Peaking World Oil Production 'A Seismic Event'

November 17, 2007 10:38 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The growing shortage of oil will cause problems felt everywhere in the world, a policy expert says.

"The peaking of world oil production will be a seismic event, marking one of the great fault lines in world economic history," says Lester Brown of Earth Policy Institute, adding that "when oil output is no longer expanding, no country can get more oil unless another gets less."

Food security will be severely affected since both modern agriculture and food transport are oil-intensive, he says, and the automobile industry will suffer when demand for cars plummets.

Among the leading oil producers, output appears to have peaked and turned downward in a dozen or so, Brown says. Among the post-peak countries are the United States, Venezuela and the two North Sea oil producers, the United Kingdom and Norway, he says.

The pre-peak countries are dominated by Russia, now the world's leading oil producer, having eclipsed Saudi Arabia in 2006. Outputs may be increased by Canada, largely because of its tar sands, and Kazakhstan, which is developing its oil field in the Caspian Sea, the only large find in recent decades.

Other pre-peak countries include Algeria, Angola, Brazil, Nigeria, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Among the countries where production may be peaking are Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and China.