Regarding the expected longevity of oil and gas discoveries in the North Sea in the early/mid 70's. Most regarded development of North Sea fields as a short term solution. Hamilton Brothers Argyll Field (first to come on stream in the UK Sector) was predicted as being viable for about 15 years, BP Forties about 30 years, in the Norwegian sector Ekofisk was expected to last 50 years. Advances in technology have resulted in all those fields still being in production today. Currently if Norway does not look for any further discoveries, her existing fields will produce for the next 75 years.

The best example in the UK is BP's Wytch Farm field, an on-shore development in Dorset, dating back to the 1920's. In 1992 plans were being made to decommission the production facilities at Wytch Farm. BP used the site for the development and trials of horizontal directional drilling techniques. This meant that initially they had to drill down deeper than the target depth for the original wells. What they then discovered was that the original Wytch Farm reservoir was in fact a seep hole from a much larger reservoir located directly underneath the original field. Decommissioning plans were scrapped and the field became one of BP's best earners in the mid-1990's.

So I think that in making his statement (quoted by Wolfgang) in 1971, Holdren was not referring to babes in arms when he mentioned the present day population.

Halliburton, by the way Frank, does not produce oil.