"It makes this debate, I think, a debate. Because up to now, I think, there has been a strong overwhelming majority view that oil supplies have peaked and indeed we are simply going to find each year we have less and less oil," says Dr. Walden, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. "But this new discovery, I think, has stirred up those folks who give an alternative view which says, ‘Actually new technology for finding and extracting oil could substantially increase oil supplies down the road.’

"Indeed, one very respected think tank that works on energy says oil supplies could increase by as much as 25 percent in the next 10 years," Walden adds. "If this is accurate, obviously this is going to have big implications for oil prices as well as the economic vulnerability of oil alternatives."