including oil, gas, renewables, nuclear, and solar. The Kingdom has always been of the view that there are plenty of resources to meet the projected increase in demand. The peak oil theories that dominated the energy discourse few years ago - insisting that global oil production had already reached a peak - have proved to be simply wrong. The pendulum has now moved in the opposite direction, and expectations of ‘scarcity' have been replaced with expectations of ‘abundance'. However, while the availability of resources has never been the constraint, it is also true that conditions must be put in place to provide the right incentives for the industry to explore and to develop these reserves in an efficient and timely manner. There is a sense of complacency and a misconceived perception that the challenges faced by the industry few years ago - ranging from the small number of new oil discoveries, to the sharp rise in industry costs, to the difficulty in retaining talent, to the high decline rates in mature areas, and to the increasing complexity of developing new finds - have all but disappeared. The fast and sharp industry response to the current fall in the oil price, however, has shown clearly that the sustainability of investment and output growth can't be achieved ‘at any price'. While it is true that underground resources are abundant, the technical and human resources, and the financial resources needed to develop these reserves, are not. Both the industry and the supply chain remain highly vulnerable to sharp price movements. Around $200 billion of investments in energy have been cancelled this year, with energy companies planning to cut another three to eight per cent from their investments next year. This is the first time since the mid 1980s that the oil and gas industry will have cut investment in two consecutive years. The IEA describes the current decline as ‘the biggest in oil history'. Under increasing fiscal pressure, many governments in key oil producing countries are being forced to cut their investments in the energy sector and to revise downward their expansion targets. The impact of the recent cut in capital expenditure has not just been confined to oil exporters; it is also being felt in importing countries, where the decline in oil prices has increased the risks for firms in the Asian oil and gas sector, affecting their investment plans. --More 11:53 LOCAL TIME 08:53 GMT تغريد
