In the context of this text, it is a fine example, but they were definitely talking about "easily obtained high quality oil", not shale oil, which as the articl

In the context of this text, it is a fine example, but they were definitely talking about "easily obtained high quality oil", not shale oil, which as the article suggests, was thought to be largely unobtainable at reasonable cost. So, people who love cheap oil seized upon this as proof that doomsaying such as this and Malthusian theory was just wrong. Obviously, even not withstanding shale oil or even abiotic production of oil, we will eventually outstrip our ability to pump oil if we just continue to grow our usage of it ad infinitum.