SINGAPORE : With world oil prices now hovering around US$65 per barrel, more countries are beginning to worry about long-term energy security.

At a forum at the Global Entrepolis, some industry watchers said another oil crunch could come when the world starts scrambling for fast-depleting oil resources.

And that could push oil prices past US$100 per barrel.

Peter Cockcroft, Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of East Asian Studies, said: "There's a long term demand increase. Frankly, we are not finding enough oil to replace the oil that we are consuming now. The cost of finding new oil is going to be a lot higher than previously. I think we are going to have demand, consumer demand for the barrel of oil. I believe that in the next decade, they will look back and see that today's price in the US$60 range was very cheap."

Another speaker pointed to a possible challenge from India to Singapore's position as a regional refining hub.

Dave Ernsberger, Editorial Director, Platts - Asia, said: "The rise of India as a major oil power is different from the rise of China. India's oil demand is not growing the way China's oil demand is growing. So, India is investing heavily, probably in some ways, even more successfully than China is, in things like refining capacity. What that means for the region here is that it is emerging as a competitor in some ways, with the swing producing countries here, Singapore actually." -