Ashley Seager

World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.

The German-based Energy Watch Group will release its study in London today saying that global oil production peaked in 2006 – much earlier than most experts had expected. The report predicts that production will now fall by 7% a year.

The fact is UK oil and gas, which has given a big boost to the economy for the past two and a half decades, is running out fast. At current rates of extraction, the last drop of oil could be sucked out of the North Sea fields in about 10 years’ time.