The diploma thesis focuses on world oil supply and aims to distinguish symptoms undoubtedly pointing to a possibly upcoming era of altered consumption and extraction patterns of oil products, which will be launched by "peak oil" -- a point when oil production reaches its maximum continues to decline. The thesis' objective is to analyse the probability of peak oil occurring and possible implications for world economy and selected countries. If proven true, it provides a an answer to the question whether the world economy can survive peaking without repercussions or whether it will shrink and decline into crisis. The first part defines the supply of oil and -- it's an overview of conventional and unconventional types of oil, petroleum products, oil fields, extraction techniques, energy effectiveness and substitutes. Furthermore, it defines "peak oil", it clarifies its history, strives to determine its possible date and compares it with the current oil situation. The second part surveys general implications of peak oil for world economics and politics -- it observes an unsatisfied oil demand, impact on the outputs of economies and the role of oil in economic crises. The political part follows with possible changes in the field of international politics. Lastly it tries to determine the effect on American suburbia. The third and final part is dedicated to selected countries, which are either important exporters or importers.

This thesis examines the current state of crude oil extraction and production in the Greater Burgan oilfield, Kuwait's largest and oldest oilfield. This thesis is based on interviews with oilfield workers, analyses of official documents from the Kuwaiti government and the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), and my own experience as an oilfield worker in Kuwait. through this, I trace the changing social and environmental relationships in the Burgan oilfield. Through Actor-Network-Theory and Assemblage Theory, I explore the different actors and the power dynamics negotiated between actants in the oil industry. Specifically, I am interested in how economic and social relationships are assembled in oil economies, how oil dependency impacts society, and how we can prepare for a future without oil. Burgan reservoirs have shifted from natural production to artificial lift, indicating that Burgan has reached its oil production peak. This plateau in oil production has incited KOC to further invest in technology, to compensate for the anticipation in oil production shortfalls. Furthermore, I examine how 'cultures' are created around oil in the oilfields. This leads me to ask how labour security, safety, and dependencies are negotiated in relation to global processes. I conclude that the declining profitability of the oil market is compensated for by lower salaries, the deterioration of working conditions and worker rights. Finally, I explore the long-term health and environmental effects, and how their mitigation is negotiated in the oilfields. The study highlights the practice of gas flaring as leading to carbon emissions in extraction of oil and shows that the official data on flaring is underrepresented. In addition, a lack of awareness and mitigation around Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) is highlighted and discussed. Finally, the argument is made that the traditional oil industry in Kuwait is disassembling, KOC now invests in oil markets else-where to compensate for losses. As shown here, oilfield workers are the first point of contact in this complex situation, so they should be considered in the transition process.

A importância do petróleo tem sido revisada nos últimos anos, principalmente pelo reconhecimento de sua função estratégico-militar, tanto no século XX, onde o controle sobre este recurso permitiu a ascensão de grandes potências, como em alguns dos conflitos atuais. Estes passaram a incluir a África nas disputas globais por petróleo. O contexto mundial se torna complexo com o aprofundamento da crise petrolífera mundial, em meio a crise de acumulação de capitais e hegemonia, ambas iniciadas nos anos 1970. O aumento dos conflitos regionais e a intensa competição entre as grandes potências por recursos energéticos cada vez mais escassos, passam a ser variáveis essenciais para a análise dos problemas de Segurança Internacional. Neste contexto o continente africano, responsável por 12% da produção petrolífera mundial, ganha ainda maior relevância global por ter dobrado o volume de suas reservas, que na porção subsaariana aumentou quase três vezes desde os anos 1980. As disputas por petróleo se misturam em meio a conflitos históricos ampliando-os e gerando novos ciclos de violência. Nos maiores produtores subsaarianos como Angola, Nigéria e Sudão, ampliam e criam novas disputas entre governo e províncias produtoras. No nível global, corporações estadunidenses e chinesas passam a disputar diretamente o acesso ao petróleo africano, apoiados pelos respectivos governos que intensificam sua presença regional na forma de investimentos, acordos comerciais, diplomáticos e militares, de treinamento e defesa, transferência de armas e instalação de bases militares. Assim, o petróleo se torna central, tanto para entender a atual dinâmica destes conflitos subsaarianos, no nível regional, como nas disputas por influência no subcontinente envolvendo China e Estados Unidos. / The importance of oil has been revised in the latest years, mainly due to its strategic-military function, not only in the twentieth century, when control over this resource allowed the rise of great powers, but also in current conflicts. The latest included Africa in the global disputes over oil. Global context becomes complex as the world-wide oil crisis gets deeper, during the crisis of capital accumulation and hegemony, both having started in the 1970s. The intensification of regional conflicts and intense competition among great powers over increasingly scarce energetic resources are essential variables to the analysis of International Security problems. In this context, the African continent, responsible for 12% of world oil production, becomes globally more relevant for having doubled its reserves volume. In the subsaharan portion it has almost tripled since the 1980s. Disputes over oil make historical conflicts greater and create new cycles of violence. In the greatest sub-shaharan oil producers, such as Angola, Nigeria and Sudan these conflicts create new disputes between government and producing provinces. In a global level, North-American and Chinese corporations compete directly for access to African oil, supported by the respective governments that intensify their regional presence in the form of investments, commercial, diplomatic and military agreements, training and defense agreements, transference of weapons and installation of military bases. Thus, oil becomes central to understand the current dynamics of these sub-saharian conflicts in the regional level as well as the disputes for influence on the subcontinent involving China and United States of America.

