Tank low and running on fumes

A controversial theory that global oil production will peak within 25 years has been embraced by a Senate committee with the warning: be worried now. The committee says that, like Sweden, which plans to be oil-free by 2020, Australia should be preparing for an irreversible decline in world oil supplies. A report released last week by the Senate's rural and regional affairs and transport committee is the first official recognition at a national level of the "peak oil" theory.

Geoscience Australia, a Commonwealth agency, predicted that self-sufficiency would drop from 84 per cent to 20 per cent, although these figures excluded undiscovered resources and enhanced oil recovery. The agency forecast that crude oil production would continue at about 550,000 barrels a day until about 2009, then decline to about 224,000 barrels by 2025.

Greens senator Christine Milne, who initiated the inquiry, said evidence to the committee showed that those living on the outskirts of cities were already facing financial pressure because of rising fuel prices and poor public transport. "The Federal Government must begin preparing Australia to reduce its dependence on oil, starting with substantial investment in public transport and redesigning our cities," she said.

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