Whenever I become involved in a discussion of why the process of switching to a fuel source other than petroleum is so slow, other people usually say that the major oil companies do not wish for society to switch so that they can continue to profit from the production of petroleum-based fuels.
However, petroleum is a limited resource, and people are mining it from the Earth at a rate faster than it can be replenished (it takes millions of years to form), so the world's supply of petroleum will inevitably be depleted, and if society has not yet made the transition to an alternative source of energy, we shall all be in great trouble when that depletion finally does occur.
In my mind, the best course of action for the oil companies to take would be to invest a portion of their vast resources into the research and development of alternative fuel sources, to be ready for when the world's supply of petroleum finally expires (or, hopefully, before then), so that the world does not become a Mad Max-style barren wasteland due to scarcity of fuel (interesting fact: the first Mad Max film was inspired by actual riots that occurred in Australia in the late 1970's when there was a sudden shortage of gasoline).
What does everyone else say about this? What shall the major oil companies do when the world's supply of oil finally does expire, if they have not prepared for that catastrophe?