[reillyse]

I think you are failing to understand how (some) people think in the US. Expensive oil for some means that we should drill more oil wells. There is money sitting under the ground and we stick a pipe down and get it - AMAZING.

That is how people think about high oil prices.

If oil was to go to zero people would stop pumping it and burning it (for that to happen the alternatives have to be cheaper/better). That is what will fix climate change in the US.

[SauntSolaire]

The demand for oil will likely never truly go to zero; too many products (outside of energy generation) rely on their byproducts.

As for the bigger picture — yes, higher prices for oil might spur extraction in regions outside of the middle east, but that's a local only viewpoint. Globally, higher oil prices reduce consumption and make green alternatives more attractive on net.

[bluGill]

I'm not convinced. As those other things become less byproduct and more the product that oil is pumped for the costs change. Oil is cheap today in part because of volume. However as volumes go down a lot of the infrastructure doesn't make sense to run at all. We will need to build new smaller refineries to handle the smaller world demand - when oil companies look to do that they are going to ask for who will sign a long term contract (even a small refinery is expensive) and a lot of users of oil are going to realize that alternatives to oil are perhaps more expensive, but they don't involve the same long term contracts. Poorly managed companies are the ones who won't sign the contract and when they discover they can't get oil anymore they will be forced to look for an alternative, and that will drive investment in the alternative. (we already know how to make plastics from plants - it is just more expensive - but someone forced to use plant based plastics will be sure to market their green features)

[esseph]

> Globally, higher oil prices reduce consumption

When oil is high, GDP takes a hit. Less is happening.

[triceratops]

There are only 2 ways oil goes to 0:

1. We stop using oil because we have better, cheaper alternatives, as you already said. Alternatives are cheaper if they become cheaper, but also if oil becomes more expensive. Higher oil prices may stimulate some oil exploration in the short term in the places that have oil. Everywhere else it's going to cause a scramble to renewable alternatives.

2. We stop using oil because we have technologically regressed to the Middle Ages

I prefer option 1.