The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, concerns the long-term rate of conventional oil (and other fossil fuel) extraction and depletion. It is named after American geophysicist M. King Hubbert, who created a model of known reserves, and proposed, in 1956, in a paper he presented [1] at a meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, that oil production in the continental United States would peak between 1965 and 1970; and that world production would peak in 2000.

U.S. oil production peaked in 1971 [2], and has been decreasing since then. Global production did not peak in 2000, but Hubbert's model did not account for the 1973 and 1979 OPEC oil shocks, which effectively reduced global demand for oil and delayed the peak.