	exxon official urges planning for next oil surge world governments should prepare for an inevitable significant increase in the price of oil as non middle east supplies diminish exxon corp xon director and senior vice president donald mcivor said policymakers must also face up to the reality that the bulk of world oil reserves lies in the middle east he said in a speech prepared for delivery to the australian petroleum exploration association apea annual conference it appears ever more likely that new discoveries elsewhere will not change this fact he said mcivor said of the world s oil fields contain about pct of all oil ever discovered only of these super giant fields lie outside the middle east and only five of the have been discovered in the last years three of them in the middle east he said he also said that since the world has been consuming to billion barrels a year while making discoveries at the rate of only to billion barrels a year more than half of remaining proved reserves are in the middle east he said mcivor said it was important to continue to search for oil outside the middle east because each addition contributes to a diversity of supply desirable for global political and economic stability it is important to enhance the likelihood of home country discoveries with measures such as non discriminatory and stable taxation and minimum regulation together with opening up of acreage for exploration he said increasing reliance on the middle east will also boost the incentive to use natural gas and synthetic sources of petroleum he added reuter 
