Economies stare down $105 barrel

scotsman.com: [.. ] to threaten Iran with bombing, whatever the reason, was tantamount to economic suicide for the Americans, because Iran is the world's number four oil producer.

Were it to shut its oil taps, the price of crude oil would rocket - from its already historically high price at the moment - sending the American, and global, economy into turmoil. The problem is global oil production is now peaking. If the peak does not occur this year, we'll be lucky.

The first person to warn of a peak in global oil production was an American called M King Hubbert. In 1956 he predicted that US oil production would peak in about 1970. He was castigated for suggesting anything so outrageous, but by 1973 it had become apparent that he was correct.

In the late 1960s Hubbert went further and predicted that global oil production would peak in about 2000. He was about five years too early.

After Hubbert's eerie predictions, all went quiet until a British gentleman - Colin Campbell - who had spent his whole life trying to find new oil for the big oil companies re-ignited the subject about 15 years ago. He is convinced global production will peak within the next two years. Link

See also 'Bank says Saudi's top field in decline' Link
'Peak Oil Slowly Seeping Into National Conciousness' Link