The coming oil crisis (?)

I got started thinking about this a while back. I've been looking at many websites and information source, and I'm convinced that world oil production is going to start declining within the next 10-15 years. Now, we could argue about that till we're all blue in the face, so lets not; but supposing there was an oil crisis, the US economy would suffer from mass inflation and just maybe collapse. I'm afraid that there will be much less funds available to sponsor space development (both government and private), and fewer rich folks willing to become paying tourists (unless you go to Saudi Arabia). This could be a real disaster, and though I've always wanted to go into aerospace engineering, I don't know if the industry is going to be in good shape in the future. Any thoughts?

[Yes, I originally brought this up in the Cafe' under "The Reason" but I didn't explain it very well and I was off-topic to begin with.]

Space in general is going to be taking a hit--and space tourism will as well. I actually think that it might be a better idea to support Griffin's plan--and to focus private space efforts on non-space engineering projects. I would love to see a Bering Strait Bridge/Tunnel built so we can ship oil in from the Eastern parts of the Former Soviet Union.

As it stands, we are paying for the rebuilding of the Caliphate. If Russian were to get the oil money currently being sent to the Moslem world--there is no doubt in my mind that they would make better use of it.

More Klipers, less Palm Islands.

I wouldn't get to worried about scarcity of oil just yet

i really don't see an oil crisis affecting investment in space- if anything it would be incentive for more investment, for space solar power or some other nonsense like that. after all, the space elevator will be a serious possibility by the time we start having to worry about where our next tank of gas is coming from (admittedly i do agree that this could be as soon as 20 years, though likely closer to 50).

Regarding oil and space...

About a month ago, there was a meeting in Stavanger (oil capitol of Norway) with the local suppliers, Statoil, Norwegian Space Centre, ESA and NASA representatives. The purpose of this meeting was technology transfer.

The article in Norwegian: http://aftenbladet.no/energi/olje/10377 ... _NASA.html
(Tried to find a good translation tool, but everything was more confusing than before)

I work in one of those suppliers (http://www.acergy-group.com) so these are exciting times with regards to oil and space. The idea behind it all is that the job we do is more or less the same, with remote operated vehicles, huge construction tasks in harsh environments, etc.