Coal. Detestable coal.

Politically incorrect coal.

The stuff of Dickens' England. Black-lung disease. Strip-mining. And global warming.

Coal is the 'Rodney Dangerfield of energy forms,' because, like the late comedian, it gets no respect.

Have you ever heard of a positive association regarding coal? As a child in the United States, way back in the twentieth century, you dared not misbehave prior to the holidays, lest you get, coal in your stocking.

(No one ever spoke of a reprimand involving 'getting oil in your stocking.' No sir. Oil is considered 'black gold.')

Well, in the near future you and many others may look favorably on collecting coal, and a lot of it, if current trends continue regarding that other notable energy form, oil.

On the heels of Cambridge Energy Research Associates study arguing that new oil finds are replacing declining production at existing oil fields, a BP economist said the world is more likely to switch away from oil as opposed to running out of the commodity in the decades ahead, Reuters reported.

BP plc (ADR) (NYSE: BP) Special Economic Advisor Peter Davies also told ministers from Britain's Parliament that world oil production is likely to peak -- but not due to any "peak oil" scenario involving declining recoverable supplies and/or declining production -- but rather due to declining demand, Reuters reported.

"I think we will run out of demand before we run out of supply," Davies said, Reuters reported. "There's a distinct possibility that global oil consumption could peak as a result of climate policies."

Existing oil field output is declining about 4.5% annually, but new fields are making up for that production decline, a study by Cambridge Energy Research Associates concludes, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. (Subscription required.)

The annual decline from existing fields is about 4 million barrels per day -- about the amount oil No. 4 oil producer Iran produces per day -- with new fields offsetting the loses. The study is based on data from 811 fields, The Journal reported.

Depletion rates are one measure that oil sector analysts use to gauge current productivity, proven reserves that can be extracted, and probable future production output.

The measure also provides evidence for the ongoing debate in oil circles regarding the ultimate size of oil supplies -- with exploration bulls arguing that oil is decades away from a production top, and others, peak oil theorists, arguing that global oil production is likely to peak in the decade ahead, if not sooner. The debate is complicated by the fact that reliable production data on field-by-field production is not available from several key oil-producing nations, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.

India announced Tuesday that it wants oil sector giants ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX), among others, to bid and explore for oil and gas in the country, on concerns that oil may hit $150 per barrel, Bloomberg News reported.

India, Asia's third-largest oil consumer, does not have the technology to search for and extract oil/gas from deep waters and in remote regions, and the nation is concerned that rising energy demand and rising prices will complicate the access to energy it needs to sustain its growing economy.

Predicts $150 oil

"In the next two to three years we expect prices to reach $150 a barrel," India's Oil Secretary M.S. Srinivasan told Bloomberg News on Tuesday. "Given this scenario, we are putting in more efforts in our exploration and production.''

Oil rose $1.75 to $96.75 in mid-day trading Tuesday. Oil rose an alarming 57% in 2007 and reached $100.09 on January 3, 2008. Oil hit an all-time high, in inflation-adjusted terms, of $102.80 in April 1980.

Insights summarizes an idea or business official making financial news, and emphasizes the impact on the typical investor.

Oil industry expert T. Boone Pickens has made news again, and also generated some chatter in Wall Street circles, but this time not for an oil price prediction.

Earlier, Pickens predicted that crude oil, which Tuesday traded around $85 per barrel, would hit $100 -- perhaps as early as Q4 2007.

This time Pickens made headlines by stating to Bloomberg News that global oil production has already peaked at 85 million barrels per day. In other words, "peak oil" has already arrived. Pickens, chairman of BP Capital LLC, spoke at a conference sponsored by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas, a non-profit research group.

This week's U.S. News & World Report, (August 13) features a series of articles collectively entitled "1957 -- A Year That Changed America Culturally, Scientifically, and Politically."

In the issue the magazine "takes a look at this seminal year -- one that planted the roots for a new America." Among the reports included:

• "Eisenhower Confronts a Political and Moral Crisis in Little Rock"
• "Sen. Strom Thurmond Sets a Filibuster Record to Hold Off Integration"
• "With Launch of Sputnik, the Soviets Open a New Frontier and Ignite the Space Race"
• "John Glenn Orbits the Earth, Setting Another Record"
• "The Dodgers Move to California, and the World Follows"
• "From the Wreckage of World War II Came a Vision for a Unified Europe"
• "The Bloody Battle of Algiers Demonstrated a Terrorist Playbook"
• "Ghana's Independence Set Off a Chain of Freedom in Africa"
• "The Edsel Went From Wundercar to Laughingstock"
• "The Laser Beam Revolutionized Medicine and Industry"