Well duh. We've only started taking it seriously.
We'll replace it with maybe bio-fuel or electricity i'm not sure i'm no scientist.
In regards to how the economy will deal with it. Are you saying without oil an economy can't exist? As long as demand is the same for its replacement the world economy will be unaffected in the long term. If the world opts for electricity the economy will keep itself busy make solar farms, hydro electrical plants etc. which creates just as many if not more jobs. The transition is the tricky part but there are some forward thinking politicians and economists smart enough to figure that out for us so we don't have to.
Anyway i'm off to bed
Do you understand how much oil is consumed for production purposes? About one half of all oil consumption is due to the processes of goods production, whether it be for the factories or the actual products themselves that have petroleum as a main input.
If you have factories that run on oil, goods that run on oil, transportation that runs on oil, you have a lot of stuff to replace if we want to use alternative energy sources. Stuff that firms cannot replace because it's simply too expensive. An economy can exist without oil, but when everything is based upon oil, which it is, there will be pain and suffering during the period where the economy tries to get off the oil fix. It's like a crack fiend trying to shake the addiction.
And to delay the suffering, they will fight for what is left. It's that simple.
And the politicians? These "smart
" politicians (what a joke that is. these people are absolute dunderheads who can just talk to appease the masses) have been rejecting alternative energy sources for years, especially in nuclear energy. Only when the light sweet crude price at the NYMEX shot up to 140 people took notice.