The report, entitled "The Oil Crunch", was released by the Peak Oil group, which is made up of eight companies from the transport, engineering, architecture and energy sectors. It argues that an early peak in oil production could pose a bigger threat to the United Kingdom than terrorism, scarce gas supplies or the short-term impacts of global warming.
The "peak oil" debate has been in progress for many years. Although some governments and oil companies maintain that crude oil production can meet future rising demand for decades, others, including many oil-industry experts, argue that peak oil production is imminent.
This report sharply differs from the position of the British government. A statement from the new Department of Energy and Climate Change reveals: "The government’s assessment is that global proven reserves are larger than the cumulative production needed to meet rising demand until at least 2030. This is consistent with the assessment made by the International Energy Agency in its 2007 World Energy Outlook that lead to the conclusion that global oil resources are adequate for the foreseeable future."
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