The position taken by Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce recently that further oil exploration will be driven by price, not international agreements, has been supported by Dr Ali Samsam Bakhtiari, chief advisor to the Iranian National Oil Company, one of OPEC's major players.
Dr Bakhtiari is yet another authority on world oil to highlight the shortfall in oil supplies and how this will affect world prices.
He told the ABC’s PM program, “I believe the Chinese are ready to pay almost any price - almost - to carry on. What they are afraid of is the availability, because one day you will have the question of availability and I don't think all this can be resolved by peaceful means.”
“Now, I hope that the oil industry will not go into Antarctica. But today I am not so, so sure, you know? Because when the price will be $200 or $300 per barrel, then anything can happen,” he said.
Senator Joyce has advocated this fact for some time, particularly following his Senate Committee voyage to Antarctica.
“This analysis by Dr Bakhtiari sheds further light on the fact that countries like China are more concerned about oil supply than they are about Australia’s territorial integrity in the Antarctic,” Senator Joyce said.
Unfortunately, attempts by Senator Joyce to ease this burden by developing an Australian bio-renewable fuels industry, have received very little support – except of course from the Democrats.
“Claims by some that there were no Nationals supporting a recent Democrats’ amendment in the Senate are simply not mirrored in the voting record - clearly indicated by the fact that one National and the Democrats voted to support this fledgling industry.”
“This clearly shows only two parties support the development of a bio-renewable fuels industry: the Nationals and the Democrats,” Senator Joyce said.
“Dr Bakhtiari talked about $300 a barrel which equates to approx $6 litre for fuel in our tanks. The Australian people cannot afford this and that’s why we must immediately move to mandate a bio-renewable alternative to mitigate the effect of this possibly devastating blow,” he said.