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Energy experts sounds alarm over oil

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-20 21:21

AMMAN  -- Energy experts cautioned here the fossil fuel of oil is facing the danger of exhaustion and that the world is in urgent need of developing alternative energy resources, local daily Jordan Times reported Sunday.

"Oil is finished, it's over with, it's done," said Paul Sullivan, economics professor with the National Defense University in Washington said during a seminar on energy, security and development at the University of Jordan.

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Most of the major oil discoveries in the last century were made in the 1960s and 1970s, and any further discoveries will not come easy, he said.

"The next potential areas of oil will probably be in the Arctic or very deep water," said Sullivan, adding that the extractions under such conditions would be "very expensive."

In addition, he said political uncertainty in the world's current major oil producers, such as Nigeria's difficult political and economic situation, instability in the Gulf region and the disputed Iran nuclear issue, drives new energy innovation.

The expert said he believes, however, there is a silver lining in the recent hike in oil prices, adding that many engineers and inventors now focus on developing alternative energy resources in line of current surging energy cost.

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