I share your concern about the world economies however your...

I share your concern about the world economies however your statement that world oil consumption is on the decline is incorrect. The demand for combustion powered vehicles is still rising thanks to China and India's new middle class. China's car market exceeds USA, Germany and Japan combined.They are many many years away from embracing electric cars for lots of reasons including a small issue that the world does not have enough quality cobalt, zinc and other essential minerals needed for such a huge conversion. Passenger motor vehicle oil/gas consumption only makes up 16% of world oil consumption. Air craft numbers and their fuel consumption has increased 12 fold in 50 years and continues to increase to extraordinary levels thanks predominately to C & I again. Shipping, aviation, industrial and trucking are the massive consumers. The day they perfect 50 tonne of lead and cobalt to fly aircraft economically through the air and 1000 tonne of battery power to propel ships around the world reliably they will convinced me of crudes demise. On top of this world population continues to grow at a rapid rate consuming more and more energy. The world consumed in excess of 100 Million barrels of oil a day last year the most ever. Australia has 16 days storage only of diesel fuel on hand that is the problem. We need more and more of the stuff now! The defense and independent functionality of our country is paramount.

Look I agree technology will eventually solve these problems however another 20-30 years of major fossil fuel dependance is upon us. The reduction of oil exploration and discoveries in later years does not help the equasion going forward either. Thank god that USA embraced fracking or will would be in a hell of a mess. I will leave you with one last thought. Should Russia stop producing oil and gas for supply to Western Europe tomorrow their entire society would cease to function! This is 18% of the worlds population. Unfortunately the world is going to require crude oil and gas and lots of it for decades to come far longer than the exhaustion of ATS's valuable resource. Cheers