Is the concept of “peak oil” dead? Maybe, but not for long. What is happening now already occurred 25 years ago. We are living through a zombie oil market, a return of the oil era circa 1995, the last time demand was only 70 million barrels per day (bpd). Until this pandemic-induced crash, we were witnessing an energy transition from conventional oil to non-conventional fossil fuels such as bitumen and “shale oil”. Non-conventional firms are among the worst hit by “Black April” when the price of oil futures collapsed to unheard of, negative prices. Yet, unless the Covid-19 depression is followed by a rigorous transition to renewable energy, peak oil will return for a second time alongside its handmaiden, the non-conventional oil industry. Much of the confusion over “peak oil” stems from the mistaken belief that the concept refers to scarcity. Rather, peak oil is the moment when conventional […]