Enough oil to last ‘for at least another 30 years’

Australia’s rural economic forecaster has challenged predictions the world is about to run out of oil, saying ithas enough to last for at least another 30 years.

ABARE chief Phillip Glyde told a Senate estimates committee yesterday that the peak-oil school of thought, which holds that reserves are near depletion, was wrong. “The rough level of reserves to production remains the same, so we are confident there is not a physical limit to supply over the next 30 years, which is the period we’re talking about – simple as that,” he said.
Mr Glyde cited the trebling of spending on petroleum exploration in Australia to $3.23 billion in 2007-08 as a pointer to the heightened worldwide effort to find new sources of oil.

And he noted that BP said in 2006 the reserve production ratio was about 40 years – the same prediction made in 1986. “My view would be we’re not going back to the (oil price) levels that we had in the 80s or 90s,” Mr Glyde said. “Because of the scarcity issue, we’re probably going to be at a higher real level than what we were in the 70s, but we strongly believe it’s going to come down.”

The Australian