Oil will run out, there is no escape. We will finally face a world without oil. When that time comes, everything in our life will change significantly. We have become so dependent on oil that we seem to be very unprepared for the inevitable oil shortage. But will all oil traders must close its business once the oil runs out.
Luckily no!
In spite of the depletion of oil on all major wells, we still can get oil for our energy usages. The new oil is no other than biodiesel. Ok, you may thing that biodiesel is too small in amount to completely replace crude oil. It's true if we prioritize biodiesel only from plants like soy, corn or jathropha. To fully replace crude oil we need an alternative that is easy, cheap and can produce large amount of oil in short amount of time.
Palm oil is the obvious choice, because large production, cheap production. One liter of palm oil cost about $1 which is quite acceptable compared to current crude oil price. However, palm oil may not be adequate to replace crude oil. Vegetable oil demands are also increasing which mean it will compete with our cars. To fulfill both demands we may be need to clear millions of hectares of tropical rain forest, as palm trees grow better in warm and humid places. This would not be sustainable in the long run, which will damage our life significantly, if we insist on using palm trees.
Our best hope is lie on an oil type called as algae biodiesel. It needs hot places and grows on water. There is a plan to create algae reactors on deserts where it can use the heat to create oil. A research says that to fulfill oil consumptions in US alone, the algae farm must match the current corn plantation area in US, and luckily it can be planted in isolated deserts in southern USA.
So, it's likely that in 50 years...biodiesel futures trading is a huge market where we can invest on sustainable energy.
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