Bill Menke's BLOG Page: 247 Days of Oil

I've read in the paper that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska holds some twenty billion barrels of oil. (Some of my geologist friends here at Columbia University say twelve billion is more realistic, but never mind that). Twenty billion - that's 20,000 million - sounds like a lot, doesn't it. Surely it will last a long time! Well, lets see ... world consumption is now 81 million barrels per day, so it will last 20,000 / 81 = 247 days, or just over 8 months. When is the oil supposed to run out, anyway? Isn't it about in a hundred years? So drilling in Alaska pushes that bleak date back from January to August, 2104. Whoopee!