What is the term for the point at which global oil production reaches its maximum and then declines? The term is peak oil.
Peak oil describes the point when petroleum production reaches its highest sustainable rate before entering a long-term decline. The idea concerns the rate of extraction, not the moment when the world literally runs out of oil. Production can continue for decades after a peak, but usually at a falling rate or with increasingly difficult and expensive resources.
The concept is strongly associated with American geologist M. King Hubbert. In 1956, he used production data and reserve estimates to predict that U.S. oil output would peak around 1970. U.S. production did reach a conventional-oil peak around that period, although later offshore production and hydraulic fracturing changed the broader picture.
Peak oil is often confused with the Hubbert curve, which is a model used to describe a rise, peak, and decline in production. “Oil depletion” is the underlying process, while “oil crisis” refers to a disruption or shortage—not necessarily a geological production peak.