I don't think the subsidies should be permanent but I would be very leery of cutting them off too early. Should oil prices drop (stranger things have happened) the industry could be suddenly put in dire straits. We need to continue the subsidies at least a few more years to insure the industry has solid footing and is a viable enterprise. Otherwise all the progress we are making in exploring alternative energy could make a big backslide, and we do not really want that to happen. There should be lots of different attempts at alternative energy sources. Some will prove long term viable, some short term help and some will ultimately fail. We need to keep looking for alternatives. This is a long term goal, not something that will happen in just a few years.

Some day I believe oil as an energy source will go the way of coal, it will still be used but not needed to near the extent is once was. There were dire predictions that the finite source of coal would bring down the industrial revolution in Europe as the coal ran out (coal was what fired all of the early industrial revolution). Well the coal didn't run out as we found other sources of energy to replace it (oil and gas). Oil will also be replaced someday as the primary energy provider (even though that is hard to fathom right now with the way we depend on it). We need to continually look for alternative energy sources from many different angles, and technology will come up with answers for us. But if we don't look, the answers will never be found. I think it is appropriate for our government to encourage alternatives from a national security standpoint. It is not good to be as dependent on oil as we are right now.

Hunger of the world is not because of a lack of food, it is because of improper government in poor countries. 

John