Predictions that global oil supply will keep up with demand may be just plain wrong, says some peak-oil-preaching wacko the world’s leading energy monitor. The International Energy Agency is in the midst of its first rigorous survey of global oil supply, and has indicated that future supplies may be tighter than expected. “The prices are very high, and demand did not respond in the last few years as much as one would have expected,” says Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist and lead author of the study. He also said, “The oil investments required may be much, much higher than what people assume. This is a dangerous situation.” Or, it could be said, a perfect situation for weaning an addicted country off its oil fix — though that’s likely to be drowned out by increased clamoring for drilling off the U.S. coast and in the Arctic Refuge.
