"Consumer countries have to adapt to the prices and the mechanisms of the market," the king said

"We have nothing to do with the current sharp increase in crude prices," he said . He blamed the high oil prices on speculation, rising demand and the taxation of oil products by the consumer countries .

"These countries must reduce their taxes on fuel.. if they want to contribute to easing the burden on ordinary consumers," he said.

China has emerged as a competitor to the US ( the largest consumer of oil in the world) for dwindling oil supplies . India too , is just as hungry for supplies as China. The two are battling each other in oil patches from Sudan to Siberia as they try to secure the resources to fuel their growing economies. So far, the Chinese have the upper hand in the competition.

Peak oil production

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. If global oil consumption is not mitigated before the decline phase begins, a world energy crisis may develop because the availability of conventional oil will drop causing prices to rise, perhaps dramatically. M. King Hubbert first used the theory in 1956 to accurately predict that United States oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970. His logistic model, now called Hubbert peak theory, has since been used to predict with reasonable accuracy the peak and decline of petroleum production of many countries, and has also proved useful in other limited-resource production-domains. According to the Hubbert model, the production rate of a limited resource will follow a roughly symmetrical bell-shaped curve based on the limits of exploitability and market pressures.

It is safe to assume that the world's oil supply is essentially fixed because it is no longer being naturally produced.

Some observers, such as petroleum industry experts Kenneth S. Deffeyes and Matthew Simmons, believe the high dependence of most modern industrial transport, agricultural and industrial systems on the relative low cost and high availability of oil will cause the post-peak production decline and possible severe increases in the price of oil to have negative implications for the global economy.

Optimistic estimations of peak production forecast the global decline will begin in the 2020s or 2030s and assume major investments in alternatives will occur before a crisis, circumventing the need for major changes in the lifestyle of heavily oil-consuming nations. These models show the price of oil at first escalating and then retreating as other types of fuel and energy sources are used.

Pessimistic predictions of future oil production operate on the thesis that the peak has already occurred or will occur shortly and predict a global depression, perhaps even a collapse of global industrial civilization. Throughout the first two quarters of 2008, there were signs that a possible recession was being made worse by a series of record oil prices.

Wind and Solar power

According to professor Ghassan Karam "we are fortunate in Lebanon because we are in a position to take meaningful action to reduce our dependence on oil by focusing on two clean energy alternatives which are wind and solar powers ".

"In the solar field we need to pass laws that will require the installation of solar hot water heat components into all new structures and we also need to encourage retro fitting the existing physical stock of buildings." Karam said. "Lebanon is blessed in being located in a geographic region that provides around 300 days a year of sunshine" he said

" We can and we must plan to have at least 20-25% of our electricity need to be produced from wind turbines. Wind energy is currently being produced at a cost of around 4 cents per kwh and Lebanon should have no problem in securing financing for such projects at attractive terms." He added

"The cabinet in Lebanon has spent enough time over the political grid lock over the past three years. It is high time that the cabinet take the initiative to undertake a project that is self financing and will help the Lebanese economy and will meet part of our moral obligation toward sustainable development. Wind generated electricity in Lebanon is the best of all possible worlds, a win, win situation with no possible losers." He concluded

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