World Energy Television Presents: Energy Crisis, A Discussion with Matt Simmons

Amidst skyrocketing oil prices, considerable financial activity in the oil market, and increased gas prices, producing and consuming nations alike are concerned about efficiency and supply. World Energy recently spent an afternoon with Matthew Simmons, president of the energy investment firm Simmons & Company International and author of Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy, to hear his perspective on oil supplies, pump prices, distributed generation and a return to post–World War II practices.

Oil prices have been too low for too long, he says. “The problem isn’t that the prices are going up, it is that they have been so low for so long that we have been caught in a correction,” explains Simmons.

The problem, notes Simmons, is not strategy; it is having a game plan for execution. In the interview, Simmons focuses beyond “peak oil” and looks at the immediate nature of the energy situation, examining both near-term solutions and long-term ones.

Focusing on renewable sources, Simmons points out the current production from these sources is roughly 1.50 percent, but that 1.50 percent is nonetheless a significant contribution. He then explains the actual potential to be unlocked in energy produced from wind and geothermal and the importance of distributed generation.