Editor's note: As global oil prices soar to unprecedented levels Americans face increases at gasoline pumps this topic was much discussed — and often debated — during the recent AAPG Annual Meeting in Dallas.
Nowhere were the assessments
and opinions more on display than during and after the All-Convention
Luncheon, which featured a provocative talk by Amy Myers Jaffe.
She talked with the EXPLORER after her speech about the international
oil situation, as did international oil expert Thomas O' Connor.
Turmoil Impacts Output
Outlook
The Middle
East, like all areas that are touched by or depend on the oil industry,
will continue to go through major changes, according to AAPG All-Convention
Luncheon speaker Amy Myers Jaffe.
For starters,
she said the current political unrest in the Middle East has prompted
oil companies to reduce investments in the region.
"We're
moving into a time when we're going to see greater democratization
and debate in the Muslim world," she said of the post-September
11 era.
She predicted
that Iraq's daily production is unlikely to rise above 2.5 million
barrels a day in 2005, due to the country's difficult transition
to democracy.
"An opening
to private investment in Iraq would promote steadier growth in oil
production rates," she said, "but it remains uncertain whether the
Iraqi people will choose this option."
Citing
an oil crisis in Venezuela, Myers Jaffe predicted that Africa will
continue to contribute the biggest, reliable growth in global oil
supply. She suggested that political issues in Latin America, including
Mexico's constitution, will discourage growth in oil production.
Calling
Canada the "unsung hero," she predicted its "quiet growth" and advancements
in technologies required to tap the unconventional resources contained
in Alberta's oil sands.
Myers Jaffe
described how renewable energy and new technologies to produce unconventional
resources will achieve cheaper energy and environmentally sustainable
growth for Americans.
"The line
between conventional and non-conventional resources has blurred,"
she said. "I think we will see more companies turning to unconventional
resources to make up the gap in supply."