Texas oilman (T. Boone) Pickens says global oil production at its peak

[jpak]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/4592240.html

DOHA, Qatar — Legendary Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens sees today's stubbornly high oil price as evidence that daily global production capacity is at — or very near — its peak.

If demand for crude oil rises beyond the current global output of roughly 85 million barrels per day, Pickens told The Associated Press, prices will rise to compensate and alternative sources of energy will begin to replace petroleum.

"If I'm right, we're already at the peak," Pickens said earlier this week in Doha, on the sidelines of the Forbes magazine CEO conference. "The price will have to go up."

The 78-year-old former wildcatter, who now heads the Dallas-based hedge fund BP Capital, is credited with a history of prescient predictions about the direction of oil markets. His bets have paid off handsomely. BP Capital's returns have exceeded 800 percent since 2001, he said.

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