How do we really know that oil as an energy source is finite and not renewable?

Oil officials 10, 20, 30, and 40 years ago said AT THAT TIME that we were going to use up what was known to be total global "proven oil reserves." We keep finding more total oil reserves every few years than was thought to exist worldwide a few years previous - kind of funny logic, isn't it? If we keep finding more oil that exceeded known reserves just a few years back, then what are we so concerned about? Interestingly enough, at the same time we keep finding more proven oil reserves, people keep screaming more and more that we are running out of oil - who is right? History says we can keep finding oil, so maybe there is a regenerative process unknown to the scientific community - they can't possibly know everything about everything.

Only one thing is certain in SCIENCE: it IS ALWAYS CHANGING. Geologists have been getting better year after year at locating oil reserves, and yet so little is known about oil reserves other than location. What is understood to be fact now will be ridiculed in the future by new theories - which have already happened. They thought we couldn't use most crude oil in the early 20th century because nobody knew about cracking or synthesis of crude products, so they just dumped unusable crude products that were not immediately usable as gasoline or diesel. We have come very far since that time in chemistry alone.

Isn't it interesting that what is vaguely understood by a few scientists is continuously spouted as "truth" by those who know far less. SCIENTIFIC FACT IS CHANGEABLE, meaning it can be tested, and if a different result occurs, then the theory changes, resetting what is known as "fact." Oil may be replenishable, and may not necessarily only come from prehistoric plants and animals as current thought suggests. You raise an interesting argument about oil resources, and only the future will let us know for sure - but there will be a definitive answer. Now, who is ready for the truth?

Of course it isn't hocus pocus. For example, trees can grow, and they can reproduce, meaning that they are renewable, but if we chop down all the trees, there won't be enough trees to provide us with oxygen for a long time. That is why trees and oil are two things that need to be conserved. Have you ever heard of what happened on Easter Island? Do you know why it's called a microcosm of the world?

well i work in the gas industry.

ive been told that oil and gas will eventually be consumed.

but every min the world is find new oil and gas wells.

i think that your theory may be true.

ill do more research and get back to ya.

Oh, it's renewable. But we're using about one million years worth of oil every year. Problematic.

Not all living things turn into oil. There has to be very specific conditions for the process to occur (I don't know all the conditions off-hand).

Oil- millions of years in the making.

Renewable fuel- (veg. oil fuels) -grow every year and can be refined into bio-deiseles & ethanol......some can be grown year around......forget about sending money over seas: to countries that harbour terrorism.....grow vegy oils in the USA and refine them into bio-deisels and ethanols for our use.....keep the $$$in the USA-stop terrorism.............BIO-DEISEL.