AdamB wrote:... in Mexico. 3 times. Once in the 60's...and then it peaked again in the 90's...and then again around 2004!!!!
Each one...an ALL TIME MAXIMUM LEVEL!!!!
Actually no.
You are making two mistakes in your thinking here.
The first mistake is that you don't understand some very simple and basic mathematical concepts, such as determining which of two or three numbers is the largest.
Now pay close attention:
The rate of oil production in Mexico was higher in 2004 then it was in either the 60s or 90s. Therefore peak oil definitely didn't occur in Mexico in the 1960s or the 1990s.
Got that? Its pretty simple math so lets assume you get it now and go on to your next basic mistake.
The second mistake you are making involves the definition of peak oil. An oil province or a country or the world can only be said to have reached peak oil AFTER all the potential oil resources in the country are explored and mostly developed and produced.
In the 1960s and indeed in the 1990s Mexico oil resources were poorly explored because oil exploration was greatly curtailed in Mexico after Mexico nationalized its oil industry in 1938. No one in their right mind (except apparently you) thought Mexico was hitting peak oil in the 1960s or even in the 1990s because large areas of the country hadn't even been adequately explored and tested for oil resources.
So little exploration work was done that Cantarell, Mexico's only supergiant oil field, was only discovered in the 1970s. Then after Cantarell was discovered Pemex coasted for another couple of decades and did relatively little exploration work.
Since Cantarell went into decline Pemex has launched into active exploration again of their major oil provinces, but still hasn't found much of anything, so their oil production continues to decline. Just a short while ago Pemex opened up their oil industry to foreigners for the first time since 1938, but so far that has't produced any major new finds either.
In the absence of new oil production that will surpass the peak levels of production Mexico reached before production at Cantarell collapsed, Peak Oil in Mexico occurred in 2004.
Get it now?
Pemex is still looking but so far hasn't found enough oil to totally replace Cantarell, which peaked in 2004, resulting in a 30% decline in Mexican oil production since then.
Cheers!