Before the oil runs out: How will this era end?

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..."One immediate problem for the U.S. is that its leaders in Washington too often see the oil supply situation "largely as a political problem," argues Mr. Roberts, author of 2004's The End of Oil. Too many of them insist that if only the U.S. government would allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or if only U.S. companies were allowed back into the rich Saudi oil fields, the problem would be solved, he adds.

Yet rising prices for gasoline and crude oil already demonstrate something else — that worldwide demand is gaining on, and could soon overtake, supply, Roberts says. If demand keeps rising, he adds, "I don't think anyone in the West knows" whether oil exporters, particularly in the volatile Middle East, can — or will — meet that demand."