EU admits having no plan for 'peak oil' crisis
09 February 2006
The EU's energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs has admitted he has no plan todeal with rapidly rising oil and gas prices in the face of shrinking supplyand booming demand.
In a response to a parliamentary question put by Green Party MEP CarolineLucas, he shrugs off the so-called 'Peak Oil' scenario as 'no more than atheory'.
Dr Lucas, an MEP for South-East England and a member of the EuropeanParliament's Environment and International Trade Committees, said: "TheCommission's attitude represents a frightening dereliction of duty.
"An increasing number of scientists and energy experts are warning thatdeclining oil production, public over-statements of oil reserves and boomingdemand for oil and gas in China and India mean that the point of 'Peak Oil'- when growing demand for oil outstrips falling supply - will occur soonerthan is openly suggested.
"Some argue we have already passed the Peak Oil point, pointing to rapidlyrising prices and the fact that new oilfields being are being discoveredmore slowly than oil demand is increasing."
Mr Piebalgs said the EU was 'reflecting on an energy policy framework' butadmitted future proposals would likely be restricted to a common energypolicy - a solution likely to prove politically unpopular in the UK adelsewhere in Europe.
Analysts have argued that both the EU and UK must start planning for anoil-free future, to maintain security of energy supplies whilst reducingemissions of the greenhouse gases which are fuelling dangerous climatechange.
Dr Lucas added: "We have already begun to face energy shocks as oil and gasbecome more scarce and expensive. If we are to maintain security of energysupply whilst preventing a rush towards more damaging sources such asnuclear and coal, every level of government should be engaged now inplanning for peak oil and investing real capital - both financial andpolitical - in renewable energy and energy efficiency."
"As this certainly isn't just a European problem, we must be workingdiplomatically to ensure that other countries do the same, cutting theirdependence on oil in a socially just way."
