by Starvid » Mon 12 Nov 2007, 01:40:42
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'T')he IEA says that the global natural decline rate is 8 % and that new investments in old fields (workovers and suchlike) is reducing it to 3,7 %.
That's the amount (85*0,037=3,2 mbpd) of new production we need every year just to stay flat. Then demand is growing at about 1 mbdp every year, on top of that.
So we need about 4,2 mbpd of brand new production from new fields, every year. One Saudi Arabia's worth of production (not reserves though) every 24 months...
edit: Uh.... My point being...
Buy oil?

Oil production in Jan. 2004 was 82.2mbd. If the natural decline rate is 8%, we lost roughly 6.6mbd in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, for a total loss of 26.4mbd over 4 years.
Meanwhile production today is roughly 84.3mbd. Therefore, if the natural decline is 8%, the world added (2.1+26.4) = 28.5 mbd in 4 years. That's roughly 3 Saudi Arabias in 4 years.
So it's not that hard to add a Saudi Arabia's worth of oil. We did it 3 times in the last 4 years, by your own accounting.
Yeah, but the natural decline rate in old fields is not what's important. It would be if we didn't manage our fields at all, but we do. That's why decline rates aren't 8 % but 3,7%.