If The Oil Runs Out : 5 of 6

The demand for energy has risen relentlessly over the last 150 years in line with industrial development and population growth.

And as economies of developing countries like China and India continue to grow, it is predicted demand will rise by a further 50% by 2030.

President Bush has already warned the United States that it is too reliant on oil, often from "unstable" countries, and that it must find alternatives.

Geologists are searching in Arctic Alaska, around the Falkland Islands and under the oceans for the last remaining sizeable reserves of oil.

But what will happen if the fuel crisis is not resolved?

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Blending drama and documentary, the IF series returns with a film investigating a scenario many experts fear will come true.

When the cheap oil we depend on starts to run out, we may not be able to take anything for granted any more.



DRAMA
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It is 2016 and the world is in crisis.

Global supplies of oil cannot keep up with soaring demand and the price of petrol is going through the roof.

The oil companies are in a desperate race to find any remaining oil reserves but what happens if there is no more out there?

Combining expert interviews with a fictional story line, the drama-documentary examines how our lives will change as the price of fuel starts to spiral out of control.

The film interweaves the story of Jess, an exploration geologist working for an international oil company, with the impact of the fuel crisis on her parents back home in Minneapolis.

Instability in the Middle East has caused an "oil shock" and the price of crude is rising day by day.

At the start of the film it is around $85 (£45) a barrel - in spring 2006 it is about $65 (£34) - but by the end of the drama the price has climbed to $160 (£85).

As the story unfolds, expert interviewees - including Paul Domjan, Former Energy Security Adviser at the US Dept of Defence, oil analyst Matt Simmons and the legendary former Saudi Arabian Minister of Oil, Sheikh Yamani - explain how the crisis will have an effect on every part of our lives.

We will not just be paying a lot more - £2.35 per litre or $5.88 per US gallon - to fill up our cars, we will be charged much higher prices for food, heating and light.

Long distance travel will become increasingly expensive and we will even think carefully before using the car for what we used to regard as routine trips to the shops.



RECESSION
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As the economy goes into recession, Jess's parents find their world collapsing around them.

Her father is the proud owner of a sport utility vehicle (SUV), but he has to put it up for sale as the running costs are just too high.

The daily trip to the shopping mall becomes prohibitively expensive and then, as recession starts to bite, he loses his job as a truck driver with a haulage company.

Meanwhile Jess's London-based oil company has been given permission to drill the first wildcat oil well in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

It is a controversial decision as the vast stretch of tundra in the north east corner of Alaska is the last untouched wilderness in the whole of North America.

Back in Minneapolis, Jess's father becomes the victim of a road rage attack, all because of the price of petrol.

He is beaten up and seriously injured after an argument in the queue at a gas station.

As one of the experts concludes: "It is very important for us to think today about what we can do to move away from the oil age, to build a more environmentally sustainable economy without all the political and environmental problems that come with oil.

"And hopefully we'll develop a policy to move away from oil today, rather than waiting until a story like this in 2016 forces us to give up oil."

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• peak
• oil
• drama
• documentary
• run
• runs
• out
• energy
• crisis

[TheNauttillus]

It won't be surprising if the US goes to war with Venezuela or some other oil nation using the "war against terror" quote. Being a world super power i wonder how far the US will go to have the most oil.

[shaolinadr]

every bad war last centry? what a dumb ass ww2 wasnt about energy nor was korea or nam.

LEARN SOME HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!

[imperialcrypt]

ah shit this going to be interesting times, like that movie mad max. Only the strong will survive and all.

[smellincoffee]

@shaolinadr What do you call Hitler's obsession with the Caucasus oil fields, the Anglo-American involvement in Iran, and so on? Every war is about resources, energy among them...and while it might not not have been about oil, oil certainly drove the conflict. Hitler wanted autarky -- economic autonomy, and that was impossible without controlling more oil.

[simonk512]

@shaolinadr hahahaha! wow... take your own advice and dont make comments about things you dont understand, you just make yourself look like a complete idiot lol

[OreadNYC]

@anatoriac -- You're quite right in that respect. We're not doing anything, despite the fact that people in our own government have said that we need to...and as long as we insist on doing nothing, the effects will be the same whether the planet reaches the Hubbert Peak tomorrow or ten years from now. The savage irony is that the people in corporate American who are refusing to make changes for fear that it will cost them money are ignoring the fact that they'll lose everything if they don't.

[anatoriac]

@OreadNYC Yes, that's my point.

"...if we start preparing for the decline of oil..."

But we're not! If we were to actually DO something then yes, we'd need time. And a few years would make a difference. But if we're not doing anything about it anyway, it doesn't really matter whether the collapse happens in 10 years, or tomorrow.

[OreadNYC]

@anatoriac -- What difference will a few years make if we're not preparing for the inevitable anyway?

Actually, according to our own Department of Energy, a few years might make more difference than you think. Learn about the Hirsch Report (published in 2005)...it says that if we start preparing for the decline of oil at least ten years before the world hits the Hubbert Peak (the point of decreasing production), the impact of the transition would be reduced.

[OreadNYC]

@shaolinadr -- Just for the record, the man who you're calling a "dumb ass" (Matt Simmons) had a Harvard MBA and spent over thirty years running his own investment bank -- Simmons & Co. International -- which continues to specialize in the energy industry. I think the man might have had at least some idea what he was talking about -- what do you do, and where did you go to school??

[lukkyluciano]

Still buying name brand garlic toast

[MetusModus]

6:33 Just like the rest of the world has been planning for decades. Catch up US.

[anatoriac]

I don't see that it really matters who has control of the last dregs of oil. Why should we risk so much terror and war over something that will last a few decades at best?

Sooner or later there will be no more oil, at all. We will have to get used to it at some point. What difference does a few years make if we're not preparing for the inevitable anyway?