CrEATING A SUSTAINAbLE S U P PLY CHA I N
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A further incentive to reduce the transport-intensity arises from the continued
upward pressure on oil-based fuel costs, which will only intensify as oil reserves
become depleted.
Peak oil
The concept of ‘peak oil’ originated as far back as 1956 when Dr Marion King
Hubbert, a geologist at Shell, first coined the phrase. What he recognised was that
all oil production, whether from an individual field, a country or the entire world, fol-
lows a normal distribution, i.e. a bell-shaped curve. All the current indications are
that we have reached the top of that curve, or that we shortly will. Even with new
discoveries, the total amount of oil reserves will still be in decline once the peak ...