Oil is increasingly important in the world today and this article presents the basic properties of fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. The history of oil is divided into four phases and explains the most important characteristics and events of each phase. As economies tend to grow and living standards are improving, the demand for more energy, especially oil, is a greater need and necessary to provide. With all the proven reserves, it is difficult to predict how long this journey with oil will last, but everything depends on future discoveries, consumption and use of alternative fuels. Due to this evident decline in conventional oil production, population growth, among other factors, methods as Fisher-Tropsch pays attention to the production of alternative fuels from non-oil sources such as coal, natural gas or biomass. A brief explanation of the method is laid out and the increase in production of these fuels derived from this method, particularly from natural gas (GTL), is summarized. Two different positions regarding global peak oil are presented, those who believe in a near date for peak oil (most of them in the range 2005-2012) and those who believe in a distant peak oil. Major organizations such as the EIA believe that global peak oil will not be reached before 2035 while the IEA believes that the peak was reached in 2006, this difference is based on the different approximations and types of simulations used. In this paper we present the fundamental concepts and evidence that oil production has decreased and this decrease is greater for non-OPEC countries. Furthermore, this article focuses on the literature analysis that summarizes the actual information on the state of oil.1. IntroductionNow... middle of paper... to control the price and production of oil. OPEC forced multinational oil companies to agree to increase oil taxes, repeatedly adapt oil policy, and recover the large concession to nationalize the country's oil resources. They adopted a limited production pricing policy in the oversupply situation of the world oil market in the early 1980s, dominating the world oil industry (Li, 2013). The fourth phase runs from 1973 to today. From 1987 to 1999, the price level fluctuated to the extent that supply and demand can accept and depend more on the markets. The price of crude oil continues to rise after 1999 and still maintains a high level. Therefore, the world's oil industry is growing rapidly, so much so that changes in the oil market are endless, making it very difficult to predict precise trends in the oil industry (China University of Petroleum, 2011).