to predict the oil peak in any given region, due to the lack of knowledge and/or transparency in the accounting of global oil reserves.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 31, 2004 |title=New study raises doubts about Saudi oil reserves |url=http://www.iags.org/n0331043.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529211546/http://www.iags.org/n0331043.htm |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |access-date=August 29, 2010 |publisher=Iags.org}}</ref> Based on available production data, proponents have previously predicted the peak for the world to be in the years 1989, 1995, or 1995–2000. Some of these predictions date from before the recession of the early 1980s, and the consequent lowering in global consumption, the effect of which was to delay the date of any peak by several years. Just as the 1971 U.S. peak in oil production was only clearly recognized after the fact, a peak in world production will be difficult to discern until production clearly drops off.<ref>[http://www.oildecline.com/ Peak Oil Info and Strategies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617184210/http://www.oildecline.com/ |date=June 17, 2012 }} "The only uncertainty about peak oil is the time scale, which is difficult to predict accurately."</ref>

In 2020, according to [[BP#Climate policy|BP's Energy Outlook 2020]], peak oil had been reached, due to the changing energy landscape coupled with the [[Financial market impact of the COVID-19 pandemic#Oil prices|economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic]].

While there has been much focus historically on peak oil supply, the focus is increasingly shifting to peak demand as more countries seek to transition to renewable energy. The GeGaLo index of geopolitical gains and losses assesses how the geopolitical position of 156 countries may change if the world fully transitions to renewable energy resources. Former oil exporters are expected to lose power, while the positions of former oil importers and countries rich in renewable energy resources is expected to strengthen.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Overland|first1=Indra|last2=Bazilian|first2=Morgan|last3=Ilimbek Uulu|first3=Talgat|last4=Vakulchuk|first4=Roman|last5=Westphal|first5=Kirsten|date=2019|title=The GeGaLo index: Geopolitical gains and losses after energy transition|journal=Energy Strategy Reviews|language=en|volume=26|page=100406|doi=10.1016/j.esr.2019.100406|doi-access=free|bibcode=2019EneSR..2600406O |hdl=11250/2634876|hdl-access=free}}</ref>