FUKUI, Japan — Global oil output could decline up to 900,000 barrels a day from projected levels for 2015 if oil-producing countries follow the U.S. lead and impose moratoriums on development of new offshore oil reserves, International Energy Agency executive director Nobuo Tanaka said Friday.
The Paris-based organization is conducting research on the possible impact of the U.S. moratorium and its implications worldwide, Tanaka said.
“If other countries like Angola, Brazil and the North Sea (countries) put on hold new offshore development and there is also one or two years of delay, the impact on global oil output might be 800,000 barrels a day to 900,000 barrels a day by 2015,” Tanaka told Dow Jones Newswires.
Although it would represent a mere 1 percent or so of global oil output, “given that spare oil production capacity is about 6 million barrels a day, (a reduction of) roughly 1 million barrels a day can’t be ignored,” he said.
Earlier Friday, Australian Energy Minister Martin Ferguson vowed to act swiftly on the findings of an official investigation into the cause and handling of PTT Exploration & Production PCL’s oil spill last year at the Montara field in the Timor Sea, off northern Australia.
Although the leak was much smaller in scale, Canberra’s response will be closely watched for signs that governments are looking to impose tougher controls on deep-sea drilling.
However, Ferguson is offering 31 new drilling leases off the Australian coast in waters as much as twice as deep as the leaking BP well in the Gulf of Mexico.
