‘Catastrophic’ energy crisis looming

The IEA’s chief economist Fatih Birol says the world is heading for a catastrophic energy crisis because most of the world’s major oil fields have passed their peak production, but the public and many governments appear to be unaware that oil is running out far faster than previously predicted.

A number of companies are investing in projects to make oil from tar sands, a controversial process because of high climate-changing emissions from production. But a report from Greenpeace says such projects are increasingly risky in economic terms because they rely for their viability on a price of oil that is unlikely to persist.