Tall order to meet oil demand boom by 2012-Total
PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - The world will struggle over the next five years to meet surging oil demand, the chief executive of French oil company Total (TOTF.PA) said on Thursday.
"Based on a very conservative scenario, we will need an extra 15 billion barrels of oil per day," by 2012, Total Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie told an oil conference.
"This implies that from 85 million we would reach 100 million barrels per day. I don't think this is feasible, certainly not in such a short period of time." De Margerie's comments came as oil prices CLc1 held steady around $111 a barrel on Thursday, within sight of the previous day's record high of $112.21.
De Margerie told Reuters on Tuesday he expected prices to continue rising due to tight supplies and a lack of spare production capacity among OPEC producers.
On Thursday, he again urged international oil and gas companies and hydrocarbon-rich countries to sit together and discuss ways of increasing production.
"The bad news is that there will not be enough production capacities. This is not a problem of resources of reserves," he said, adding that Western countries had "totally underestimated" the energy needs of emerging countries.
(Reporting by Marie Maitre and Benjamin Mallet )
