Australia Has Decade of Oil Left at Current Production Rates  

Bloomberg reports that Martin "Marn" Ferguson has noted once again that we don't have much oil left (unless we manage to find more somewhere). This isn't news of course, but the proposal that oil and gas companies who don't develop known reserves within 12 months or lose their leases is.

From Bloomberg - Australia Has Decade of Oil Left at Current Rates.

Australia's oil resources may last a decade at current production rates, making supply security a ``major concern,'' said energy minister Martin Ferguson. Australia will review all oil and gas leases granted to explorers for their ``commerciality,'' Ferguson said today at a conference in Darwin. Oil and gas field permit holders must work the fields if they can be profitably developed, he said.

The nation's spending on exploration jumped 57 percent last year to a record A$2.66 billion ($2.6 billion) even as the number of wells drilled fell because equipment and labor shortages drove up costs. ...

The government will review oil and gas exploration permits by the end of the year, Ferguson said. Companies that hold leases and haven't developed them will be given 12 months to prove the areas aren't viable.

Eni SpA, Italy's largest oil company, plans to start production from its Blacktip gas field in early 2009, Paul Henderson, chief minister of Australia's Northern Territory, said at the conference. The project will cost almost A$1 billion ($975 million). Australian energy production growth will be led by liquefied natural gas, with exports of the fuel set to jump by more than 7 percent a year through 2030, the government's commodities forecaster said in December.