There is a 'significant risk' that global oil production will peak in less than ten years' time, say researchers in a report from the UK Energy Research Centre.
The report's authors add there is a growing consensus that the age of cheap oil is coming to an end.
But they warn that governments, including the UK's, are not concerned about global oil depletion, despite the fact that oil provides a third of the world's energy.
As the modern industrial world is largely built on the availability of cheap oil, this is likely to have a huge impact on the global economy.
The whole issue of peak oil has long been contentious. A growing number of commentators say the world is near peak oil production, predicting that oil will run out as reserves become more and more depleted. Others argue we have enough oil to see us well into the twenty-first century.
