The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that the era of cheap oil is over. They warn that crude oil prices will soon skyrocket above $100 a barrel and that by 2030 this will double with fields in the North Sea and in other areas of the world getting depleted faster than expected.
The IEA, which acts as an energy policy advisor to 28 countries, was founded during the oil crisis of 1973-74. It says that more than $26 trillion of investment would be needed over the next few years to help countries of the world achieve energy independence.
At the moment, market fluctuations have caused prices to fall but this trend will not last long.
On a brighter note they categorically stated that it wasn't that the world was running out of resources, the risk to supply was that there was a lack of investment in the right areas. Total world oil production isn't projected to peak before 2030 but the more easily accessible sources of crude or conventional oil will most likely plateau towards the end of that period. Besides that, energy sources are concentrated with a few people, largely being confined to the OPEC producer's cartel. It is Non- OPEC oil production that is projected to decline by the middle of the next decade.
Information from The Guardian website.
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