Earlier this month Shell threw a bombshell into the energy debate.
Its CFO Simon Henry said during a conference call November 2 that “We’ve long been of the opinion that demand will peak before supply. And that peak may be somewhere between 5 and 15 years hence, and it will be driven by efficiency and substitution, more than offsetting the new demand for transport.”
In an article in the Financial Times November 3, Nick Butler agreed with Henry: “The reasons for what sounds like a very radical challenge to the conventional wisdom are clear and the advance warning signs are already evident in the data. Oil demand in the developed OECD world has already peaked and is 9% below the level reached in 2005.
In Europe, oil demand is down 17% over the same period. After a surge in Chinese demand over the past decade – particularly during the years of rapid growth and industrialization – it has become obvious that demand there has flattened off,” and “All the indications are that in the developed world demand has further to fall.”
Source: Natural Gas World