A recent study carried out by Wood Mackenzie on the Arctic potential comments that the likely remaining reserves will be 75% natural gas and 25% oil.

County Natwest said that it would acquire Wood Mackenzie, an Edinburgh-based brokerage house.

According to Wood Mackenzie, an energy research firm, 6 of the 10 largest oil companies have reduced their investments in exploration since 1998.

According to Wood Mackenzie, the top 10 oil companies spent $50 billion on field development in 2003, up 42 percent from 1998.

Later that year he began a traineeship at Wood Mackenzie, a stockbroker.

"The current situation could have significant repercussions for an already tight oil market," said Wood Mackenzie, an international energy consulting company, in a statement Thursday.

Wood Mackenzie was approached by two dozen firms and held meetings with "8 to 10 of those," according to John Chiene, its chairman.

In 1995, Wood Mackenzie and Co., one of the original partners, sold its stake to Standard & Poor's.

These will account for almost two-thirds of the overall cost of oil in 2011, according to Wood Mackenzie's figures, although it's clear who the biggest recipients are.

A study by Wood Mackenzie suggests that within 15 years all the world's extra oil supply is likely to come from unconventional sources.