Bakken Oil Production Challenges Peak Oil

The history of the petroleum industry is full of predictions of imminent scarcity.  Peaks in production have come and gone thanks to new discoveries and technological advances.  Upward revisions to estimates of recoverable hydrocarbons in the Bakken formation are good signs.  This will hopefully be followed by a more generous federal government approach to granting exploration leases.  Producers' desire to explore is driven by the same market forces that are currently pinching drivers' wallets.  High oil prices bring out production from previously expensive sources; this goes for renewables too. 

Don't turn out the lights just yet, Peak Oilers.  New discoveries and refreshed wells right here in North America are turning that peak into a long, gradually sloping plateau.