You have accessMoreSectionsView PDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Cite this article Miller Richard G. and Sorrell Steven R. 2014PrefacePhil. Trans. R. Soc. A.3722013030120130301http://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2013.0301SectionYou have accessPrefacePreface Richard G. Miller Richard G. Miller 80 Howards Lane, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 1ES, UK [email protected] Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author and Steven R. Sorrell Steven R. Sorrell Sussex Energy Group, SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research), University of Sussex, Jubilee Building, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QE, UK Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author Richard G. Miller Richard G. Miller 80 Howards Lane, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 1ES, UK [email protected] Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author and Steven R. Sorrell Steven R. Sorrell Sussex Energy Group, SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research), University of Sussex, Jubilee Building, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QE, UK Google Scholar Find this author on PubMed Search for more papers by this author Published:13 January 2014https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2013.0301Abundant supplies of cheap oil have underpinned the dramatic expansion of the global economy over the last half century, but the world's capacity to maintain and grow global supply has attracted increasing concern. Some commentators expect global supply to enter a terminal decline in the near future, driven largely by resource depletion, while others expect rising prices to trigger economic recession and declining demand. More optimistic commentators highlight the recent and dramatic growth in ‘tight oil’ production from the USA and the potential for developing alternative resources, such as biofuels, coal-to-liquids technology and oil sands. These competing views reflect persistent and deep-seated disagreements over the size, cost and recoverability of different hydrocarbon resources, the technical and economic potential of different technologies, the cause and direction of market trends and the economic implications of rising prices and reduced supply.The aim of this Theme Issue is to provide an in-depth examination of the concepts, terms, issues and evidence surrounding the contemporary debate about ‘peak oil’. The Theme Issue divides broadly into two parts. The first six papers look in detail at the mechanisms driving the rise and eventual fall of conventional oil production, the different methods of estimating resource size, the rate of decline of production from existing fields, the economic, political and geological factors influencing oil supply, the diminishing ‘net energy yield’ from oil production and the possible economic consequences of reduced supply.The remaining papers examine the potential for mitigating the economic consequences of supply constraints through either developing non-conventional liquid fuels or reducing oil demand. These papers consider how oil fields might be made more productive, the nature and size of unconventional resources, the technical and economic challenges these present, the potential for converting coal and gas into liquid fuels, the feasibility of large-scale biofuel production and whether and how electric vehicles could displace oil within the personal transport sector.Taken together, the papers provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective on the ‘peak oil’ debate, demonstrating its interlinked scientific, engineering and economic dimensions and reflecting a range of views. The aim is to stimulate wide debate on this contentious and critically important issue, both within the scientific community and beyond. Previous ArticleNext Article VIEW FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD PDF FiguresRelatedReferencesDetailsCited byGarner D (2015) Editorial, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 373:2032, Online publication date: 13-Jan-2015. This Issue13 January 2014Volume 372Issue 2006Theme Issue ‘The future of oil supply’ organised and edited by Richard G. Miller and Steve R. Sorrell Article InformationDOI:https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2013.0301Published by:Royal SocietyPrint ISSN:1364-503XOnline ISSN:1471-2962History: Published online13/01/2014Published in print13/01/2014 License:© 2013 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Citations and impact Subjectsenergygeology