The Meaning of Life 68
method is to inject water into the well. But the water will
also begin to mix with the oil. In the end, the last liquid
pumped up will consist of as much as 90 percent water and
10 percent oil. Ghawar in Saudi Arabia is the largest oil
field in the world, and each day they inject as much as 7
million barrels of seawater into the field.^42
Peak oil is a controversial topic. Those who believe in
peak oil are often considered to be conspiracy theorists
wearing tin foil hats. But peak oil isn’t a conspiracy by
environmentalists. It’s a fact. The world consumes five
barrels of oil for each new barrel of oil found, and this
relationship can’t last forever.^44
TheDeepwater Horizon oil spillin 2010 was the largest
marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
A total amount of 5 million barrels was lost in the Gulf
of Mexico. You could argue that 5 million barrels are a
lot of oil, but US alone consumes 20 million barrels of oil
each day.^343 Why would you drill 5 000 feet [1 500 m]
below the Gulf of Mexico if you could have found the
same oil in a well on land? “That’s why we have things
like Deepwater Horizon, because Shallowwater Horizon is
gone,” Elon said.^1
The question is when peak oil will happen. Elon expects
this peak to happen around year 2020 and the world will
finally run out of oil in 2050.^59 The current amount of
oil available was estimated to 1 258 billion barrels. As the
world consumed 87 million barrels per day in 2010, this oil
will last for about 40 years.^343 But the world will never run
out of oil. The last oil available will be so expensive that no