The World Is Entering A Peak For Oil And Gas - Says top Energy Banker

Matt Simmons at Nelson Energy Fourum














Recently (last Wednesday) I, along with some of my friends, had a private meeting with one of the world's biggest investment bankers to the energy sector. His name is Matt Simmons, of Simmons & Company, and he has brokered sixty five billion US dollars in energy deals. Energy in the 21st century is a an eight to nine trillion a year business!

You might wonder why this meeting took place. I'm a member of a Peak Oil Group that has been researching energy supply issues for the last five years. Meeting Matt Simmons was a consequence of my involvement with www.oilcrash.com that I represented in London last year.

Matt Simmons has been in New Zealand talking to energy groups and participating in forums sponsored by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority and other interested parties, including government and local government. Mr Simmons has become widely known through his involvement with the Association of Scientists for Peak Oil and has featured in two documentaries on the subject of oil depletion. Like climate change Peak Oil is becoming an accepted fact among those involved in the energy sector. It is yet to be fully understood by the media and popular culture. The implications of Peak Oil and Gas are horrendous if left unattended. Climate change is now generally accepted as having passed the point of a quick or easy fix.

While Mr Simmons believes we face a crisis or a sequence of events that if left unattended will become terminal, he does believe there is a solution for the world. The challenge will be whether we can act in time to prevent this from happening.

The day after our private meeting with Matt Simmons I attended an Energy Forum where Matt was a keynote speaker, along with Peter Griffiths, General Manager, BP Oil New Zealand, and Professor Ralph Sims, Massey University. There was a Panel discussion chaired by Heather Staley. The outcome of that discussion was diverse as to the nature of crisis that we face. However there was agreement that Peak Oil would impact on us sooner or later. You may have your own opinion on that but I guess rising fuel prices is speaking volumes to most of us. That's enough for now- more later.