At Finland:

Just filled up my little VW tank. 1.19 euros/liter equals $5.4/gallon. Before war at Gulf it was near 1 euro/lite, thats why Dart stays in a barn.

"Current" and "known" are two different entities and the industry plays those cards well. Ask any Geologist that has looked at this and they will tell you it's darn near everywhere. So happens that it's easier to get to in some places than others.

true, very true. We only pull something like 20% of the oil out of the ground before we call the well "dry". It's not dry, it's just hard(er) to get to. The other 80% is still there when we get more desperate...

This doesn't even touch all the tar sand or coal. You can extract hydrocarbons from them, process them, and make "gasoline". I put that in quotes because gasoline is a mixture of a bunch of stuff; and, the mixture varies depending on the source of the crude, who refined it, and how they refined it.

I've been paying more attention recently. I'm finding two trends interesting (as a physicist and engineer):

It appears we're finding more and more reserves in places where, traditionally, you wouldn't expect to find oil. It's lending more credence to the idea that oil isn't really decayed dinosaurs; but, is actually just another mineral (granted, it's organic) found in the Earth's crust. There's a deposit in the Gulf of Mexico, that was pumped dry decades ago. It's now full again; and appears to filling from fissures deep in the crust... (just one example)

Second trend: We're discovering we can make light crude oil and natural gas out of offal, manure, processed cellulose, "other" agricultural waste products, municipal sewage, algae, etc.

I don't think there will ever be an "oil shortage" that isn't simply a short term infrastructure problem. We'll have plenty of oil. All we have to do if figure out how to deal with all the CO2 produced from burning it. As far as I'm concerned, this is just another technical problem, for which we'll eventually find a solution.

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My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

There is so simple solutions for both the ending oil stocks and to the CO2 problems, too. The powerful medicine for both is: Reduce the oil consumption. Do what you personally can do for it. At first, think if your dinosaur car is possibly outdated. Buy a new one, and select a modern one with minimal fuel consumption. Do not sell you dinosaur for the next who does not mind. Carage it, or take it to the recycler to get the metal for next car.

Overisized, overengined "Jeeps" are bad. A modern direct injection turbodiesel can made you almost 10 times more miles than a V10 engined dinosaur with the same amount of oil. Less fuel means, of course, less pollutions (incl CO2). Even a good /6 will use 2 to 3 times the fuel than a modern Compact, and pollutes about 1000 times more because of no (operating) catalytic converter.

There is also a powerful method to protect the world against CO2 terror, the Kioto contract. Both Russia and *.*.*. have left the subscription, because they dont

a) understand the reality
b) does not feel to be responsible for anything
c) are so poor that they do not have possibilities to commit

(select your choises from a,b,c). Russia has 100 times less cars than *.*.*.

The gulf war is the prology for the next oil operation. *.*.*. is not interest to protect any nationalities who are not walking over the oil stock. Iraq has some there...

There are other approaches to reducing energy costs and protecting the environment and other reasons for questioning the Kyoto Treaty , but that discussion has become political with the previous post and belongs somewhere else. Social Corner, perhaps.
I hope this reply is taken as friendly and civil, as it is intended.

Regular gas down the street from me is just $1.73/gal u.s. , lower than I've seen in several years. I truely don't understand what's going on. 5 miles away, it's .10 more expensive??

That's still way down from about $2.07 a month ago (I think)

I get about 13 m.p.g. in my big heavy slant 6 truck, but I can't say I don't gun it now and again just for fun from the traffic light.

If people in japan are still running gas powered cars at $5 per gallon, it must still be cheaper than switching to the alternatives. I know the Japanese are smart enough to figure that one out.

I'd like to see some competetive options, but It's just too cheap to keep using gas.

Fusion powered cars would be great if the masses could be trusted with the technology.

That's Pittsburgh, PA prices I forgot to mention.

Gas out here in Los Angeles, near the heart of downtown is pretty low..not as low as let's say, PA but pretty good. I'm 19 and bought my valiant a little over 9 months ago, when the gas prices started to hike.. it's a pain in the butt, right when i get my own car, gas prices start going insane! anyway.. let me tell you exactly where it is that i have found gas at $2.10 a gallon of 87. On the corner of Griffin and Broadway in Lincoln Heights for any of you that live in that area.. i was driving to work in hollywood the other day and saw 87 octane at, get this, $2.55 a gallon.. i say that's Freaking ridiculous!!!!

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70 Plymouth Valiant 4dr

Here is how I see it.
If the majority of the public would get super-efficient econo boxes such as the Toyota Prius, then that would lower our dependency on foreign oil. That way, I could keep driving all 3 of my gas guzzlers (none of which gets 20 MPG, and the worst(guess which?) gets about 9-10 MPG when I keep my foot out of it.

I know it may sound selfish, but would you want to park your American horsepower beast? I don't.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2