Charting Oil’s Rise and Fall: Oil Production Levels

There is much debate as to when the world’s peak oil level will be reached and how future generations will supplement energy supply. But to date, virtually every forecast predicting supply, demand and price fluctuations has been proved wrong. Although there is general consensus that much more research and development needs to be focused towards renewable technologies, the relatively frequent discovery of new oil field – one offshore Dubai was announced in January 2010 – always allays fears that a shortage is just around the corner.

What is clear, however, is that some major fields and regions the world has relied on to provide energy in the past may not be able to continue to feed demand much longer. The table below uses statistics from the BP World Energy Statistical Review 2009 to see in which year since 1998 the major oil producers topped out their production levels, and how recent output compares.

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