BP Head Says Peak Oil A Myth  

Its not often you see an executive trying to talk prices in their industry down.

After months of soaring crude oil prices, BP, the world's second-biggest oil company, has reported a 43 per cent rise in third-quarter profit and forecast that prices will stay above $US30 a barrel, and possibly higher, for years to come.

But in a first from one of the oil majors, BP also talked down the prospect of oil prices remaining at record levels in the longer term. "I think it is not helpful for the world to believe that we are running out of oil, which we are not," the group's chief executive, John Browne, said.