He claimed the consequences of this are uncertain but drastic, due to the world's dependency on fossil fuels for the vast majority of its energy.

[3] In December 2000 Colin Campbell warned in a public lecture held at the Clausthal University of Technology that 'There is, I think, a strong danger of some ill-considered military intervention to try to secure oil.

"[6] These early assessments were, however, according to Campbell himself, "based on public domain data, before the degree of misreporting by industry and governments was appreciated.

"[6] A 2007 study of oil depletion by the UK Energy Research Centre stated that Campbell failed to take into account future reserve growth in existing fields.

The report cited Campbell's record of premature peak predictions, systematically shifting forward over time, as evidence that his methodology was flawed.

Viable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking."

He was educated at St Paul's School and Wadham College, Oxford (BA Geology 1954, MA and DPhil 1957),[1] and worked as a petroleum geologist in the field, as a manager, and as a consultant.

He was employed by Oxford University, Texaco, British Petroleum, Amoco, Shenandoah Oil, Norsk Hydro, and Petrofina, and worked with the Bulgarian and Swedish governments.