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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=546045806-08072006>Four Corners on
Monday evening is looking at the subject of Peak Oil ...</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=546045806-08072006><A
href="http://abc.net.au/4corners/default.htm">http://abc.net.au/4corners/default.htm</A></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=546045806-08072006>
<DIV id=programinfo>
<H2>Peak Oil?</H2>
<P>Reporter: Jonathan Holmes</P>
<P>Broadcast: 10/07/2006</P></DIV>
<P class=wallacepara><EM>"The price of petrol is disgusting, absolutely
disgusting…"</P>
<P class=wallacepara>"It’s just going up and up…"</P>
<P class=wallacepara>"It’s outrageous…"</P>
<P class=wallacepara>"I get so mad – you ever get so mad you can’t even talk
about it no mo’?"</EM></P>
<P class=wallacepara>(Vox pops – motorists in Australia, UK and US)</P>
<P class=wallacepara>If, like these motorists, your fury rises with the numbers
ticking over on the petrol bowser, get a grip. You may soon look back fondly on
the good old days when petrol was $1.40 a litre.</P>
<P class=wallacepara>The world is at the beginning of the end of the age of oil,
according to a growing body of analysts. It stands at a precipice of "peak oil"
– the point at which oil producing countries can no longer keep up with growing
demand, where production climaxes and then plunges into irrevocable decline.</P>
<P class=wallacepara>This, say the doomsayers, may send national economies
spinning into turmoil, up-ending comfortable urban lifestyles that rely on oil
for the cheap transport of people and goods and for the manufacture of thousands
of mundane household and office items – from mousepads, banknotes and drink
bottles to carpets, clothes, cosmetics and deodorants. </P>
<P class=wallacepara>The crunch will come some time in the next few years,
without warning, they say. "The worst case is that it’s occurring now or very
soon because the world is unprepared, it’s absolutely unprepared," says one of
the most influential pessimists. </P>
<P class=wallacepara>But this is just scaremongering, say many authoritative oil
industry voices. While they agree that oil is unlikely to get cheaper any time
soon, they insist that oil production will keep pace with demand for decades to
come. There is simply no end in sight to the black gold bonanza, according to
these optimists.</P>
<P class=wallacepara>They check off their list: vast untapped oil reserves
claimed by Middle Eastern nations; the prospect of further discoveries; and
smarter technology that will extend the life of existing oil fields and make new
ones easier to exploit. </P>
<P class=wallacepara>Even the optimists concede that massive discoveries of
easy-to-reach oil are a thing of the past. But, they say, higher prices will
make other ways of producing oil and alternative fuels commercially viable. </P>
<P class=wallacepara>Who is right? Four Corners investigates a truly global
issue that reaches into every home and every car and touches every human life.
This special report* explains why oil prices are high right now and asks how
long the world has left to prepare for a day when there is not enough oil to go
around.</P>
<P class=wallacepara>Reporter Jonathan Holmes goes in search of an answer in the
Middle East, the US and Europe, interviewing the key protagonists. He asks if
the world is being told the truth about the vast unexploited reserves that are
claimed to lie beneath the desert sands of the Middle East. He looks at
alternative oil sources and the obstacles to exploiting them. And he explains
what peak oil means for Australians who depend so heavily on oil for transport
and tourist income.</P>
<P class=wallacepara><STRONG>"Peak Oil?" … on Four Corners, 8.30 pm Monday 10
July, ABC TV.</STRONG></P>
<P class=wallacepara><EM>This program will be repeated about 11 pm Wednesday 12
July; also on ABC2 digital channel at 7 pm and 9.30 pm Wednesday.</EM></P>
<P class=wallacepara><STRONG>*Four Corners also presents a Broadband Edition on
"Peak Oil?" … See the program in full; watch extended interviews with the
experts; delve into interactive maps showing who produces the oil and who buys
it; browse key reports about how much oil remains untapped; learn about the
alternatives; and discover the impact of peak oil on Australia’s economy and way
of life.</STRONG></P></SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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