A importância do petróleo tem sido revisada nos últimos anos, principalmente pelo reconhecimento de sua função estratégico-militar, tanto no século XX, onde o controle sobre este recurso permitiu a ascensão de grandes potências, como em alguns dos conflitos atuais. Estes passaram a incluir a África nas disputas globais por petróleo. O contexto mundial se torna complexo com o aprofundamento da crise petrolífera mundial, em meio a crise de acumulação de capitais e hegemonia, ambas iniciadas nos anos 1970. O aumento dos conflitos regionais e a intensa competição entre as grandes potências por recursos energéticos cada vez mais escassos, passam a ser variáveis essenciais para a análise dos problemas de Segurança Internacional. Neste contexto o continente africano, responsável por 12% da produção petrolífera mundial, ganha ainda maior relevância global por ter dobrado o volume de suas reservas, que na porção subsaariana aumentou quase três vezes desde os anos 1980. As disputas por petróleo se misturam em meio a conflitos históricos ampliando-os e gerando novos ciclos de violência. Nos maiores produtores subsaarianos como Angola, Nigéria e Sudão, ampliam e criam novas disputas entre governo e províncias produtoras. No nível global, corporações estadunidenses e chinesas passam a disputar diretamente o acesso ao petróleo africano, apoiados pelos respectivos governos que intensificam sua presença regional na forma de investimentos, acordos comerciais, diplomáticos e militares, de treinamento e defesa, transferência de armas e instalação de bases militares. Assim, o petróleo se torna central, tanto para entender a atual dinâmica destes conflitos subsaarianos, no nível regional, como nas disputas por influência no subcontinente envolvendo China e Estados Unidos. / The importance of oil has been revised in the latest years, mainly due to its strategic-military function, not only in the twentieth century, when control over this resource allowed the rise of great powers, but also in current conflicts. The latest included Africa in the global disputes over oil. Global context becomes complex as the world-wide oil crisis gets deeper, during the crisis of capital accumulation and hegemony, both having started in the 1970s. The intensification of regional conflicts and intense competition among great powers over increasingly scarce energetic resources are essential variables to the analysis of International Security problems. In this context, the African continent, responsible for 12% of world oil production, becomes globally more relevant for having doubled its reserves volume. In the subsaharan portion it has almost tripled since the 1980s. Disputes over oil make historical conflicts greater and create new cycles of violence. In the greatest sub-shaharan oil producers, such as Angola, Nigeria and Sudan these conflicts create new disputes between government and producing provinces. In a global level, North-American and Chinese corporations compete directly for access to African oil, supported by the respective governments that intensify their regional presence in the form of investments, commercial, diplomatic and military agreements, training and defense agreements, transference of weapons and installation of military bases. Thus, oil becomes central to understand the current dynamics of these sub-saharian conflicts in the regional level as well as the disputes for influence on the subcontinent involving China and United States of America.

A importância do petróleo tem sido revisada nos últimos anos, principalmente pelo reconhecimento de sua função estratégico-militar, tanto no século XX, onde o controle sobre este recurso permitiu a ascensão de grandes potências, como em alguns dos conflitos atuais. Estes passaram a incluir a África nas disputas globais por petróleo. O contexto mundial se torna complexo com o aprofundamento da crise petrolífera mundial, em meio a crise de acumulação de capitais e hegemonia, ambas iniciadas nos anos 1970. O aumento dos conflitos regionais e a intensa competição entre as grandes potências por recursos energéticos cada vez mais escassos, passam a ser variáveis essenciais para a análise dos problemas de Segurança Internacional. Neste contexto o continente africano, responsável por 12% da produção petrolífera mundial, ganha ainda maior relevância global por ter dobrado o volume de suas reservas, que na porção subsaariana aumentou quase três vezes desde os anos 1980. As disputas por petróleo se misturam em meio a conflitos históricos ampliando-os e gerando novos ciclos de violência. Nos maiores produtores subsaarianos como Angola, Nigéria e Sudão, ampliam e criam novas disputas entre governo e províncias produtoras. No nível global, corporações estadunidenses e chinesas passam a disputar diretamente o acesso ao petróleo africano, apoiados pelos respectivos governos que intensificam sua presença regional na forma de investimentos, acordos comerciais, diplomáticos e militares, de treinamento e defesa, transferência de armas e instalação de bases militares. Assim, o petróleo se torna central, tanto para entender a atual dinâmica destes conflitos subsaarianos, no nível regional, como nas disputas por influência no subcontinente envolvendo China e Estados Unidos. / The importance of oil has been revised in the latest years, mainly due to its strategic-military function, not only in the twentieth century, when control over this resource allowed the rise of great powers, but also in current conflicts. The latest included Africa in the global disputes over oil. Global context becomes complex as the world-wide oil crisis gets deeper, during the crisis of capital accumulation and hegemony, both having started in the 1970s. The intensification of regional conflicts and intense competition among great powers over increasingly scarce energetic resources are essential variables to the analysis of International Security problems. In this context, the African continent, responsible for 12% of world oil production, becomes globally more relevant for having doubled its reserves volume. In the subsaharan portion it has almost tripled since the 1980s. Disputes over oil make historical conflicts greater and create new cycles of violence. In the greatest sub-shaharan oil producers, such as Angola, Nigeria and Sudan these conflicts create new disputes between government and producing provinces. In a global level, North-American and Chinese corporations compete directly for access to African oil, supported by the respective governments that intensify their regional presence in the form of investments, commercial, diplomatic and military agreements, training and defense agreements, transference of weapons and installation of military bases. Thus, oil becomes central to understand the current dynamics of these sub-saharian conflicts in the regional level as well as the disputes for influence on the subcontinent involving China and United States of America.