"We believe that technology can push back the limits of ultimate oil reserves to a significant extent," Olivier Appert, president of the Institut Francais du Petrole (IPF), told the Eighth Arab Energy Conference.

"Technology has already helped greatly reduce technical costs and increase oil and gas reserves," Appert said in a working paper posted on the website of OAPEC which he presented at the conference.

"In the future, technology can continue to roll back the limits of ultimate oil reserves."

Appert said new technologies could improve exploration performance, increase the recovery rate and help gain access to hard-to-develop oil reserves, namely in undersea sites.

Hisham Khatib of the World Energy Council echoed that view, saying that technology could also help develop renewable energy sources.

"The techniques of renewable energy sources are still mostly undevelopped," the state-run Petra news agency quoted Khatib as saying.

The head of Bahrain's Oil and Gas Authority, Abd al-Husayn Mirza, told state-run Jordan television: "The unprecedented rise in oil and gas prices has prompted many countries to think about renewable energy and many countries in the West are now focusing on that."

The four-day conference that opened on Sunday is organised by the Kuwait-based Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), the Arab League, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organisation.

It brings together 600 experts and oil officials from around the world to discuss cooperation between producers and consumers, technology development and conservation.

On Tuesday experts are to focus on themes such as "energy consumption and conservation", "environment and sustainable development" and Arab cooperation in the oil, gas and electricity sectors.

The conference concludes on Wednesday.

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