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Modeling Peak Oil

Abstract:
Peak oil refers to the future decline in world production of crude oil and to the accompanying potentially calamitous effects. The majority of the literature on peak oil is non-economic and ignores price effects even when analyzing policies. Unfortunately, most economic models of depletable resources do not generate production peaks. I present four models which generate production peaks in equilibrium. Production increases in the models are driven by: demand increases, cost reductions through advancing technology, cost reductions through reserve additions, and production capacity increases through site development. Production decreases are driven by scarcity. The models do not rely on market failures and indicate that a peak in production may arise from efficient intertemporal optimization. The models show that prices are a better indicator of impending scarcity than peaking is and that peak production can occur when any percentage from 0-100% of the original deposit remains.

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Energy Specializations: Petroleum – Markets and Prices for Crude Oil and Products; Energy Security and Geopolitics – Energy Security; Energy Modeling – Energy Data, Modeling, and Policy Analysis

JEL Codes: Q31: Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation: Demand and Supply; Prices, Q35: Hydrocarbon Resources, Q41: Energy: Demand and Supply; Prices, Q21: Renewable Resources and Conservation: Demand and Supply; Prices, Q42: Alternative Energy Sources

Keywords: Depletable resources, Hotelling, peak oil, resource scarcity

DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol29-No2-4

Published in Volume 29, Number 2 of the bi-monthly journal of the IAEE's Energy Economics Education Foundation.

 

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