World creeping closer to "oil shock"

[Minstrel Boy]

World creeping closer to "oil shock"
Energy crisis could loom, experts say Politics, corporate moves are factors

David Olive
The Toronto Star

Are we running out of oil? Are we in danger of another energy crisis of the magnitude of the 1970s "oil shocks" that condemned us to a decade of economic stagnation? And with our desultory regard for conservation and alternative energy sources, are we risking ever greater oil dependence on the volatile Middle East?

Yes, yes and yes.

...

Without a meaningful increase in investment to develop new energy sources, the world could face a severe supply shortage by 2020, British energy consultant John Westwood of Douglas-Westwood Ltd. told the Wall Street Journal last month.

"As far as we're concerned, this is not the real crunch," Westwood said of the current oil-supply squeeze. "This is just a practice."

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