World's need for oil is ebbing quickly

The steep continued drop in Chinese oil use is one of the main reasons analysts are now predicting that world-wide crude consumption will decline both this year and next. The world's need for oil is ebbing so quickly that big producers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran may not be able to trim production fast enough, leading to an oversupply that some analysts now say could keep prices below $50 a barrel for all of next year.The US Energy Information Administration said in December 2008 that it expected global oil demand to slump by 50,000 barrels a day this year and 450,000 barrels a day next year, representing the first year-to-year drop in world oil demand since 1983

New Brazilian oil

The Tupi field holds an estimated 5 to 8 billion barrels of oil. The nearby Iara field holds up to 4 billion barrels. But analysts estimate that the region could contain up to 80 billion barrels, about the same as Venezuela.

There is plenty of oil

At the end of 2007 total remaining proved reserves stood at around 2.3 trillion barrels of oil equivalent. At today's consumption rates, we believe we have around 40 years of proven oil reserves, 60 years of natural gas, and 130 years of coal.
The task facing the world is to bring this oil and gas to market. These resources are found in increasingly challenging environments - in the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa; in the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa and Brazil; and in the Alaskan and Russian Arctic.

Turning these resources into reserves and then production is going to require ingenuity, innovation and technology. Indeed I believe that capability is now the industry's greatest challenge. Many experienced people are retiring; there are fewer graduates with the right qualifications, and not enough of them are joining the industry. This is why we are increasing the scale of our graduate recruiting, and upskilling the capability of our current employees through the establishment of BP academies for operations and projects in partnership with leading universities. read

The world has 1.3 trillion barrels of proven reserves, enough for 40 years at current rates of consumption. “Peak oil is about geology,” notes Marianne Kah, chief economist at ConocoPhillips. “I don’t think we are running out of oil. We are running out of access to oil.”

Kah is right: there is plenty of oil. But it cannot be withdrawn at will like money from an A.T.M.; wells yield only so much liquid per day. And since the flow from aging wells declines by about 5 percent a year, producers that stand pat will shrink. To stay even requires investment — and usually, the incentive of a high price. It also takes time. read

oil prices, adjusted for inflation, not at peak

Increased oil non-OPEC

Russia holds the world's largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves, and the eighth largest oil reserves. Russia is also the world's largest exporter of natural gas, the second largest oil exporter and the third largest energy consumer.

World would rather have lower oil than bailouts

The world would rather have lower oil than all the bailout plans in the world

Driven by concerns a worsening financial crisis in the U.S. is crimping energy demand. U.S. oil use is declining faster than expected, while European consumption is falling and OPEC production capacity is increasing, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere within OPEC are set to increase capacity within the exporting group by about 3 million barrels a day in the next 18 months Refinery expansions and new projects will add about 900,000 barrels a day of distillate and 700,000 barrels a day of gasoline production capacity. here