Oil prices will stay low thanks to reduced demand right? Wrong.

But there are important differences between now--Brown believes a depression is currently unfolding--and the previous depression that actually bodes ill for oil supplies and prices. First, instead of expanding rapidly as oil production did in the 1930s, production is now stagnating and will perhaps decline as exploration and drilling efforts continue to plummet. Second, the world today has not just millions of people wanting to become car owners, but hundreds of millions, located mostly in Asia. Many still have the means to pay and will probably continue to buy cars, adding significantly to oil demand even during this economic downturn.

NVDL: All this information leads me to believe that 1) a Greater Depression is a virtual certainty, 2) it will be accompanied by a host of problems we didn't have in 1929, from climate change, to food shortages to...who woulda thunk...fuel shortages.

clipped from scitizen.com Well, what about demand?  Isn't falling demand, which is a consequence of the ongoing financial crisis, going to ease the pressure on oil supplies and delay the day of reckoning?  Not really, according to Brown.  He looks back to the 1930s for some guidance.  Even during the Great Depression worldwide oil consumption fell in only one year, 1930.  After that it rose every year.  And, so did prices, on average 11% percent per year from 1931 through 1937 (measured in constant dollars).  By 1937 there were 3 million more cars on American roads than at the beginning of the decade which accounts in part for the pressure on oil prices.