Peak Oil Theories Wrong, Oil Boss Says

[937]

September 11, 2006 - 2:04PM

The world has an abundant supply of oil, and high petrol prices are just the reality of a globally-traded commodity, ExxonMobil Australia chairman Mark Nolan says.

Mr Nolan used his speech to the Asia Pacific oil and gas conference in Adelaide on Monday to debunk the theory of peak oil, which suggests oil supplies have peaked and will dwindle over the next 20 years.

Such predictions, he said, had been around since the 1920s, particularly at times of high oil prices.

"The fact is that the world has an abundance of oil and there is little question, scientifically, that abundant energy resources exist," Mr Nolan said.

"According to the US Geological Survey, the earth currently has more than three trillion barrels of conventional, recoverable oil resources.

"So far we have produced one trillion."

Mr Nolan said the oil industry had always underestimated the extent of global resources and the ability of technology to both extend the life of existing oil and gas fields and find new ones.

"We should not forget that we can recover almost twice as much oil today as when we first discovered it over 100 years ago," he said.

"And when you consider that a further 10 per cent increase in recoverability will deliver 800 billion barrels of oil to our recoverable total, we have every reason to be sure that the end of oil is nowhere in sight."

Mr Nolan said that by 2030, conventional fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) would still account for 80 per cent of the world's energy requirements.

But Mr Nolan said it was very difficult to predict what would happen in the future with both crude oil and petrol prices.

"They are both regionally traded commodities, they are priced by the market, priced by the region," he said.

"The fuel price is ultimately driven by the source of the product, which is the crude price, and of course that is traded regionally and internationally."

Mr Nolan's comments were endorsed by the president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Eve Sprunt, who said the proponents of peak oil theory often confused oil reserves with available resources.

"When you are talking about reserves, you are only talking about a very small fraction of the total resource base," she said.

"The reserves are the portion for which the infrastructure is largely in place, the technology is in place and that can be produced at the current oil price.

"But if you are planning for the long-term energy future of your country you need to understand the resource base.

"The whole name of the game is moving resources into the reserves category."

Ms Sprunt said high oil prices also presented opportunities such as the viable development of other fuels.

"It's a time when new alternatives emerge," she said.

2006 AAP

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Peak-o...7826859227.html

[RHR]

According to that we have used bugger all of the oil in reserves so why in the hell are we still paying so much....

In my opinion they are using scare tactics to justify jacking the prices up.. Its good to see it finally going down though. I heard on the news that prices in sydney went down as low as 1.16 litre

[TurboDewd]

Of course the head of Exxon reckons we have loads of oil - coz he doesnt want ppl to start looking for alternatives.

From what Ive sean peak oil is virtually on us with loads of countries past their prime in the oil producing dept, inc. Oz.

But the market will ensure that petrol lasts a long time coz when it becomes expensive alternatives become viable.

[sixfan]

A quick lesson in geology phrases:

A Reserve is an measured and / or indicated resource (of a substance) that has undergone a feasability study to prove that it can be removed)

A Resource is a deposit of a substance that is either measured, indicated or inferred. This deposit can be classified as a reserve once a feasability study is performed.

Generally the Reserve is a 1/10 of the resource.

As the Oil price goes up, it becomes economic to extract oil from more sources, (V deep wells, Oil sands / shale and coal), at $60 a barrel Oil sands are economic and there are vast reserves that aren't yet quoted.

The world will never run out of Oil.

[SCRIBR]

The world will never run out of Oil.

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that's a big call...

[johng]

Who cares if we have enough oil in 2030? If we keep burning fossil fuels for another 25 years, we are going to be f*cked anyway from global warming.

[sixfan]

The world will never run out of Oil.

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that's a big call...

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I'll put a carton on it.

[Blonk]

Yep of course the oil bosses tell us to keep using oil like there is no tomorrow...

Its not like there huge bonuses are attached to increased oil use or anything is it????

Or is it????

[Lumpen]

The world will never run out of Oil.

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that's a big call...

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I'll put a carton on it.

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I'll back a case of Grange on it...

Lumpy

[Kimberley Scott]

1st of all I dont wont to appear cynical

Secondly I dont know what is happening in the rest of the world

But The government offered rebates on LPG, and then fuel prices come down.

Is there any connection?

Scotty