Peak oil: the point at which oil-producing countries, faced with diminishing crude reserves, can no longer keep pace with growing demand. Has the world already reached it, or is the point of irrevocable decline still decades away? That is the slippery question that frames the narrative of this program as experts from around the world give their views on factors associated with escalating oil concerns: soaring global demand, market speculation, lack of timely upgrades to oil-refining production chains, political turmoil in oil-producing countries, rising costs to explore and tap remote oil fields, and the global oil supply itself, an unknown—and, in the case of Saudi Arabia, an undisclosed—quantity. Although deep-sea drilling and fuel from tar sands, liquefied coal, ethanol, and biodiesel are touched upon, the program offers no pat solution to the peak oil crisis. (46 minutes)