Peak Oil Demand, Really? Some Lessons From The Debate Over Peak Supply

Peak Oil Demand, Really? Some Lessons From The Debate Over Peak Supply

Electric vehicles (EV) charge at a charging station in east London on November 18, 2020. - (Photo by ... [+] DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)



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Some recent headlines and quotes from the press: “Peak Oil is Suddenly Upon Us” (Bloomberg 12/1/20); “Even Exxon Mobil is Capitulating to Peak Oil Demand” (Bloomberg 12/1/20); “End Game for Oil? OPEC Prepares for an Age of Dwindling Demand,” (Reuters 7/28/20); “World has already passed peak oil, BP figures reveal” (CarbonTracker 9/15/20); “COVID-19 has brought peak oil demand forward; oil use may never again exceed 2019 levels” (DNV-GL 2020);

The fact that many who believed in peak oil supply now wholeheartedly support the imminence of peak oil demand doesn't mean peak oil demand predictions should be discarded as being as fallacious as peak oil supply arguments were, but it does show that there are many credulous people out there who hop on the fashionable topic of the day. Many of those who wrote about peak oil supply knew little or nothing about the subject but liked the message and found supporting views on the internet (which is now considered