What matters, and what has worked for over 100 years, is cumulative production - currently 7 to 8 million barrels of oil per day in the U.S. Every barrel contributes, even production from wells that make 1 barrel per day. And yes, a one barrel per day well can be profitable at $70/barrel.
As to infrastructure "all over the place" - the half million wells I mentioned may consist of groups of a few wells to a few hundred wells. The oil is pumped into storage tanks that are drained by tank trucks that take it to a central facility and from there via pipeline to a refinery or another larger receiving facility.
This "all or nothing" notion to energy policy has been killing us for decades. Do we honestly need to jump head first into a "green" renewable/sustainable economy at the risk of destroying our ability to continue finding and producing hydrocarbons?
This is what gets me about the green crowd- total commitment to a singular agenda without regard to the contribution of an industry that has contributed so much to our economy, security, and quality of life for over 100 years.
Within 5-10 years, you're not gonna have much of a choice. So you'd better start investment in renewables now, while there is (fiat) money to invest.
As for EROEI, which you summarily ignored, I'll put it to you this way, and hopefully you'll understand how it relates to growth:
You have a continent, and I have a continent. Exploration reveals that your continent "might contain as much as" a trillion barrels of sweet, light crude, while mine has proven reserves of 250 billion. My find is centrally located in 2 or 3 big pools, not far from the shore and distribution points. Your finds are sprinkled over hundreds of locations, from deep under water to far, far inland, requiring infrastructure and permits for each and every location. Worse, your finds are so far under bedrock and salt formations, that the recoverable total with any semblance of a slightly positive EROEI is somewhere around 10-15%. Worse still, your supply routes are hindered by civil unrest and sabotage. Now then, who's oil industry (and, thus, who's economy) is going to prosper? Yours or mine?
I don't believe some people have a solid grasp of just how much the exploration models, infrastructure, extraction and refinery and distribution costs affect EROEI. Your "cumulative" factor is moot if it costs 1:1 to get the stuff to market. Even 2:1 or 3:1 is NOT SUSTAINING GROWTH for our economic paradigm predicated upon 7% expansion each year.
The fact of the matter is, they have not found a significant pool of light crude anywhere on God's green Earth in over 30 years. A lot of kiddie pools, but nothing abundant so as to keep up with skyrocketing demand. That shortfall is going to be 10 million barrels per day for our species, as confirmed by the IEA, the EIA, the Joint Chiefs, Total Oil, and our own Dept. of Energy.
