RE: Tough to pump more oil, even at $100Tough to pump more oil, even at $100
https://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20080109&t=2&i=2711178&w=&r=2008-01-09T102008Z_01_L07257056_RTRUKOP_0_PICTURE0" border=0>
By Peg Mackey and Alex Lawler - Analysis
While global oil demand is projected to grow to more than 100 million barrels per day later this century, some argue it may not be possible to boost flows beyond the current rate of some 86 million bpd.
Supply still falls short even after so-called unconventional oils extracted from tar sands and converted from natural gas are taken into account, said Sadad al-Husseini, a former top official at state oil giant Saudi Aramco.
"Today's oil prices are high because there are limited new supplies," Husseini, who ran exploration and production at the Saudi state oil company from 1986-2002, told Reuters. "There's a history now. We're several years into level production."
In 1980, when crude first hit an inflation-adjusted high of $100, the pace of drilling by producing countries and major oil companies became fast and furious, leading to rising output and a price collapse in 1986.
It remains to be seen whether they will respond the same way this time, even after a six-year price rally that sent crude through $100 for the first time last week.
Conventional supply from outside OPEC has missed forecasts in recent years and appears for now to have hit an "effective plateau", according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), adviser to industrialized countries. Continued...
https://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSL0725705620080109">https://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSL0725705620080109