As part of his tour of Australia, Christof Ruhl, BP Group Deputy Chief Economist, gave a presentation today in Perth on the 2007 BP World Energy Report. He highlighted how, with oil and gas, production has moved away from the major consuming nations (OECD etc) to nations with large geo-political issues (Angola, Nigeria, FSU). He also highlighted the major role of coal consumption over the past 5 years, and how some UK gas consumption had been replaced in 2006 by coal, hence higher CO2 emissions.

He denied world oil production had peaked, quoting figures for 'crude + NGL', rather than the 'crude+ condesate' that the EIA uses. HOWEVER, he did admit in answer to my question on peak oil, that world oil reserve figures in the 2007 report, which now include Canadian tar sands, DIDN'T mean the reserves were either accessible or economically recoverable. So they're in the diagrams but we may never get to use them! Thanks very much, economist sir.