Oil execs: Crisis coming, but not because of scarcity

The Earth is not about to run out of oil.

According to executives of major oil companies, the planet has plenty of oil to feed growing demand for energy. It’s just getting more difficult and more expensive to produce the oil that’s left.
So difficult, in fact, that the head of Hess Corp. predicts the globe could face shortages, price spikes and maybe even political instability in the next decade or so.

“An oil crisis is coming, and sooner than most people think,” Hess chief executive John Hess said during a panel discussion at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates annual conference.

“We need to act now. Unfortunately, we are behaving in ways that suggest we do not know there is a serious problem,” he said.

At issue is whether oil companies are investing enough money to boost production to meet swiftly growing demand and whether governments are setting up hurdles to that process.

Mr. Hess’ colleagues sounded more reassuring about their ability to meet demand, but they also said people will have to pay more money and exert more effort to get the energy they need in the future.

“The supply challenge is really not one of scarcity as some believe,” said Exxon Mobil Corp. senior vice president Mark Albers.

He said the challenges are finding the technology to draw the oil out of the ground and setting up free trade rules to allow oil to flow to market.

Dallas Morning News