Co-sponsored by Washington State University
and the Global Business Center at the University of Washington

“Peak oil" - when global oil production rises to its highest point before declining irreversibly –appears to be rapidly approaching even as demand is increasing. While the precise arrival of peak oil is hotly debated by academics and geologists, many analysts increasingly believe that official US Geological Survey estimates that oil production will not peak for 35 years are over-optimistic, and that Middle Eastern countries may have far less oil than officially stated. What this will mean for the Pacific Northwest, and how to prepare for it, are discussed by two of the world’s leading energy experts, as part of Washington State University's regional conference on global oil depletion.

Dr. Herman Franssen will address the geopolitics of global oil depletion. Franssen is President of International Energy Associates, Inc., which provides energy economic analysis of global oil markets, conducts political risk assessments, and assists companies in establishing relationships with national oil companies and governments in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Matt Simmons will discuss the geophysics of global oil depletion, with a focus on Saudi Arabia, the subject of his recently published book: Saudi Arabia, Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. Simmons is the founder and chairman of the world's largest energy investment banking company, Simmons & Co. International.

For more information on Washington State University's Conference on Global Oil Depletion and Implications for the Pacific Northwest, which will be held in Spokane from October 4-5, please visit their website at: http://capps.wsu.edu/globaloil/ or call Joy Thompson at (509) 335-4194.