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Oil shortages ' to stay’

NZPA London New Zealand may not be out on its own in the developed world much longer with carless-day plans and tight controls on petrol sales. The average European, although in some cases he pays twice as much for his petrol as a New Zealander, is probably unaware that w’hat keeps his car running may one day soon be in very short supply. In a main survey of the energy crisis, chiefly prompted by the fall of the Shah in Iran, the Brit-

ish newspaper, the “Guardian”, has warned that all consuming nations will be short of oil in the next six months. While the powerful, tapcontrolling Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (0.P.E.C.) was meeting in Geneva, the paper’s energy correspondent, Charles Cook, said: “Whatever happens in Iran in the next six months, the consuming nations are going to be short of oil.” “Stocks have shrunk substantially during the winter and must be replaced if more severe shortages are not to

develop next winter,” he said. “New oil from the North Sea, Mexico, and Alaska can help only marginally — it is far from the panacea promoted by some politicians.” Cook said that until the Iranian crisis, energy experts differed substantially over the time when oil shortages would become part of everyday life. The pessimists said about 1985, the optimists thought about 1995. “Now all are agreed — shortages are here to stay. The Iranian revolution has taken up those years of slack,” Cook said.

The “Wall Street Journal” has reported that restoration of Iran’s oil production still might not mean an end to the world oil squeeze, according to the NZPA in Washington. The paper said that this was because several O.P.E.C. nations were considering further restrictions on their own output. Some big members of O.P.E.C. were seriously considering curtailments in deliveries through current channels, if not in actual production, the paper said. They included Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19790328.2.6

Bibliographic details

Press, 28 March 1979, Page 1

Word Count
323

Oil shortages 'to stay’ Press, 28 March 1979, Page 1

Oil shortages 'to stay’ Press, 28 March 1979, Page 1