Speakers
David Hobbs Chief Energy Strategist IHS CERA (Chair)	Gerard McCloskey Chairman The McCloskey Group
Bhushan Bahree Senior Director IHS CERA	Nariman Behravesh Chief Economist IHS
James Burkhard Managing Director IHS CERA	Thane Gustafson Senior Director IHS CERA
Lawrence Makovich Vice President & Senior Advisor IHS CERA	Ke Feng Yan Senior Director IHS CERA
Shankari Srinivasan Managing Director IHS CERA

Opening Wednesday's IHS CERA Insights: The Landscape Ahead for Energy and the Economy, moderator David Hobbs, IHS CERA Head of Research, challenged nine top IHS CERA experts to pack as much insight into three minutes as they possibly could. In the rapid-fire tour of the world by fuel and region the hour-long session provided oil and gas price outlooks together with perspectives on economic recovery and global power investment, and culminated with insights about changes in Latin America and robust drivers for coal and oil demand in China, as well as hints about forthcoming Russian announcements.

These IHS experts painted a comprehensive picture of the global energy and economic landscape: Nariman Behravesh, IHS Global Insight Chief Economist; James Burkhard, IHS CERA Managing Director, Global Oil Group; Shankari Srinivasan, IHS CERA Managing Director, Global Gas Group; Lawrence J. Makovich, IHS CERA Vice President and Senior Advisor, Global Power Group; Gerard McCloskey, IHS CERA Vice President and Global Advisor, Coal; Kefeng Yan, IHS CERA Director, China Energy; Bhushan Bahree, IHS CERA Senior Director, Global Oil Group; Thane Gustafson, IHS CERA Senior Director, Russian and Caspian Energy; Enrique Sira, IHS CERA Director, Latin America Energy.

Dr. Behravesh offered three primary economic risks: potential for asset bubbles in China, sovereign default in Europe, and fiscal problems in the United States that could require legislative actions. Mr. Burkhard suggested that the current $81 per barrel oil price is linked to expectations of future demand since a strong economic recovery is beginning to unfold. Ms. Srinivasan described the triple whammy facing global gas markets: a global economy just emerging from recession, a continued surge in liquefied natural gas capacity, and the unexpected North American shale gale. Dr. Makovich put together the global power landscape projecting a 140,000 megawatts-per-year pace of development with a growing share of renewables, but with fossil fuels remaining a big part.

Mr. McCloskey instructed coal-interested listeners to keep their eyes on China, where in just one year's time an industry equal in size to the US coal sector has been built. Mr. Yan characterized China's government stimulus, which is fueling automobile sales at breakneck speed, as the primary driver for last year's 9 percent oil demand growth, which he projects will continue.

Mr. Bahree on the Middle East said that OPEC's compliance with production cuts is slipping but having little effect. Also in the region we cannot predict Iran's reactions if sanctions are tightened. Dr. Gustafson noted that after the third Russian financial crisis in 30 years, the economic mantras in Moscow of modernization and diversification are challenged by huge capital requirements, dynamic players blocking the value chain, and the potential for complacency with oil at $80 per barrel. Mr. Sira discussed the changing energy matrix in Latin America as more indigenous gas will be used and more of the region begins to manufacture its own refined products.

Mr. Hobbs facilitated a question and answer session that touched on the low probability, yet transformative potential for battery technology breakthroughs. Dr. Behravesh answered a question about what could derail economic recovery by suggesting that oil prices in the $100 to $120 range could be enough to turn positive growth in Europe back into recession.