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Global Oil Production Is Falling Faster Than Expected, FT Says

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Global crude-oil output is falling faster than expected, leaving producers struggling to meet demand without extra investment, the Financial Times said, citing a draft of an International Energy Agency report.

Annual production is set to drop by 9.1 percent in the absence of additional investment, according to the draft of the agency's World Energy Outlook obtained by the newspaper, the FT reported. Even with investment, output will slide by 6.4 percent a year, it said.

The shortfall will become more acute as prices fall and investment decisions are delayed, the newspaper said. The IEA forecasts that the rising consumption of China, India and other developing nations requires investments of $360 billion a year until 2030, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at [e-mail]
Last Updated: October 28, 2008 19:53 EDT