OREANDA-NEWS. Oil prices might reach $80-$90/bl in the next 2 to 3 years because of the lack of investment in future production, ConocoPhillips chief executive Ryan Lance said today.

The rate of natural decline in global production is about 5pc/yr, said Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden today at an oil and gas conference in Stavanger, Norway. That means to meet growing demand the industry needs to bring on stream new output that equals 6-7pc of global supply every year.

That's a gap the industry has been hitting so far thanks to investment decisions made years ago, van Beurden says, but Lance warns that in 3 to 4 years a supply problem will become apparent.

The rebalancing of supply and demand in the oil market may have started in the second quarter of this year and will continue through the rest of the year.