We experienced similiar fears in the 1880s, at the end of World War I and II. And we ran out in the 1970s.

A premium in the oil price of somewhere between 10 to 15 dollars a barrel reflects this heightened anxiety.

But the key thing is that Iraq, while it's got very large oil reserves, has marginalized itself as an oil exporter and these days its exports are only about one tenth that of neighboring Saudi Arabia.

We experienced similiar fears in the 1880s, at the end of World War I and II. And we ran out in the 1970s.

Even Silicon Valley investors have put well over a $1 billion in new energy technologies.

First, we have to find a common vocabulary for energy security. This notion has a radically different meaning for different people. For Americans it is a geopolitical question. For the Europeans right now it is very much focused on the dependence on imported natural gas.

The world has produced about 1 trillion barrels of oil since the start of the industry in the nineteenth century. Currently, it is thought that there are at least 5 trillion barrels of petroleum resources, of which 1.4 trillion is sufficiently developed and technically and economically accessible.