International

Europe could face a shortage of oil within the next decade, making a move to increase the use of low carbon energy even more urgent, Report informs, citing the Guardian.
     The study has warned that oil production may fall faster than the EU’s reliance on fossil fuels, raising the risk of a looming oil supply crisis and severe market price shock.
     The Report by the Shift Project, a French climate think tank, said the risk of reaching “peak oil supply” before major economies have transitioned to cleaner energy sources is “an additional compelling reason for designing a world without oil.”
     The analysis was based on data from Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy, which found that oil production from Russia and the former USSR, which provide more than 40% of the EU’s oil supply, has already entered “a systematic decline” which would outstrip the rate at which the EU has curbed its use of oil over the last ten years.
     Africa’s oil production, which makes up more than 10% of the EU’s oil supplies, is expected to decline sharply over the next decade.
     The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to compound the risk of an oil supply shortfall in the 2020s by stalling investment in new oil projects.