The Limits of Fossil Fuels

Abstract

Energy has determined the development and the survival or death of civilisations. The industrial civilisation has been built thanks to fossil fuels, and in particular, to oil, due to its high energy density and the ease with which it is extracted, handled and transported, in addition to being the raw material for an immensely wide range of products. The use of fossil fuels meant a quantum leap in the availability of energy. It is estimated that a barrel of oil (159 l) contains energy equivalent to 25,000 h of human labour. But fossil fuels are becoming scarce, and specially oil. For this reason the new main sources of oil come from: deepwater sources (>500 m.); bituminous sands; the Arctic Pole; and extra-heavy crude oil. The extraction of very heavy crude oil is more similar to mining than to the typical extraction of crude oil. Its extraction is very slow and it later goes through a complex industrial process. The oil extraction remains nearly flat since 2005, and exports are declining due to growing domestic consumption of the exporting countries. But there is another warring factor: the reduction of available oil. The net energy obtained, that is, the energy obtained after subtracting the energy invested. In 1950, they could obtain 100 barrels investing one. Now they only obtain 15 barrels and in the case of bituminous sands the ratio is 5/1. On the other hand, many experts believe that in a decade or two the extraction of natural gas and coal could peak.