U.S. oil and natural gas production have been in decline since the 1970’s and global oil and natural gas reserves are limited (the static lifetime of global oil reserves is only 42 years and natural gas 63 years). With global energy demand increasing, coal is becoming the fossil fuel of choice. The U.S., Russia, China, Australia and India have plenty of it and it is cheap (and dirty). Clean coal technology is decades away as is capturing and storing CO₂, and they are costly.

U.S. CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION PROJECTION

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics

We have consumed 75% of all the oil in the ground in the U.S. and are now using up the remaining 25%.

U.S. NATURAL GAS PRODUCTION

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics