Today, oil is the most important and valuable internationally traded commodity, and its significance to our civilization is underscored by the recurrent worry that we are running out of it. However, statistical estimates of its depletion hide much more than they reveal.
现今，石油是最重要和最有价值的国际贸易商品。它对我们文明的重要性由于我们对其消耗殆尽的担忧而更加凸显。然而，消耗预测的统计数据只为我们展现了冰山的一角。一座典型的油田的产出只占其储量的20%，有近63%的资源深藏于地下，即便用当今最先进的技术也无法开采。