I haven't read any of the articles so this may have already been answered but....
Were the wells actually empty or were they just not "economically viable" to get oil out of? And are they full now or is it simply economically viable to now get what oil was left in them?
Canada has some of the biggest oil fields in the world, it's just that it is all in the form of "sand oil"(or something like that, comes out a thick mud rather than black liquid). They've never been exploited because with oil being historically so cheap, there wasn't enough profit in it. Suddenly now it is profitable to exploit those fields and so they are in the initial stages of doing so. This isn't "new oil" it's just oil that is now worth going after.
I do agree that "Peak oil production" and the "scarcity" issues are way overblown and being used to artificially keep oil prices high. I think at the rate we are using oil up we will eventually run out. I just don't think it will be anywhere near as soon as the pundits seem to think.
I also don't think those issues are being ramped so much to control the plebs who can easily be controlled through work though. I think it's simply so the oil owners and producers can make bucket loads of money.
That's my two cents worth and I freely admit I may(probably am even) be wrong.
Cheers,
PKFFW
