The world is not running out of hydrocarbons but there are "accumulating risks" to securing global crude oil and natural gas supplies through 2030, a high-level board of US oil company executives found in a report obtained by Reuters on Thursday.
Those risks include "political hurdles, infrastructure requirements and availability of trained work force," according to the study by the US National Petroleum Council, conducted at the behest of US Energy Secretary Sam Bodman.
The NPC, whose members include executives of big oil companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron Corp will present the study at its July 18 meeting, according to a memo sent to NPC members this week which was also obtained by Reuters.
When Bodman called for the study in October 2005, he asked the council to study the concept of "peak oil," whether the globe was running out of hydrocarbons. "Perspective vary widely on the ability of supply to keep pace with growing world demand for oil and natural gas," Bodman wrote at the time.
In a draft letter to Bodman outlining its findings, the group says, "The world is not running out of energy resources, but there are accumulating risks to continuing expansion of oil and natural gas production from the conventional sources relied upon historically."