With all the Cassandras pissing and moaning about "peak oil" this and "peak oil" that, it is wise to listen to the people who actually work in the oil business... From CNN:
Energy body rejects whistleblower allegations of oil cover up
The International Energy Agency has rejected reported allegations from a whistleblower that world oil reserves have been exaggerated to avoid panic buying in the oil market.
A senior source within the IEA is reported to have told The Guardian newspaper that many within the agency believe the body's prediction for oil supplies "is much higher than can be justified."
In its annual outlook released on Tuesday, the IEA repeated its prediction that oil supplies would rise to 105 million barrels by 2030 under current government policy.
"We're the ones that are out there warning that the oil and gas is running out in the most authoritative manner. But we don't see it happening as quickly as some of the peak oil theorists," Richard Jones, deputy executive director of the IEA, told CNN.
"Generally, we're viewed as more pessimistic than we should be by the (oil) industry," he added.
Of course, it devolves into a power play for lower CO2 emissions:
The IEA's 2009 World Energy Outlook is explicit in its warnings about the impact of a "business as usual" approach to energy over the next 20 years.
"The scale and the breath of the energy challenge is enormous -- far greater than many people realize. But it can and must be met," the report said.
It presents the results of two scenarios: The "Reference Scenario" assumes government policy remains the same, while the "450 Scenario" projects what may happen if governments take action on climate change.
The 450 refers to the long-term concentration of 450 parts per million of CO2-equivalent needed to limit to 50 percent the probability of a global average temperature rise of two degrees Celsius.
Talk about a two-fer -- Malthusian predictions and Anthropogenic Global Warming. Neither of which have ever proven to be correct.
