Oil Prices Will Continue to Rise, IEA Reports

May 8th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

Peak oil is nothing new to us here. I’ve written on a German military report clearly stating that peak oil is already here and discussing the various concerns that poses for modern society. I’ve also written on peak oil discussions made public by WikiLeaks that showed that Saudi Arabia has a lot less oil than its been saying. And I’ve written on peak oil misconceptions and false solutions and the potential (or lack of potential) for technological solutions to solve the peak oil crisis.

The bottom line: while the world is never going to literally run out of oil, demand is increasingly outstripping supply. And what’s one clear result of that? The price of crude oil (and thus, gasoline) is going up, and it’s going to continue going up. The International Energy Agency just recently confirmed that for us (or, if ‘confirmed’ is too strong a word for you, told us exactly the same thing). Here’s more from our sister site, Gas2.org:

The International Energy Agency (IEA) was established in the wake of the 1973-74 oil crisis to ensure the uninterrupted supply of oil to industrialized nations. This autonomous agency now predicts oil prices will rise an additional 30% over the next three years.

The goal of the IEA organization is to monitor oil production and the international market for oil and other energy sectors. The IEA is a multi-government and independent monitoring agency based in Paris. Five years ago IEA stated that oil production will rise to 120 million barrels a day by the year 2030. Now the IEA is predicting the price of oil will increase by 30% over the following three years.

Now, this should really come as no surprise to us (heck, the CEO of Shell has said the same thing), and everyone (except oil company CEOs) should clearly be championing clean energy solutions (NOW), but you know how we are…

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

Harald Walker

Do you have an overview of the oil usage? Most people seem to think about gasoline but while we might be able to switch to electric or hydrogen cars in time, there might be other areas where we are even more dependent on oil without alternatives.
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  We certainly are, but transport. accounts for about 71% of US consumption: http://planetsave.com/2010/07/12/where-oil-comes-from-and-how-we-use-oil/
http://importantmedia.org Important Media Umbrella Acct

nice point, Josh
Heres_a_clue

Given the fact that we are headed for a double dip recession, I will bet you anything that oil prices will fall over the next 5 years despite what the IEA may think. They are as wrong on this prediction as the rest of you CO2 zealots are on global warming and all your fear mongering predictions related to it.
- Anonymous
  
  Sorry, I think you failed to include your clue.
  
  Or perhaps it got lost in the equine excretion you posted.
Anumakonda Jagadeesh

Yes. Oil Prices are always fluctuating. That is why many Nations are turning to New and Renewable Energy.

Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India
Anonymous

Let’s do massive hybridization of vehicles and cut fuel use in half by 2020.
Anonymous

The US might have already passed peak oil demand…

—

“Motor gasoline [consumption] is down, it is headed down. It is going to continue to head down,” said ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson during an Economic Club of Washington speech in October 2009.

Tillerson
says the reasons are improvements in vehicle mileage standards, more
hybrids on the road and federal mandates to include a higher percentage
of ethanol in the nation’s fuel supply.

There’s yet another factor at play: As baby boomers grow older, they’re going to drive less.

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/08/136069839/as-oil-prices-fall-whats-happening-to-gas-prices

Of course China and India are on the rise when it comes to demand, so oil prices are likely to keep increasing as we have to go further and deeper to find oil because the easy to extract stuff is gone.

It’s pretty clear that EVs and better public transportation are our way out of this dilemma.