Era of cheap oil over: Venezuela company official

The era of cheap oil is over and prices will not go back to $30-40 a barrel again, according to Mr Luis F. Vierma, Vice-President (E&P) of Petroleos De Venezuela SA (PDVSA), Venezuela’s national oil company.

“Oil prices will stay where they are now and may head to $60 in the near future,” he said on the sidelines of the ongoing Petrotech 2007 international oil and gas conference.

In a presentation on `Upstream business in the next decade,’ Mr Vierma said that the three major challenges facing the global oil industry are inadequate refining capacity, scarcity of rigs and shortage of skilled human resources.

“We don’t have enough refineries now and there are not going to be enough refineries in future to take care of all the oil that’s produced.”

Hindu Business Line