This might be a silly question but..what happens when all the oil runs out?

Question

can civilisation continue?

Answer 1

Civilization will not end even if oil runs out. Now if it's water that runs out, that's a different story. For now, we should worry about taking care of the environment and looking for alternative energy sources because you are right: Oil will run out soon.

Answer 2

Yes civilisation will continue.  An example of this has happened before in Germany in wwII where they lost access to oil fields in Romania.  Hence they developed a synthetic fuel created from coal.  If its good enough to fuel piston engines in fighters, and tanks, then it is surely good enough for cars.

On a side note, if the oil was to run out, it would impact on plastics/pharmaceutical productions, as crude serves as feedstocks for many other important chemicals other than gasoline/petrol.