Ever since soaring Chinese oil demand and the various peak-oil theories have gained world attention, not to mention rising CO2 emissions, it has become clear: hard truths face the global energy industry. These make for some dramatic headlines for consumers and feed the heightened rhetoric of politicians. Simply put, it appears high commodity prices and rising oil and gas demand are here to stay, absent a major worldwide recession. In July, reports from two significant agencies spotlighted these truths, the Paris-based International Energy Agency and the National Petroleum Council. Both warn frankly of a pending gap between traditional energy supplies available at reasonable cost, and ever-rising world demand. BP's 56th annual "Statistical Review of World Energy" also shed light on these trends. Much has been made of China's oil thirst, but BP points out that last year, China's use of natural gas rose 21.6%. And coal led the list of the world's fastest-growing fuels consumed last year. For more on this, see the August issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.

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