Tough to pump more oil, even at $100

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil at $100 a barrel should give exporters every incentive to pump more, but their difficulty in doing so shows the world is struggling to sustain production.

A growing number of leading industry figures — the CEOs of Total and ConocoPhillips among them — now question mainstream forecasts for supply, suggesting the era of “plateau oil” is nearer than many in the business have admitted.


While global oil demand is projected to grow to more than 100 million barrels per day later this century, some argue it may not be possible to boost flows beyond the current rate of some 86 million bpd.

Supply still falls short even after so-called unconventional oils extracted from tar sands and converted from natural gas are taken into account, said Sadad al-Husseini, a former top official at state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

“Today’s oil prices are high because there are limited new supplies,” Husseini, who ran exploration and production at the Saudi state oil company from 1986-2002, told Reuters. “There’s a history now. We’re several years into level production.”

Reuters