ASPO predicts that oil production will peak around 2010. Click to Expand

The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, or ASPO, is a network of scientists, affiliated with a wide array of global institutions and universities, having an interest in determining the date and impact of the peak and decline of the world’s production of oil and gas, due to resource constraints. This image is copyrighted. ... This image is copyrighted. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

ASPO was founded by Colin Campbell in 2000 with Jean Laherrère a French petroleum geologist with whom he wrote an important article in Scientific American in 1998 called "The end of cheap oil". ASPO is the most influential organization supporting the "peak oil" theory known as the Hubbert curve, devised by M. King Hubbert, which predicts future oil availability. It appears in the documentary film The End of Suburbia. Colin J. Campbell, Ph. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Jean H. Laherrère is a petroleum engineer and consultant, best known as the co-author of an influential 1998 Scientific American article entitled The End of Cheap Oil. [1] Laherrère worked for 37 years with Total S.A., a French petroleum company. ... Scientific American is a popular-science magazine, published (first weekly and later monthly) since August 28, 1845, making it the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil production and depletion. ... The Hubbert curve, named after the geophysicist M. King Hubbert, is the derivative of the logistic curve. ... Marion King Hubbert (October 5, 1903 – October 11, 1989) was a geophysicist who worked at the Shell research lab in Houston, Texas. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream is a 2004 documentary film concerning peak oil and its implications on the suburban lifestyle. ...

Geologists from the following countries are represented in ASPO: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

But ASPO has its share of critics. The current debate revolves around energy policy, and whether to shift funding to increasing fuel efficiency, and alternative energy sources like solar, nuclear power, and coal liquefaction methodologies such as the Karrick process. Fuel efficiency sometimes means the same as thermal efficiency, that is, the efficiency of converting energy contained in a carrier fuel to kinetic energy or work. ... Future energy development face great challenges due to an increasing world population, demands for higher standards of living, demands for less pollution and a much discussed end to fossil fuels. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... A nuclear power station. ... Karrick Process, from U.S. Patent #1,958,918. ...

Campbell's critics, like Michael C. Lynch, argue that his research data is sloppy. They point to the date of the coming peak, which was initially projected to occur by the year 2000, but the date was pushed back to 2007 and later to 2010. However, Campbell and his supporters insist that when the peak occurs is not as important as the realization that the peak is coming.

Mission

1. To evaluate the world’s endowment and definition of oil and gas;

2. To study depletion, taking due account of economics, demand, technology and politics;

3. To raise awareness of the serious consequences for Mankind.

External links

• ASPO: International workshop on oil and gas depletion in Lisbon, Portugal
• Official website
• ASPO Ireland (Colin Campbell's Office)
• ASPO newsletters
• ASPO overview of the countries
• ASPO France created in 2005
• ASPO USA created in 2005
• Denver world oil congress
• ASPO Italia web site