Simmons strikes again

Matt Simmons, head of his eponymous Houston energy investment bank Simmons & Co. International, is always one for controversy. His theory that the world has reached peak oil — that is, our oil production has hit the highest it ever will and it’s downhill from here — enraged oil company executives and oil-producing nations alike and spawned the 1995 book, “Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy,” which became an international bestseller.

His latest tirade, presented at Gulf Publishing Co.’s Energy Hot Topics Forum in Houston on Tuesday: that the oil industry can’t plan for the future if it doesn’t have adequate supply information, manpower and equipment, all of which are lacking.

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