'Peak oil' issue piques interest

Denver will host a two-day siminar on the effects of 'peak oil'.

[ article excerpt ]

By Cathy Proctor
The Denver Business Journal
Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET Aug. 14, 2005


With the price of oil and gasoline spiraling higher, top energy analysts wonder about two things:

Where will it end?

Are the world's supplies reaching what experts call "peak oil," the point where supplies steadily decline and prices rise even more sharply higher?

Some experts say the world's oil production peak could be five to 15 years away. Others scoff, noting it's been predicted for decades. And besides, skeptics say, new technologies will bring more oil to the market.

The city of Denver will wade into the debate when it hosts a two-day seminar Nov. 10-11 on "peak oil" and what it may mean to Denver and the nation's economy. The U.S. arm of the International Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas (www.aspo-usa.com) will co-host the event.

Mayor John Hickenlooper, the state's most famous former petroleum geologist, said he heard Tom Petrie, chairman and CEO of Denver oil and gas investment firm Petrie Parkman & Company Inc., give a presentation on the topic about a year ago.

"It was so compelling that I thought more people should be aware of this going on," Hickenlooper said. "That this is happening, has or is about to happen.

"I don't think, 'the sky is falling, the sky is falling.' But the sooner we begin to examine what the alternatives could be, as the price of oil increases, the better off we'll be and the less trauma and less economic hardship we'll endure. Like any business, you want to plan for these things."

Petrie has studied the world's oil economy for years. The firm has advised Saudi Arabia about its natural gas resources, the state of Alaska on gas-pipeline options and the U.S. Department of Energy on the sale of an oilfield. Petrie has advised on more than $130 billion worth of energy-related mergers and acquisitions.

In early August, during a presentation at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association's annual conference, Petrie told a crowd of oil and gas executives he believes "peak oil" could hit in the next decade.

"We're a lot nearer to peak oil than some people like to acknowledge," he said.

[ read rest of article ... ]