‘Peak oil’ has well and truly grabbed the oil agenda if latest figures and pronouncements are anything to go by. Whether major oil companies, state or private, like it or not, peak oil cannot be ignored. The subject, ridiculed just three years ago, now sits centre stage.When Lord Browne, head of BP [NYSE:BP; LSE:BP], spoke to a dinner at the Energy Institute in London, he was forced to confront the theory head on. “We’re at a point of great change in this industry,” said Lord Browne. “Demand is growing, but we have to meet that demand in different ways from different sources.

Only Exxon Mobil [NYSE:XOM] and Conoco Phillips [NYSE:COP] managed to replace their reserves without buying out other companies or fields in 2005. Even BP appear to have failed to replace their oil pumped last year, although final figures are not yet out.