röviden: még néhány évszázadig lesz olaj, nem olyan olcsó, mint a közel-keleti, de nem is olyan drága, hogy ne érje meg kitermelni.

Conclusion

As we have seen, there is far more oil in the world than the oil reserve estimates given for the Middle East. If the Veneuelans are right, there is enough oil in Venezuela alone to power the world for 44 years (at 27.3 billion barrels of world consuption per year). Similar or greater reserves exist in the Athabasca tar sands and other unconventional reserves that push actual world reserve life well out into the 22nd century. These are not as cheap as Middle Eastern reserves, but they are not prohibitively expensive either. Nor can all of the unconventional oil be recovered. Estimates range from 15 percent upwards. On the other hand, there may be a number of these unconventional oil fields in other nations -- Russia and Madagascar also have heavy oil fields.

The argument here is that it is a fallacy to entirely omit unconventional oil from strategic thinking.

World oil estimates presented by the Department of Energy are grossly inaccurate and should be corrected, at the very least to conform with US Geological Survey estimates, but also to take into account all kinds of oil deposits.

The premise for US involvement in the Arab Middle East -- its oil wealth -- is not wrong per se. However, the idea that the Middle East is the ONLY area of the world with large oil reserves, or that US involvement is inevitable, is, rather plainly, a fallacy of staggering propotions.

Certain conclusions may be drawn:

First, to the extent that oil reserves are a factor in Middle Eastern politics, it would be possible to greatly reduce the stakes and open some avenues to peace. US and European disengagement from oil dependency on the Middle East is not at all impossible, nor does it depend on renewable, nuclear or other alternative energy with varying degrees of reliability.

Secondly, it's going to be a long time before we run out of oil. There is plenty of it in Venezuela, Canada, Russia and other parts of the world. At current consumption rates, oil reserve life will be measured in centuries. As consumers we may see this as good news. Whatever happens in the Middle East, there will be plenty of oil in the end. As people concerned about the environment, we may see it as very bad news. Oil will remain cheap long after serious damage from climate change starts to mount.

Finally, the "invisible hand" of the marketplace will not come to our rescue. Energy, is in the end, a political matter. We will have to rely on government, not oil scarcity, for limits to environmental damage and politically destabilizing dependencies.