History Main / PostPeakOil

* ''Film/MadMax'' (or at least ''Film/MadMax2'') is a definite TropeCodifier for this, and a lot of dystopias where oil is valuable as gold are explicit references to the film. It is the oil shortages that began the nuclear war that resulted in the AfterTheEnd setting.
* ''Film/TheLastChase'' (1981)

* ''Film/MadMax'' (or at least ''Mad Max 2'') is a definite TropeCodifier for this, and a lot of dystopias where oil is valuable as gold are explicit references to the film. It is the oil shortages that began the nuclear war that resulted in the AfterTheEnd setting.

* ''TheLastChase'' (1981)

* ''{{VideoGame/Oiligarchy]]'': The game is about you playing an oil company executive and engaging in extremely evil actions to get the oil. No matter what you do, the oil reserves will eventually run out. Your choices :[[spoiler: GDP crashes thus bringing an end to Western Civilization, a nuclear war breaks out, and you spend your last days thinking how you brought the world to the end, start turning humans into oil, or stop bribing the US government so they can create a world that is less dependent on oil.]]

* ''CallOfDutyGhosts'' has the antagonist faction, the Federation, begin its rise to power after something happened to the Middle East. The game's narration says they were "destroyed", but not much else is given.
* ''[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Oiligarchy Oiligarchy]]'': The game is about you playing an oil company executive and engaging in extremely evil actions to get the oil. No matter what you do, the oil reserves will eventually run out. Your choices :[[spoiler: GDP crashes thus bringing an end to Western Civilization, a nuclear war breaks out, and you spend your last days thinking how you brought the world to the end, start turning humans into oil, or stop bribing the US government so they can create a world that is less dependent on oil.]]

* In ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom'' by Creator/HarryHarrison, cities effectively become their own totally isolated city states when the oil becomes too rare to use. The only form of travel mentioned are large freighters (shipping food to the millions effectively trapped in cities).

* ''[[VideoGame/Oiligarchy]]'': The game is about you playing an oil company executive and engaging in extremely evil actions to get the oil. No matter what you do, the oil reserves will eventually run out. Your choices :[[spoiler: GDP crashes thus bringing an end to Western Civilization, a nuclear war breaks out, and you spend your last days thinking how you brought the world to the end, start turning humans into oil, or stop bribing the US government so they can create a world that is less dependent on oil.]]

* ''VideoGame/Oiligarchy'': The game is about you playing an oil company executive and engaging in extremely evil actions to get the oil. No matter what you do, the oil reserves will eventually run out. Your choices :[[spoiler: GDP crashes thus bringing an end to Western Civilization, a nuclear war breaks out, and you spend your last days thinking how you brought the world to the end, start turning humans into oil, or stop bribing the US government so they can create a world that is less dependent on oil.]]

* Some experts believe Peak Oil has already been passed, sometimes as far back as ''2006''.

Nothing in this world is forever, and that includes fossils fuels. Sooner or later, they will run out. The world relies heavily on petroleum products not only for powering machinery, but for using that same machinery to transport products from A to B, to pave roads, to making plastics, to creating certain materials, to help making nitrogen-based fertilizers, the list goes on.

* The transition to this and the aftermath is one of the main challenges in most FateOfTheWorld scenarios. Depending upon how well you (literally) play your cards; the transition to a post-oil society can be anywhere from fairly painless to resulting in biosphere collapse and the extinction of humanity. Averted in the Cornucopia scenario, in which fossil fuel reserves are self-replenishing but still cause environmental havoc.

* ''CallOfDutyGhosts'' has the antagonist faction, the Federation, begin its rise to power after something happened to the Middle East. The game's narration says they were "destroyed" but not much else is given.

