[threatripper]

Peak oil was communicated as some kind of sudden "running out of oil". We did not run out of oil despite the old oil wells going dry as predicted. We simply made new oil wells. We will not run out of oil but rather run out of energy because getting more oil out of the ground takes more energy than we are able to extract. So this process appears like it's an economic problem. Oil from new oil wells just keeps getting more expensive while alternatives keep getting cheaper.

[wilburTheDog]

No, the peak is that point of the curve where production begins to decline because it no longer makes sense to continue. I always heard it described in terms of EROI. And EROI is not an economic problem. It's an energy problem. If it takes more than one barrel of oil to run the machines to produce a barrel of oil, then it makes no sense to continue extracting. The remaining oil in that well will stay in the ground. Up until that point we can throw cheap money at producers to get them to extract oil despite the costs. That part is economic. But once you pass parity in EROI (or get close enough to it, really) it's not.

[threatripper]

You could use Nuclear energy to extract oil. If you really need oil that could make a lot of sense. For example if you need it for chemical processes or as fuel.

The EROI is only a limiting factor if you look at all your energy sources combined. For example, Saudia Arabia (or rather Canada with their oil sands) could invest in Solar and Nuclear to keep extracting and exporting oil even though the EROI of the oil wells themselves fall below unity.