IEA fears backlash after BP disaster

The devastating BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has left future development of deepwater finds hanging in the balance, threatened by tighter regulation and permit delays, according to the International Energy Agency.

"Macondo places the ability of the industry to access important new reserves on a knife edge," says the monthly oil market report, published yesterday. "Some 30 per cent of existing global oil, and nearly 50 per cent of new supplies by 2015, needs to be sourced from offshore, much of it from deep water."

The IEA has raised its "lost oil" production estimate from 60,000 barrels a day this year to 100,000 barrels a day in 2011. It also raised estimates for global oil demand by 80,000 barrels a day in 2010 and 50,000 barrels a day in 2011, on economic improvements.