* It is somewhat debatable how much damage peak oil would do in real life, and it's generally only the fringe that believes that it would cause civilization to collapse. The {{UsefulNotes/Economics}} page explores this in the Resource Halt section. A brief explanation, however, says that sellers of oil would start withholding stock to prepare for the scarcity, and oil's price, in event of supplies becoming less available, would slowly rise over time forcing humanity to adapt by either finding a new resource/technology, or increasing energy efficiency and, in some cases, possibly reverting to non-oil-powered technologies (electric trains, organic farming[[note]]Most commercial fertilizers are made using petroleum.[[/note]], et cetera). One of the most commonly cited effects, which is already being seen in some parts of the US now that $4 a gallon gasoline is a reality, is a reversal of the trend towards {{suburb|ia}}an development and a greater focus on city and town centers. Now, a ''sudden'' temporary decrease in availability (such as embargoes, disruption of some sort in production, or transportation routes being cut off), or a war for oil spilling over into a larger conflict, can have nasty consequences, but would most likely only to regional areas, rather than the entire planet.
** This is happening now, to some extent. Currently in the US, 30 mpg is considered "good gas mileage" while 40 is considered ''really'' good. Look at articles from the era of the 1974 oil-embargo crisis - the first time since WorldWarTwo that there had been a gas-price shock - and be amazed at the references to 15 mpg "compacts" and how a 25 mpg VW Beetle was spoken of in terms now used for a 50 mpg Prius.
*** With modern age engines, tires and non-congested open roads, 200-plus hp turbocharged cars (VW Golf [=GTI=], Subaru Impreza [=WRX=]) can easily make 30-32 mpg.

** Second, the '''true''' amount of recoverable oil in the ground is just as relative, since exploration is permanently underway, and therefore oil reserves (as opposed to ''resources'' - total recoverable oil, regardless of economics) have always increased in most oil-producing countries. Venezuela has produced oil ever since 1907, and despite the gigantic exports [[TheNewTens in the modern days]], their oil reserves ''tripled'' from 2010 to 2012 just because a larger amount of extra heavy oil became recoverable.

* Technically, there are ways to produce liquid fuels from gas or coal; the resulting product is costly, but within reasonable limits. And there is really a lot of coal on Earth. And even after coal exhaustion, there are ways to produce liquid fuels from biomass (for example growing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_biofuel oil-producing algae]]) that are in development even now, so-called biodiesel.

* Some experts believe Peak Oil has already been passed, sometimes as back as ''2006''

* ''{{VideoGame/Fallout}}'': Before the Great War, peak oil was the cause of the Resource Wars that devastated both Europe and the Middle East. Gas prices reached up to $1450.99 per gallon for regular (possibly also reflecting inflation of the dollar). The United States (and possibly China) were only saved by going to an all-nuclear society, while the rest of the world ended up collapsing. It was all made moot however, when everyone started to sling nukes at each other.

*** Also, the prices of gasoline/petrol at the time of writing (late 2013) haven't gotten so expensive that they are simply unaffordable to purchase for everyday citizens. While the prices do suck, they aren't devastating to a greater portion of the population, and the drawbacks of many alternative fuels, and "halfway fuels" like E85 (lower efficiency, price not that much difference, can only be used with certain vehicles that cost more than what would you would save on fuel), keep them behind gas/petrol. Now, jack up the prices of gas/petrol sky high, then you'll see a stronger push for alternative fuels and vehicles that can utilize them.

How it is explored depends on the work in question. In some works, it could just be a nasty bump on the road that led to some troubled times, but was overcome by discovering a new fuel source, reverting back to a simpler time, or [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]]. Typically, though, this trope doesn't have a positive side, and is usually a device to explain why the setting [[CrapsackWorld sucks so much,]] or in a AfterTheEnd setting, what caused the apocalypse. What little fuel remains to be sold will have sky high prices that only the wealthy can afford. Prices of everything else will be extremely high, thanks to increased transportation costs, usually leading to people starving in the streets. Law and order will break down as people become more and more desperate, resulting in mob rule in most cases.

Nothing in this world is forever, and that includes fossils fuels. Sooner or later, they will run out. The world relies heavily on petroleum products not only for powering machinery, but for using that same machinery to transport products from A to B, to pave roads, to making plastics, to creating certain materials, to paving roads, to help making nitrogen-based fertilizers, the list goes on.

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** First, when Hubbert Peak Theory had been devised in 1956, conventional drilling recovery rates were miserable, maybe 5-10 percent of the oil in ground, while modern post-[[TheSeventies 1970s]] drilling technology recovers 25-35 percent and newest and costliest drilling maybe 65 percent. This means an oilfield regarded as exhausted during Marion K. Hubbert's life may be producing nowadays just fine.
** Second, the '''true''' amount of recoverable oil in the ground is just as relative, since exploration is permanently underway, and therefore oil reserves (as opposed to ''resources'' - total recoverable oil, regardless of economics) have always increased in most oil-producing countries. Venezuela produces oil ever since 1907 and despite the gigantic exports [[TheNewTens in the modern days]] the oil reserves ''tripled'' from 2010 to 2012 just because a larger amount of extra heavy oil become recoverable.

