"Even Silicon Valley investors have put well over a $1 billion in new energy technologies." — Daniel Yergin

But eventually it's a question of access: Getting access to fields is on top of the oil companies' agenda. We see a substantial build-up of supply occurring over the coming years.

Cycles of shortage and surplus characterize the entire history of oil.

First, we have to find a common vocabulary for energy security. This notion has a radically different meaning for different people. For Americans it is a geopolitical question. For the Europeans right now it is very much focused on the dependence on imported natural gas.

The North Sea was supposed to run out in the 1980s. Then in the 1990s. And now production is still on-line.