Do you know when the Earth will run out of oil?

Oil is a very useful thing. Human civilization uses it as a fuel and raw material for the production of synthetic materials, plastics, dyes, polymer films and many other necessary things. Yes, before the industrial use of oil, everyday life was much more difficult than it is now.

Imagine for a second how many objects surround you, made from black gold. Clothing, building materials, smartphones, computers and other gadgets, household chemicals, bags in the supermarket…

And cars, after all, not only contain plastic made from oil, but also run on fuel from it.

You involuntarily think how much life will change when this black blood of our planet ends. How much more is enough?

Oil is a non-renewable resource. No, she continues gradually form in the depths of the earth's crust and now. But to ensure that organic matter is under our feet turned into oil, it takes a fair amount of time.

In fact, scientists are still not quite sure present how it turns out in general, so it’s difficult for them to say how long it will take. New oil deposits could form tens of thousands of years ago, and the age of the deposits equals about 60 million years old.

As you understand, the growth is seriously inferior to the consumption rate. That is why it is not necessary to wait for new oil to appear somehow.

In the news, messages flash all the time that its reserves on the planet are about to run out, and then humanity will face a severe crisis. Articles are circulating on the Internet suggesting how much more may be enough this resource - for 5, 10 or 20 years.

Perhaps the most plausible estimates provided by British Petroleum.

Its experts believe that the explored sources of oil on the planet will be exhausted in 50 years.

The key word here is explored, because in the company's reports we are not talking about all the reserves of black gold on the planet, but only about the known ones. So it's impossible to give an accurate estimate.

But do not worry: if you think about it, even in half a century we are unlikely to run out of oil. Firstly, as old deposits are exhausted, humanity will reconnoiter new. And, for sure, there will be technologies that will make it possible to get to reserves, the development of which was previously considered unprofitable.

Secondly, at some point hydrocarbons will simply become disadvantageous use it as fuel for cars - after all, we stupidly burn half of all the oil produced in the world in the stomachs of our iron horses.

The transition to nuclear energy, renewable energy sources and biofuels created from plants will make it possible to abandon the distillation of liquid hydrocarbons into fuel. This will significantly reduce oil consumption and allow it to be used where it is really needed. For example, in pharmaceuticals and in the production of plastics, films and polymers.

In addition, in addition to oil formed from organic residues, abiogenic hydrocarbons also occur in nature. They formed from deep carbonaceous deposits that have existed since the formation of the Earth.

In a similar way, oil, by the way, appeared on other celestial bodies, where there was no life. For example, on Saturn's largest moon, Titan splashing whole lakes of liquid hydrocarbons with methane, ethane, propane and other compounds.

Judging by the data collected by the Cassini-Huygens probe, there are 300 times more of them than in proven deposits on Earth.

Find abiogenic oil on our planet hard because it is very deep, but scientists considerthat it is quite within the power of mankind.

And finally, there are already methods converting solid plastic waste back into liquid hydrocarbons. That is, we can make oil from plastic, and then convert it back - and at the same time clean up the planet from garbage.

Take a look at the huge waste dumps and imagine how much black gold is buried there, which could be used with much greater benefit.

In general, if humanity comes to its senses and spends hydrocarbons - and other natural resources - reasonably, and not mediocrely burning them in furnaces, we will not run out of oil.