ABSTRACT
The term "total liquid fuels production" refers to the total production of crude oil, natural gas liquids, other liquids, and refinery reprocessing gains. This chapter first presents the historical relationship between the world economic growth rate and the annual change in oil consumption from 1981 to 2012. In 1982, M. King Hubbert summarized his method of predicting oil production peak, and assumed that a country's oil production would follow the pattern of a bell-like logistic curve. It also highlights the oil production of Saudi Arabia and Russia, which are the world's top two producers, as well as those of the United States (US) and China. Russia's and Saudi Arabia's acceptable oil prices will exceed the US's affordable oil prices by the late 2030s. The oil exporters' acceptable oil prices will exceed China's affordable oil prices by the 2040s. 'Hubbert linearization' is a common technique used to predict the ultimately recoverable amount of a nonrenewable resource.
