Consumers globally favour replacing oil as energy sources ; expect substantial price increase

21 April 2008

A majority off consumers polled in 15 of the 16 nations surveyed around the world think that oil is running out and governments should make a major effort to find new sources of energy.

Most respondents also think that future oil prices will rise much higher.

Only 22 per cent on average believe that "enough new oil will be found so that it can remain a primary source of energy for the foreseeable future." Only in Nigeria does a majority (53 per cent) endorse the view that governments can rely on oil in the long term.

Instead, an average of 70 per cent takes the position that governments should assume that "oil is running out and it is necessary to make a major effort to replace oil as a primary source of energy." The largest majorities endorsing this view are found in South Korea (97 per cent), France (91 per cent), Mexico (83 per cent) and China (80 per cent). The smallest are in Russia (53 per cent) and India (54 per cent), while in Nigeria only a minority (45 per cent) holds this view.

"The widespread consensus that oil needs to be replaced as an energy source may be prompted by concerns about the effect of oil on climate change as well as the belief that oil will run out," said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, a collaborative research project involving research centres from around the world and managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland, that conducted the global poll. 

The poll covered 14,896 respondents. Interviews were conducted in 16 nations including most of the largest nations -- China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Russia--as well as Mexico, Britain, France, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Egypt, Turkey, the Palestinian Territories and South Korea. The nations included represent 58 per cent of the global population.