Former President Bush energy adviser says oil is running out
Robin Pagnamenta, Energy and Environment Editor
The era of globalisation is over and rocketing energy prices mean the world is poised for the re-emergence of regional economies based on locally produced goods and services, according to a former energy adviser to President Bush and the pioneer of the “peak oil” theory.
Matt Simmons, chief executive of Simmons & Company, a Houston energy consultancy, said that global oil production had peaked in 2005 and was set for a steep decline from present levels of about 85 million barrels per day. “By 2015, I think we would be lucky to be producing 60 million barrels and we should worry about producing only 40 million,” he told The Times.
His controversial views, rejected by many mainstream experts, suggest that some of the world's biggest oilfields, particularly in Kuwait and those of Saudi Arabia, the world's leading producer, are in decline. “It's just the law of numbers,” he said. “A lot of these oilfields are 40 years old. Once they roll over, they roll over very fast.”
Mr Simmons asserted that this, coupled with soaring global energy demand, meant that world oil prices were likely to continue rising. He said that even at present record highs of more than $140 a barrel, oil remained relatively inexpensive, especially in the US, the world's biggest market. “We are just spoiled rotten in the US,” he said. “It's still cheap.”
Rising prices will force a tectonic shift in the structure of the global economy by destroying the rationale for shipping many goods, such as food, over long distances, he said. “This is already happening. In the US, our local farms, ranches and dairies are booming. They are having a huge comeback.”
Mr Simmons set out a radical vision of the future, envisaging a society in which food and many other essentials are sourced and consumed locally and increasing numbers of people work from home. He claimed that the alternative was increasing political instability and conflict over the planet's diminishing resources. “We are living in an unsustainable society,” he said. “If we don't change we are just going to start fighting one another...So let's just start assuming the worst and plan for it.”
However, only this month, BP disclosed figures which indicated that the world had 1.24 trillion proven barrels of oil left in the ground - more than 40 years' worth at current rates of production. BP said that known global reserves had actually increased by 168.5 billion barrels, or 14 per cent, over the past decade. Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, said: “The good news is the world is not running out of oil.”
BP blamed a lack of investment and access to reserves, rather than geology, for why global oil production was sputtering.
Mr Simmons claimed that many countries had overstated their reserves for political purposes and that so-called flow rates were a better indicator of recoverable volumes. He said that the quality of oil produced by Saudi Arabia and other big exporters was declining.
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