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No, Martin Ferguson is picking up on evidence given to the Senate Inquiry into Australia's future oil supplies in 2006/07- at present consumption levels, Aust has 10 years only of oil + condensate. Arose in a question from National Party Senator at a public hearing in Canberra:
Senator NASH—I am interested in the nature of oil as a finite resource, and I know that there is a lot of talk about possible finds. Hypothetically, in Australia in terms of our oil reserves, if no more was found in Australia how long would what we have last?
Mr Wright (Geoscience Aust)—If you just look at crude oil and condensate, because essentially they are close
enough to being the same commodity, the supply of total economic demonstrated resources— which is what we think can be commercially produced in the foreseeable short-term future—is about 14 years. If you just take crude oil economic demonstrated resources, there is about seven years of supply. Adding in the condensate doubles the number of years.
It is a kind of artificial answer because the number of years supply you have left depends on your production and, as production declines and reserves decline, the number of years production left stays the same. It is probably more relevant to ask: ‘How does consumption compare with the number of years
production left?’ That will get down to probably about 10 years of crude oil and condensate economic demonstrated resources. That is why we are importing a lot of oil.
page 18- http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S9266.pdf
This hearing also had famous quote from head of ABARE, Dr Fisher, about price leading 'roosters to laying eggs'.
Thanks for that.
There are some interesting exchanges leading up to that... particularly those which show Dr Fischer (of ABARE) to be at the very least, smug.
In the section cited above, whereas Mr Wright explains the nuances of reserves to the Senator the dear Dr is rather more blase...
Dr Fisher — That sounds like a calculation for my colleagues on my left — to tell us the reserves. Then it is a fairly simple calculation to do the division.
Before this are some exchanges with Senator Milne who asks directly about peak oil, and about ABAREs dismal oil price prediction record.
[edited - addition]
Having read a bit further.
There is also this from a later session p42-44
Senator MILNE — A lot has been said this morning about coal to liquids as the next big transport solution. We do not have to worry too much, according to some evidence we have had, because we can go to coal to liquids. From your submission, you do not regard this as a very viable option for Australia’s transport fleet. Would you like to go into that some more?
Mr Kaspura — I am not sure that we necessarily addressed it in quite those terms but I think the general position the organisation would take is that there are a wide variety of options and each of those options will assume relevance as the price of oil rises.
[snip]
I guess really what I am saying in a longwinded way is: let us look at the easy options first. We are going to eventually need to deal with the hard options. All of the technologists and researchers are telling us that there are a lot of unresolved questions and they need time. Let us give them the time. Let us pick the easy options like natural gas. It is an inexpensive fuel. It is consistent with the government’s policy on keeping fuel prices manageable. We have abundant supplies in Australia, so it is consistent with the policy of security of access. It is not that hard.
This exchange includes a discussion on home fuelling of cars using town supplied gas.