Matthew Simmons: The only way is down

I definitely agree with you on this one patrick....

And I have done a bit of research into the "undersea natural gas hydrates"......

That is a fascinating phenomenon. Deposits are gargantuan but, man, I wouldn't want to be working the rigs that explore for them.

If you drill into a deposit the natural gas will start bubbling to the surface and when this happens your platform loses flotation and sinks. This has already happened to one or two rigs working the North Sea with loss of all hands.

By comparison, nuclear fission is much, much safer.

One should be wary of anyone making predictions (those in ties are just especially annoying because they take themselves so seriously). Mr. Simmons says he doesn't believe we will discover any other energy sources that will deliver sufficient energy. Then he claims only to base his predictions on data. The past can tell us nothing about future invention.

That said, it's about time for the world to turn the Black Swan of peak oil into a Grey Swan (to use Mr. Taleb's expression). We really ought to start preparing to soften the blow. The current alarm is also inspiring bright folks to research alternative energy sources and that can only be good for us in the long term.