Help me answer this question about oil?

Question

forty years ago some scientists predicted that there would be no oil left by the year 2000, but they were wrong. One reason is that modern engines are more efficient than in the past so they use less fuel. Give two other reasons why the scientists were wrong.

Answer 1

I will refrain from calling them idiots.  The reason is that there is far more oil than they realized.  They often base their guess when oil is going to run out on current reserves.  Reserves are known oil that can be extracted at todays prices.  When the price goes up, the volume in the reserves increases dramatically.  Technology improves chances of making new finds and increases yields.

Answer 2

New oil reserves are always being discovered.

New technologies for rejuvenating older oil fields are being constantly developed.

Answer 3

1) the government and the people must have reacted positively to their warning and effected necessary measures to prevent such tragedy from happening.

2) they didn't know how much oil there is... if they did, they'd be businessmen -not scientists..

Answer 4

No Real scientist in the field of petroleum research ever thought

that we would run out of oil. There was an government induced

panic in the seventies that was Allowed to drive up the price of

oil so that we could afford to drill elsewhere.  Just like now, we

are not JUST discovering all these new oil sources. They have

been known or highly expected for decades but until now the cost

of extracting it exceded its value.  Its not underhanded its just

hard economics.

Answer 5

Probably because scientists are overpaid people that make up bogus theories which rarely come true... Scientists ARE the people that said we evolved from monkeys, and THAT'S certainly not true, don't ya think??? This isn't exactly helpful but it's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it :)