Carter claimed that peak oil occured during his administration, I'm not sure that's the case but we did have that nasty oil crisis in the seventies. From what I have read, back then the pumps could only draw so much of the oil from their wells, leaving many gallons in the reserve untouchable. Finally somebody discovered that you could pump water back into these wells and extract more oil out that way, separating the water out once is was it was freed from those pesky wells. Scientists have been able to calculate the amount of oil left in these depleted reserves by the percentage of oil versus water return. All of them agree, we are on short supply. By as sson as 2012, from some sources in the peak oil trade (meaning macro-economics people that study specifically oil as a market) we could be consuming more oil than we are able to produce. This doesn't mean all of the oil will be spent, but at the current rate of consumption, with other markets like India and China ramping up, we do not have the capacity to satisfyh everyone's needs. Hence our excursion in Afghanistan, Iraq, headed to Iran, lookin real mean and giving the ugly eye to Chavez (democratically elected dictator) and are completely embarassed by Brazil and Greenland. Oh, and let's not forget at how pissed we are with China, who brokered a deal behind our backs with Saudis to take 13% more oil from "our" share in trade for arms and technology.