At the beginning of the millennium oil prices were $27/bbl and essentially remained at this level through 2003. But soon afterwards they began a steep climb, reaching $99 in November 2007 and a record high of $145 in July 2008.This finally created awareness among analysts that the world was struggling to sustain oil production and that it may not be possible to increase supply beyond a certain level. Indeed, crude oil output remained flat at around 71 million b/d from 2004 through 2008, and during this period the growing demand for petroleum liquids was satisfied mainly with additional natural gas liquids.Global crude oil production has increased continuously from the 1900s until 1980, wh...