Is the oil price drop such a surprise ? The good use of 'hybrid' energy prospective models.

In this study, we give an example of the use of prospective models. What conclusions can we draw if prospective is not prediction ? How can contrasted prospective scenarios frame the public debate ? We first give an example of the fossil fuel market representations in the CGE Imaclim-R model. The choice of modeling enables to confront different perspective and expert point of view about : the amount of remaining oil resources ; the strategical behaviors of suppliers ; the drivers of final demand and key hypothesis on technologies. Scenarios are then analyzed to assess the main determinant of the so called peak oil (or plateau oil) disentangle the different rationalities behind Middle East strategical choices. We finally run scenarios to look at the best options of Middle East regarding the US light tight oil production, and shows that our modeling framework perfectly illustrates the recent decision of the OPEC to continue to flood the market with oil in response to the US as a new suppliers and concurrent.