What's the deal of the world reaching peak oil? Are we truly reaching a point to where we are unable to meet oil demand?

A couple of years ago during the gas crunch people were throwing about all ideas of when we were going to reach peak oil, (the point where we are no longer able to meet world oil demand). Do you think we are truly hitting that point in the near future? Is there any way we can avoid an economical collapse if we indeed are unable to meet new oil demands