* Technically, ways to produce liquid fuels from gas or coal do exist and resulting product is costly, but within reasonable limits. And there is really much coal on Earth. And even after coal exhaustion, there are ways to produce liquid fuels from biomass (for example, growing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_biofuel oil-producing algae]]), that are in development even now, so-called biodiesel.
* The 2008 non-fiction book ''$20 per Gallon'' by Chris Steiner explores the potential consequences of gas reaching such a price on the United States and comes to some surprisingly hopeful conclusions about how it would affect our environment and health. Fewer people driving means cleaner air, healthier local produce as food shipping becomes prohibitively expensive, more exercise as we start walking more, a return of manufacturing jobs to the U.S. as shipping products from around the globe becomes less cost-effective, multi-billion dollar national health care savings as we become healthier.... Keep in mind, however, that Steiner also fully expected us to have reached $8 per gallon by now and as of 2014 prices are rising much more slowly than he predicted, so take the rest of his predictions with a grain of salt as well.

** Second, the '''true''' amount of recoverable oil in the ground is just as relative, since exploration is permanently underway, and therefore oil reserves (as opposed to ''resources'' - total recoverable oil, regardless economics) have always increased in most oil-producing countries. Venezuela produces oil ever since 1907 and despite the gigantic exports [[TheNewTens in the modern days]] the oil reserves ''tripled'' from 2010 to 2012 just because a larger amount of extra heavy oil become recoverable.

* Lampshaded in one of the Literature/AliceGirlFromTheFuture books, where the heroes are looking at a planet all contact with which was lost three centuries ago, and see it is low tech. One of them (a WrongGenreSavvy guy) states the planet must have wasted its fuel, but the others point out the planet was advanced enough for alternatives. In the end, it turns out the matter was much more serious ([[spoiler:a planet wide LaserGuidedAmnesia field]]).

In a worse case scenario, nations go to war over the last remaining fuel reserves, resulting in a massive global war, the outcome usually being an AfterTheEnd setting at worst, or at best, an even crappier world than before.

How it is explored depends on the work in question. In some works, it could just be a nasty bump on the road that lead to some troubled times, but was overcome by discovering a new fuel source, reverting back to a simpler time, or a third option. Typically though, this trope doesn't have a positive side, and is usually a device to explain why the setting [[CrapsackWorld sucks so much,]] or in a AfterTheEnd setting, what caused the apocalypse. What little fuel remains to be sold will have sky high prices that only the wealthy can afford. Prices of everything else will be extremely high, thanks to increased transportation costs, usually leading to people starving in the streets. Law and order will break down as people become more and more desperate, resulting in mob rule in most cases.

* The 2008 non-fiction book ''$20 per Gallon'' by Chris Steiner explores the potential consequences of gas reaching such a price on the United States and comes to some surprisingly hopeful conclusions about how it would affect our environment and health. Fewer people driving means cleaner air, healthier local produce as food shipping becomes prohibitively expensive, more exercise as we start walking more, a return of manufacturing jobs to the U.S. as shipping products from around the globe becomes less cost-effective, multi-billion dollar national health care savings as we become healthier.... Keep in mind, however, that Steiner also fully expected us to have reached $8 per gallon by now and as of 2014 prices are rising much slower than he predicted, so take the rest of his predictions with a grain of salt as well.

* Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's ''Always Coming Home'' features a post-industrial society without oil. Most societies manage without advanced technology, but there are AI's maintaining a database and a version of Internet (the book was published in 1985!). One expansionist state decided to build a few military planes. Turned out it was CoolButInefficient under the circumstances. As in "the empire collapses after a year due to wasting all their food making biofuel".

Nothing in this world is forever, and that includes fossils fuels. Sooner or later, they will run out. The world relies heavily on petroleum products not only for powering machinery, but for using that same machinery to transport products from A to B, to pave roads, to making plastics, to creating certain materials, to help making nitrogen-based fertilizers, the list goes on.

In a worse case scenario, nations go to war over the last remaining fuel reserves, resulting in a massive global war, the outcome usually being an AfterTheEnd setting, or at best, an even crappier world than before.

*** With modern age engines, tyres and non-congested open roads, 200-plus hp turbocharged cars (VW Golf [=GTI=], Subaru Impreza [=WRX=]) can easily make 30-32 mpg.