Image credit – AEI, Mark Perry’s Carpe Diem Blog

Not widely known is that in the US there is an oil production boom going on. In states like North Dakota and Texas it is the wild west of the oil boom days again. See the rapid rise in oil production in the graph at the top of this post. And production is still increasing each month.

Unemployment in North Dakota is around 3%. It’s hard to even find housing near the oil fields. The pay is good and there are plenty of jobs. There are plenty of oil field jobs in Texas too.

Since the 1960s we have heard that “peak oil” will soon be upon us. When the peak arrives, some predictions expect a rapid fall off in global oil production and a worldwide  economic catastrophe as a result. Now, it’s true that someday oil production will begin a steady decline. But it’s looking more and more like a rapid fall in production will not happen any time soon, and we will be spared any economic disaster. Things are looking good at least until 2030.

The oil boom – and the natural gas boom that is just as big – are in part happening because new, advanced drilling techniques like fracking have made it economical for businesses to pursue new sources of oil and gas.

Of course in the long term fossil fuels are not desirable for being our major energy source. They pollute the air and also dump a lot of unwanted CO2 into Earth’s atmosphere. But an oil and natural gas production boom to hold off any possibility of peak oil causing sudden drops in the world’s oil supply buys us time for developing alternatives. Alternatives, that is, like LENR or Hot Fusion. (Wind and solar just don’t seem up to the task of replacing fossil fuels.)