Whistleblower: World Running Out of Oil Faster Than IEA Says

Nick Chambers, Editor, November 13th, 2009, Gas2.org

According to two unnamed sources as reported in the Guardian—one current International Energy Agency (IEA) employee and one former—the IEA has been purposely painting an overly rosy picture of the remaining available world oil supplies to avoid panicking the public. Apparently this obfuscation has been a result of heavy pressure from the United States.

As one whistleblower put it, “Many inside the [IEA] believe that maintaining oil supplies at even 90m to 95m barrels a day would be impossible but there are fears that panic could spread on the financial markets if the figures were brought down further. And the Americans fear the end of oil supremacy because it would threaten their power over access to oil resources.”

The IEA plays a key role in determining the world’s energy outlook, and, as such, has a large influence on the price of, and demand for, oil. Historically many of the world’s largest governments have used IEA reports as the basis for driving energy and environmental policy.

At the heart of this issue is the looming question of Peak Oil and whether or not we’ve already entered a production decline or if the world can still increase oil production to meet demand into the near future. The IEA has consistently said that the world can increase production through at least 2030, but, according to the whistleblower, the IEA hass held back analysis and data showing that the world may have already entered the decline phase of Peak Oil.

According to another unnamed former IEA employee, while working at the agency it was “imperative not to anger the Americans” and “We have [already] entered the ‘peak oil’ zone” adding, “I think that the situation is really bad.”

Criticism of the IEA’s statistics is not a new phenomenon for sure, but the agency has been facing more and more scrutiny and has been having a hard time answering to its critics. If anything, this merely points out that, regardless of how much oil is actually left on the planet, it doesn’t really matter. We can’t trust any one organization’s outlook and we should be quickly weaning ourselves off of what is likely a finite energy source and could run out soon.

Tags: agency, energy, iea, international, oil, peak

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Comment by Kevin Espeseth on November 15, 2009 at 12:01pm: Again, it is "not about the Spotted Owl", it is about all the other rape these sociopath's perpetrate into the society, that we need to change the structure of it.

Let's see; encouragement to overpopulation to become dependant on their product use, economic disparity that generates "kings" mentalities / the only true "bragging rights on the 'in' golf courses" these days, using the poor overpopulation base as an excuse to militarize that potential when there are no other option left for the poor, and, if nothing else, turning the whole world into India, where even the rich live surrounded by garbage!

Comment by Lou De Frog on November 14, 2009 at 9:29am: And the real killer has to do with the efficiency of getting the oil out of the ground. If we use 15 barrels of oil to recover 100 barrels - the current return on investment -. there is really only 85 barrels usable of every 100 barrels in the ground. This number is getting worse as we go after the oil that is more difficult to recover. The Canadian tar sands use natural gas equivalent to 1 barrel of oil to recover 1.5 barrels of oil. That is almost as bad as using 20 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of ethanol.

We need a return of 5 barrels for each barrel invested to maintain our lifestyle.

Comment by Scott Baker on November 14, 2009 at 2:02am: In some ways, it would be good if it was that bad, because it would force us to move to renewables, but it isn't. Here's why.
1. Iraq - Despite making tough deals that are delaying things a bit as oil producers balk at the terms, Iraq is poised to finally fulfill its destiny as #3 (some say #2) in the world oil producer. Assuming they dont slip back into anarchy when the US leaves, they stand to beat out Russia (current #2) and the US (current # due to our incredible efficiency at getting to every drop of our 3% of the world's oil domestically). Iraq has NEVER been fully exploited, due to wars, corruption and poor management.
2. The Arctic - the US Geological Survey estimates that 25% of the world's UNDISCOVERED oil is up there. Ice? What ice? Global Warming - due to burning fossil fuels! - will take care of that in a couple of decades. Hey, we're going to need the oil to power the pumps to keep our coastal cities dry, aren't we? It'll be brutal, but if the price is right, we'll go there. So will the Russians, Greenlanders (newly independent from Denmark and themselves sitting on vast reserves under their own icesheets), Canada and Norway.
3. Africa - less wars, more drilling.
4. Better technology - especially in antiquated Russia, war-torn Nigeria, Iraq, isolated Iran, Mismanaged Venezuela, etc.
Don't confuse peak geopolitical oil with peak geological oil. The first is changeable, the second is a real natural limit.