According to an article printed in
The Guardian during November, there may not be as much oil on the world market as we originally thought. The article revealed the grim truth about the slow production and rapid consumption of oil, and what we can expect in the near future.
The article posited that certain agencies responsible for providing the information have deliberately misinformed the global community in, what the paper reported, was an attempt to protect the markets from over-consumption.
According to an anonymous source at the International Energy Agency, the world has much less economically producible oil than we realize. The figures published by the IEA, understood to be accurate representations of the potential for oil production, have been intentionally skewed in an attempt to avoid a global panic and over-consumption, says the source.
The agency’s World Energy Outlook has consistently been the source of the current status and future expectations of our international oil supply and demand for several governments and industries. The report is frequently taken into consideration by CEO’s worldwide before every fiscal year, acting as the basis for several major decisions. These decisions effect the implementation of energy policies and the revising of business plans based on how the IEA claims the energy markets are functioning.
In 2005, the IEA projected the potential to produce 120 million barrels a day by 2030. This was first lowered to 116 million and last year lowered again to 105 million.
The source at the IEA said that, “Many inside the organization believe that maintaining oil supplies at even 90 million to 95 million barrels a day would be impossible but there are fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further. “
In fact, it is possible that at the current production rate of 83 million barrels a day, we have already reached the “peak oil” zone and will soon be on a path of decline.
What does this mean for natural gas?
John Hemming, chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on peak oil and gas of the British Parliament, pointed out the effect that this development would have on upcoming climate talks.
“This all gives an importance to the Copenhagen [climate change] talks and an urgent need for the UK to move faster towards a more sustainable [lower carbon] economy if it is to avoid severe economic dislocation.”
It can no longer be argued that the utilization of natural gas is a luxury that we cannot afford. With this latest insight into the true status of our oil reserves, the utilization of natural gas is now, more than ever, a necessity that we cannot ignore
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