TORONTO, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- An increasingly tight oil supply will continue to force crude prices higher and make Canadian oil sands the single biggest contributor to net new global supply by the end of the decade, states a report released today by CIBC World Markets. In its Monthly Indicators report, CIBC World Markets notes that despite a near doubling in crude prices over the last two years, non-OPEC production failed to increase in 2005. This limited the total increase in global supply to less than a million barrels a day. "Our study of 164 new oil fields and projects indicates that oil markets will become even tighter over the next three years if global demand continues to grow at its current pace," says Jeff Rubin, Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets. The CIBC World Markets study found that over 60 per cent of the 3.6 million barrels of new oil production expected to come in stream in 2006 will simply offset depletion from existing fields like the North Sea and Kuwait's Burgan. After depletion, new supply is expected to grow by less than 1.5 million barrels per day in 2006 and 2007, and by less than a million barrels a day in 2008. The study also found that net of depletion, global conventional oil production seems to have peaked in 2004. "All of the net increase in oil production this year is expected to come from non-conventional sources. While deepwater oil is the primary source today, we forecast that Canadian oil sands will become the single biggest contributor to incremental global supply by 2010," notes Mr. Rubin. The CIBC World Markets study suggests that planned capacity expansions in the Alberta oil sands over the next decade will exceed even those in Saudi Arabia. With oil prices expected to average over US$70 per barrel this year, and limited market access to OPEC reserves, Mr. Rubin notes that Canadian oil sands may not only become one the world's most valuable energy sources, but one of the few remaining still open to private investment. A copy of the Monthly Indicators report is available at http://research.cibcwm.com/res/Eco/EcoResearch.html CIBC World Markets is the wholesale banking arm of CIBC, providing a range of integrated credit and capital markets products, investment banking, and merchant banking to clients in key financial markets in North America and around the world. We deliver innovative full capital solutions to growth- oriented companies and are active in all capital markets. We offer advisory expertise across a wide range of industries and provide top-ranked research for our corporate, government and institutional investor clients. DATASOURCE: CIBC World Markets CONTACT: Media Inquiries: Jeff Rubin, Chief Economist and Chief Strategist, Managing Director, CIBC World Markets, (416) 594-7357; or Susan McDougall, Director, Communications, CIBC World Markets, (416) 980-4047

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