VOA标准英语2009年-UK Report Warns of Oil Shortage

By Mil Arcega
Washington
16 October 2009
A new report by a prominent energy research firm warns that the world's oil supply could start to dry up over the next 10 years. In a report unveiled at an International Energy Agency meeting in Paris, the UK Energy Research Center said petroleum¹ production is likely to peak by the year 2020 leading to global shortages as supplies taper² off. 

The world's demand for oil is unsustainable. That's the warning from a new report delivered at the International Energy Agency's ministerial meeting in Paris. 

 
Steve Sorrell
According to the U.K. Energy Research Centre, world oil production is likely to peak before 2030. The report's author, Steve Sorrell, says the global supply could start to dry up sooner.

"The basic physical features of the resource mean that production will start to decline at some point and will continue to decline and no amount of investment is going to turn that process around," Sorrell said. "Ten years, 15 years, even 20 years is not far away."

The meeting of energy ministers from the 28 IEA member countries is looking at key energy challenges facing the world today. IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka's says among them, higher prices. 

"Already cheap energy price age is over," he said. "Cheap oil age is over. That is our message."

The world currently produces about 85 million barrels of oil per day.  Estimates show production will rise to over 100 million barrels before oil resources begin to run out.

But some research groups say production will be sufficient well into the 21st century.

And some oil companies argue new fields discovered in Angola, Brazil and the Gulf³ of Mexico should be able to satisfy demand.

Sorrell disagrees.

"Even if you assume and make optimistic assumptions about the size of the resource, you assume that the investment takes place and these areas are open to access, the evidence still points to constraints⁴ within this period of time," he said.

Although the recession and the popularity of fuel efficient vehicles has reduced demand in the United States, OPEC (the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries) says demand for oil is growing faster than anticipated due to an improving global economy and increased consumption in developing countries.

1 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

2 taper   

n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小

参考例句：

• You'd better taper off the amount of time given to rest.你最好逐渐地减少休息时间。
• Pulmonary arteries taper towards periphery.肺动脉向周围逐渐变细。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