US Petroleum Industry Draft Sees Energy Demand Soaring

…Houston investment banker Matthew Simmons takes a pessimistic view. He believes the world should be preparing for sharply lower oil production. He points out the NPC study didn’t squarely address one important issue raised by Mr. Bodman in requesting the study: the point at which global oil production will plateau and then begin to decline, often referred to by the shorthand term “peak oil.”

“We should be preparing for a time when, in 10, 15 or 20 years, oil production is likely to be 40 million barrels a day to 60 million barrels a day, not 120 million,” he said.


The NPC study noted that total global endowment of fossil fuels appears to be huge, but only a fraction of those estimated volumes can be produced because of technical constraints. It said the Earth’s underground stores of oil were estimated at 13 trillion barrels to 15 trillion barrels.

Wall St. Journal