BP CEO: ‘Peak oil’ talk quieted by abundance

HOUSTON – BP CEO Robert Dudley said booming oil-and-gas production from sources including onshore shale formations and deepwater regions has defeated arguments that global oil production will soon peak and go into an irreversible decline.

Dudley, in a speech, noted projections of overall global demand energy growing by over a third by 2030, including the need for around 16 million more barrels per day at that time.

But he said that the ability produce from oil-and-gas reservoirs that were once out-of-reach will enable supply to keep up.

“Many in the industry used to worry about whether demand on this scale could be met – we weren’t among them by the way – but there hasn’t been much talk of ‘peak oil’ lately,” he said at the IHS CERAWeek energy conference here.

“Thanks to new frontiers such as shale and deepwater, our industry is now producing an enormous amount of previously unreachable oil and gas,” Dudley added.

He said that at current consumption rates, data suggests that the world has 54 years’ worth of proven oil reserves and 64 years worth of proven gas reserves, adding, “more will be found.”

Dudley noted the boom in development from shale oil formations that has moved North Dakota to second place behind Texas in among U.S. states, the growth of deepwater development in the Gulf of Mexico, and resources in other regions.

He noted Russia, where BP has invested, has the largest combined oil and gas reserves and highest combined output already, but added: “In our view, it’s potential has yet to be realized.”