ExxonMobil official dispels fears on peak oil 

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) Richard C Vierbuchen, Vice-President, Caspian/Middle East of the global petroleum giant ExxonMobil Exploration Company, has dispelled the fears expressed by several sections that the world has reached the peak oil production or was fast approaching that level.

"Most of these fears are unfounded. The global hydrocarbon resource base has been continuing to grow over the years, as the technological capabilities were improving There is no indication so far of any resource limit to increasing oil production," Richard C Vierbuchen told Khaleej Times here on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) here.

Replying to questions he said as per the current estimates the global oil reserves were roughly put at equivalent to four trillion barrels, and out of this not even one trillion barrels had been recovered so far.

"But the estimates on the total reserves have been continuously growing, and I don't know what the figures could be in 2030. It can be more than four trillion barrels."

The estimates on gas have also been growing similarly. US is a good example in this regard. "We had reached peak level production in the gas in 1970s, and recently it has resumed the growth again. We are now nearing an all-time high on gas production in the US. The new types of resources are coming on stream, with the discovery of unconventional gas recovery potentials."

According to Richard C Vierbuchen the limit to production of petroleum products and gas was mainly coming from the lack of access to the reserves and material supply for recovery.

"Nearly half of the reserves in the world was not accessible to the industry for recovery even now. This is true even in the case of the US. Countries don't allow participation by the industry in the recovery initiatives."

Optimising the efficiency at the recovery stage and in the consumption of energy are two steps that can augment the resource growth in the petroleum sector.

Efficiency in petroleum resource recovery was estimated be around 35 t0 40 per cent at present and there was definitely a scope for improving it by another 50 per cent.

Achieving this would mean adding petroleum resources equivalent to half of what was currently available.