The Association for the Study of Energy Resources (AEREN – ASPO Spain) will be in charge of organising the seventh annual conference of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil (ASPO). The conference will be held on October 20th and 21st 2008, at the World Trade Centre in Barcelona.

The website for the conference can be found at www.aspo-spain.org/aspo7

AEREN has been representing ASPO in Spain since July 2006. ASPO is a network of organisations present in over 20 countries around the world.

AEREN - ASPO Spain was founded in 2005 and has participated in several studies on future energy models in Spain. It has also hosted lively debates on energy at its website www.crisisenergetica.org, since October 2003.

The main task of the organisations grouped around ASPO is the study of the decline in global production of oil and natural gas (known as "peak oil" and "peak gas"), the potential effects on society and the possible actions for mitigating any effects.

The ASPO conferences deal with matters related to the peak of oil and gas, including response assessments dependent on modelling demand, economics, technology and politics. It also looks at possible alternatives to fossil energy, as well as seeking to raise awareness of the consequences this may have for humanity.

In recent years, reports from various agencies have joined ASPO warnings about the difficulties of boosting oil extraction.

In July 2007, the International Energy Agency, in its mid-term report on the oil market, warned that "it is possible to delay the oil shock, but not for long." Fatih Birol, chief economist of the agency, noted that "the wheels could come off the system" because in the next seven years, "there may emerge a gap of up to 12.5mn b/d in world oil production capacity".

Recently the agency has updated its prognosis, confirming the risks that the world can suffer a crisis of oil supply between now and 2013.

Over the past five years, the price of crude has risen by over 400%, and only since the beginning of 2008 it has risen more than 40%. Meanwhile, oil extraction remains technically flat, and spare capacity declines threatening the balance of the oil market.

Despite being a contentious and controversial issue, there is increasing evidence the determining factor in the future of oil extraction is geological: more than 60 countries have already passed their peak production, including the US, Great Britain, Norway, Colombia, Mexico, Iran or Russia.

Presidents of oil companies such as Shell or Total have already warned of the difficulties for oil extraction to meet the expected demand, while James Schlesinger, former State Secretary of Energy during the Carter administration has proclaimed "the proponents of peak oil have definitely won the debate."

The VII Annual Conference ASPO is not the only oil-related event being held this year in Spain. The World Petroleum Congress has taken place in Madrid bringing together representatives of the oil industry and global energy. While the congress held in Madrid showed the corporate vision of world oil, the conference in Barcelona will show an alternative vision, often presented by retired executives of oil companies and other independent analysts, who can express their views without the constraints of corporate world.