In
an op-ed for the Middle East Economic Survey last week, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais called on those predicting the end of oil to take it a bit easier because these predictions could be dangerous—especially since oil demand is very much not declining as the predictions say.
“Such assertions, despite all evidence to the contrary, are all the more dangerous given their potential to foster energy policies that stoke energy chaos,” Al Ghais said, citing a report by the Economist on, as he put it, “the end of oil.”
Interestingly enough, the Economist has published
several articles
recently on
the topic of peak oil in evidence of the importance of the topic and, perhaps more importantly, the importance that some appear to see in trying to convince the public that human civilization can and should survive without oil. But, asks OPEC’s head, “What if investments in supply fall as a result, but demand for oil keeps increasing, as we are seeing today?”
This is not a new argument. In fact, it is OPEC’s main argument in the war of words with organizations such as the International Energy Agency, which last year
called “the beginning of the end” of the oil and gas era, forecasting demand for all three hydrocarbon fuels would peak by 2030.
