Sleepwalking toward the oil precipice

The time has come to discuss what we can expect from OPEC as it relates to our prosperity in the coming decade. After 2010, crude produced outside the cartel will plateau and gradually decline, so any growth in the conventional oil supply must come from OPEC.

OECD policy-makers and consumers must now understand that OPEC’s short term policy on supply-side relief, which is not to provide any, is also their longer term policy. Do not count on OPEC to bail us out of the oil crunch. We must adjust our expectations to reflect reality, not our hopes and dreams.


Delusional expectations placed upon OPEC’s ability and willingness to expand the oil supply are going to make our lives untenable within a few short years. Harmful price impacts are already happening now. For most citizens, future impacts will far outweigh questions about who the next president of the United States will be as things stand now. In the absence of a major and immediate policy shift in the United States that aims to substantially reduce our oil consumption, it will be OPEC, not our elected government or “Big Oil” companies, that sets the minimum (floor) prices for liquids fuels.

Energy Bulletin