During the energy boom, oilmen used the analogy of an accelerating treadmill to explain why they were powerless to reverse soaring prices – they were getting progressively less for their exploration dollars. Between 2000 and 2008, spending quadrupled but supply growth barely budged. Meanwhile, fresh demand from the developing world gobbled up what little could be eked out. Since about half of the world's oil production comes from slowly-declining giant and supergiant fields and about a third from those discovered prior to the 1970s, more and more small, complex fields would have to be exploited just to maintain output.
在能源熱潮期，石油業高管們用不斷加速的跑步機打比方，來解釋為何他們對于扭轉油價飚升的趨勢無能為力——同等開發成本能開采到的石油越來越少。在2000年至2008年期間，開采支出增加了3倍，但供應量增長幾乎原地未動。與此同時，好不容易增加的少量供應也被來自發展中國家的新需求一搶而空。由于全球近半數的石油產出來自于儲量慢慢減少的巨型和超巨型油田，而且近三分之一來自于上世紀70年代前發現的油田，因此，為了維持產量，將不得不開采越來越多復雜的小型油田。