Oil production peaked, Total says

PARIS, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Global oil levels have peaked, making it unlikely production will ever pass 89 million barrels per day because of economic and financial restraints, Total says.

Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive at French supermajor Total, said soaring costs of extraction from tar sands in Canada and uncertain political developments in Iran and Iraq suggest world oil production has finally reached its peak, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Though oil prices in the world market have dropped roughly $100 in less than a year, the retraction is short-lived, he said. Forecasts from 2015 are down 4 million bpd because of the global recession as the International Energy Agency revised its long-term estimates for 2030 to about 100 million bpd.

De Margerie said Thursday as he announced financial results from the fourth quarter of 2008 that despite record profits, his company would postpone several major investments because of the need to cut costs.

These cuts would further impact oil production as oil majors, like Total, speculate over the need to make major investments to keep older fields functioning.