Peak oil theory (Hubbert peak)
Teoría del pico petrolero (pico de Hubbert)
- Date
- 1956 · confidence high
- Place
- San Antonio, Texas, United States
- Credited to
- M. King Hubbert
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Geophysicist Hubbert, from Shell's research laboratory, presented to the American Petroleum Institute a bell-shaped model predicting that United States oil production would peak between 1965 and 1971, then decline irreversibly. His prediction proved remarkably accurate, and the concept was later extended to world oil production.
The global peak that Hubbert and others predicted for the early 21st century has been delayed by unconventional oil (shale, fracking), fuelling debate over the model's current validity.
What it led to
- Debate over fossil fuel depletion
- Push toward unconventional oil exploration (fracking)
Built on
- Logistic curves of resource production