Expert says lower oil prices are here to stay

more oil out of it,” Mr Cummings explained.

“And the second time you refrack, it’s probably not quite as expensive because you HAve already got the holes.

“So [big oil ser vices companies] might be tempted to go to some of the fracking companies and say – we’ll take the risk of refracking your well, if we share in the profits.”

Mr Cummings added that the world oil glut was creating storage issues. “My understanding is there’s no place to bunker it any more, so what’s the point of bringing it above ground?” he asked.

“We have heard of instances of oil being given away to refineries because there is no bunker space – which is fantastic for the refineries because they’re getting cheap fuel.”

Big oil companies are said to be asking tanker operators to slow down deliveries of crude as space on land runs out.

THE rise of technology such as electric cars and solar panels means low oil prices could be here to stay, according to a Scottish investment expert.

“I forsee that we will have cheap oil – or cheaper relative to where we have been – for the foreseeable future,” said Alastair Cumming, senior investment director in Glasgow for Investec, the private wealth manager.

“Technology is driving change in oil. You can now get a car that does 250 miles on a battery, which would probably cover the aspirations of quite a lot of petrolheads.”

He added: “If they can perfect that and perfect the battery power, I can see all cars moving towards electric. In energy in general, I think solar is the one that’s going to win out, because it has no moving parts and they’re getting greater outputs.

“If you can perfect a battery which holds that power, then we could do away with the grid as we know it. But this is all well into the future.”

Although oil would still be needed for things like chemicals and heavy plant and machinery, this image of the future was probably influencing strategy in big oil-producing nations, Mr Cumming suggested.

“If the Arabs believe that in 20 to 30 years the oil in the ground is not going to be worth as much, why wouldn’t they try and get it out of the ground now?” he asked. “So is the psyche changing?”

“I would’ve thought that in the near term, if the oil price moves up to somewhere around $50-$70, we’re probably not going to go much higher than that.”

Meanwhile, Mr Cumming s predicted that big oil service companies that were struggling in the new low oil price environment might explore lower cost activities like “refracking”.

“When you frack – drill a hole and push chemicals and sand down it to create pressure to get up gas and oil – you can go back and refrack it and get