Written question asked by John Hemming (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 29 April 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 1 May 2008. It was answered by Malcolm Wicks (Labour) on Tuesday, 6 May 2008 on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Oil

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the Government's estimate is on when global oil production will peak; and what information has been used to arrive at that estimate.

Answer: The Government do not estimate the timing of peak in global oil production. However, it is our assessment that the global oil reserves are sufficient to prevent total global oil production peaking in the foreseeable future provided sufficient investment in both upstream and downstream is forthcoming in order for production to keep pace with the growing global oil demand. This is consistent with the assessment made by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its 2007 World Energy Outlook (WEO).

Secondary information