Thanks for a very interesting article. The details about the fractions of different kindsof oil distillates are new to me.

I'd like to add a bit of additional perspective.

First, while people assume that our population will forever increase if we don't do something to stop it, the demographers predict it will peak in this century. If you look at fertility rates, a large number of countries are already headed for the sort of steep decline seen in Japan, especially the more developed countries. One factor that drives the decline is greatly lowered infant mortality - a result of both prosperity and medical advances.

Also, if you have enough cheap energy, you can substitute for diesel - at least as a power source. You can produce, for example, pressurized hydrogen, even if the overall cycle is quite energy efficient. The main downside is energy density - it takes more room to store than hydrocarbons of the same energy.

For that matter, you can burn the lighter distillates of petroleum in engines designed for it, and power ships, trucks, etc - heavy equipment. Diesel has its advantages, but it isn't necessary for many of the applications where it is used.

So I favor a "Operation Warp Speed" for nuclear power, using factory made modular reactors - to greatly reduce permitting time (and time = money), and increase safety and flexibility. And I favor more "fracking" (horizontal drilling plus hydraulic fracturing) to liberate especially natural gas - much cleaner than coal, and also petroleum.

If we are smart about this, the planet can maintain a technological civilization at or above the scale it is now at. But it will not be cheap to transition.